The Yes Chef Tess Ward for The Lifestyle Edit

If you’re a loyal reader of The Lifestyle Edit, you’ll know that when we’re not salivating over new season collections or the latest beauty must-haves (currently piled high in boxes making it impossible to put our legs under our desks), our attention is on food. Whether we’re eating it, talking about it or, well, Instagramming it – food, in all its incarnations, is essentially our favourite pastime because we can’t lie, if we’re taking our new Sophia Webster heels on their first outing, it’s probably to the closest Polpo in a one mile radius.


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As big supporters of females killing it in their areas of expertise, it’ll come as no surprise that the rise in badass female chefs rising to fame and finding the cult followings they truly deserve is something we’re excited about. Hemsley & Hemsley, Madeleine Shaw and Ella Woodward are just a few of the big names levelling the playing field and shattering ceilings both as a chefs and entrepreneurs and one of our favourite among them is Tess Ward. Having trained at Le Cordon Bleu before working in the kitchens at top Michelin star restaurants like the Harwood Arms and The Ritz, she’s a powerhouse by any standard.

The Yes Chef Tess Ward for The Lifestyle EditFor the uninitiated, if her name sounds somewhat familiar (and if it doesn’t, we urge you to stop what you’re doing and start Googling ASAP), it’s because she’s the force behind The Yes Chef, the blog she set up to share her favourite healthy recipes and tips and tricks for upping your cooking game.

Food has been a preoccupation of hers since her university days but it hasn’t always been a proverbial piece of cake. If foodies and chefs are having a moment right now, it was necessarily that way a few years ago but she’s quietly worked away behind the scenes, spending the last few years writing a food column for Grazia, hosting supper clubs for the fashion set and growing the cult following for her blog, all of which has culminated in the launch of her debut book, The Naked Diet.

Recently, we convinced her to spend a few hours with us, hanging out in Berwick Street Food Market. Softly spoken but direct, she schooled us on the power of eating well, what she does to keep fit and how she manages to keep healthy on the go. While we indulged in fresh fruit and took a shameless amount of Instagrams of the floral bouquets on display, she also spoke to us about her love for Chanel lipstick, thoughts on budget skincare and stories of Tom Ford mascara discoveries and the only man she trusts to cut her hair.

The Yes Chef Tess Ward for The Lifestyle EditI first got into food because I had a lot of free time at uni. I found the kitchen a great refuge from hangovers and a good way to channel my creativity. When I left, I went to train in classic French cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu and spend a while working in Michelin starred kitchens. It was around the same time that I started writing for Grazia. I started seriously getting into nutrition, taking an online course at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition to learn a bit more about the ingredients I was cooking with and the benefits of using them. Fast-forward a couple of years and everything is really exciting right now. I’ve just released my book, The Naked Diet; I’ve just begun filming for a new series of videos and am about to start working on recipes for book number two! At the moment I have lots of fun dinners in the pipeline, along with chefs table events and festival demonstrations.

For me, being healthy is less a way of life and more a way to make your life better. If you focus on crowding in the good, you will naturally eat less of the bad but the trick is not to think about it too much. Being too conscious about what you eat can be just as unhealthy. In terms of how I keep healthy, I’m a big fan of yoga (I’m crazy about Triyoga right now), and also find myself walking about a lot in-between meetings. I took up weight training recently in a bid to bulk up my bamboo legs and get some shape but unfortunately, it’s been a bit of a slow process. I also have a great trainer called Oli Lee. He used to date ex-supermodel/chef, Lorraine Pascale – a pretty good walking advert for his skills. Barry’s Bootcamp is the next class on my hit list.

I am definitely more aware about the importance of skincare since working in professional kitchens. I like low maintenance regimes, but I know it’s important to keep on top of it because the environment has such a bad effect on our skin and can often lead to things like blocked pores. I’m all about an easy cleanser so love the Simple Kind To Skin Micellar Cleansing Water. I’m a big fan of Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Moisturiser to use that by day but for night, I swear by Estee Lauder’s Night Cream. For body, Neal’s Yard have some amazing body oils I can’t get enough of.

I’m really simple when it comes to my make-up. My make-up bag is full of Clarins and YSL and I’m also a sucker for a good red lippy from Chanel. My best new make-up find, though, is the Ultra Length Mascara from Tom Ford. I recently did a shoot for Time Magazine and one of the make-up artists introduced me to it. It’s honestly amazing. In terms of the pieces I couldn’t live without, RMS Beauty’s ultra moisturising Un Cover Up Concealer is up there with the Tom Ford mascara and a trusty nail file because I’m always breaking mine when I cook.

I’m lazy with my hair, which isn’t ideal because short hair takes time and work to manage. I recently bleached my hair blonde for summer, which means I’m using a lot more Moroccanoil to give it that extra bit more TLC. I bulk bought a couple of bottles and am totally planning a hair marinading session with my housemate this weekend. For my cut, I head to ENA salon in Holborn. I only let their director Sam Ryde cut it. He’s amazing and is the man behind the “Covent Garden Bob”.

Fitting in a healthy, wellbeing and beauty regime when you have a busy career can be a challenge. Travel often involves three feasting meals a day and little exercise so if I am gone for a week or so, I make sure to practice yoga or go for a walk in the quiet moments just to keep the blood flowing and keep my mental peace. But more than anything, I’m so luck to love my work and feel inspired every day by the food I eat and create and the all of the wonderful people I get to work with. It’s so important to put happiness at the forefront of what you do. It’s what helps drive me forward.

Photographs by Dvora exclusively for The Lifestyle Edit with art direction by Naomi Mdudu