Prue Leith awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday honours

Industry luminary and Great British Menu judge Prue Leith has been honoured with a CBE in the Queen's Birthday honours list.

Leith, who received an OBE in 1989 for her services to the industry, has pioneered British culinary standards for over four decades, having set up the **Leith's School of Food and Wine **with Caroline Waldergrave in 1974 and chaired the School Food Trust since 2006.

Leith has also penned novels in recent years, but her appearances on the televised cooking competition The Great British Menu and her role as chair of the SFT has ensured that she has been instrumental in British hospitality.

"I can't believe the CBE," she told Caterersearch. "I've been a novelist for 15 years, but the honour is hardly for my contribution to romantic fiction! It's years since I was a caterer, but I guess it is for my work as Chair of the School Food Trust which has done a terrific job in getting school lunches healthy, training cooks to cook fresh food simply and well, getting head teachers, governors and local authorities to take food and cooking seriously.

More hospitality winners in the Queen's Birthday honours >>

Prue Leith named as new chair of the School Food Trust >>

Chef Conference: Prue Leith urges industry to nurture staff >>

Craft Guild of Chefs honours John Campbell and Prue Leith >>
By Rosie Birkett

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