Jenny Bristow

Bristow was brought up on her family's dairy farm near Coleraine.[1] Before her broadcasting career, Bristow worked as a home economics teacher.[2][3] She has three children.[3]

Bristow made her first television appearance on Ulster Television's Farming Ulster in 1989 demonstrating how to cook with potatoes, which led a producer at the station to offer Bristow her own series.[4]

• High Days and Holidays[5]
• High Days and Other Days (1992)[6]
• Cookin' in the Kitchen (1995)[7]
• Jenny's Country Cooking (1997–1998, 2 series)[8]
• Cooked in a Flash (1999–2000, 2 series)[9]
• Jenny Bristow Cooks Gloriously Good Food (2001)[10]
• Jenny Bristow Cooks for the Seasons (2002–2003, 2 series)[11]
• Jenny Bristow Light (2003)[12]
• Jenny Bristow: A Taste of Sunshine (2005)[13]
• Jenny Bristow's USA (2007)[14]

All of the above series were produced by UTV, and were filmed in a converted barn at Bristow's farm near Cullybackey.[2] Bristow's series have been transmitted in other ITV regions (Border,[7] Central,[6] Grampian,[6] Granada[5][7] and LWT,[6] and on television stations in the United States and Australia.[3]

Ratings for Bristow's series have peaked at 215,000 viewers in Northern Ireland.[15]

Bristow has so far published twelve cookery books.[1] Books accompanying Bristow's most recent series have been published by Belfast-based publisher Blackstaff Press.[16] Recipes from Bristow's books have appeared in the Belfast Telegraph[17] and Sunday Life[18] newspapers.

As well as her television and writing work, Bristow takes part in cookery demonstrations and corporate and charitable events.[1] Bristow has taken part in corporate events such as the Balmoral Show[19] and Women on the Move,[20] as well as fundraising events for UNICEF,[21] Macmillan Cancer,[21] the British Heart Foundation[22] and Northern Ireland Hospice Care.[23] Bristow has also been involved in awareness campaigns encouraging people to consume less salt[24] and getting children to practice healthy eating.[25]

In 2007, a Ballymena-based company introduced a biscuit range using recipes created by Bristow.[26][27]

Bristow was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting and the food industry in Northern Ireland.[28]

• Jenny Bristow's website