Firepower: the Women Redefining BBQ

She’s the editor of the multi-award winning independent food magazine, Pit, and a freelance food editor, recipe developer and food writer working across most major UK publications.

Shauna Guinn founded Hang Fire, with Samantha Evans, in 2013 after a six-month barbecue pilgrimage through the Southern United States, immersing themselves in the culture of slow-and-low cooking. Now internationally recognised ambassadors for outdoor cooking, Sam & Shauna have won major accolades including Observer Food Monthly Best Restaurant, Slow Food UK Best Restaurant, BBC Food Awards Best Street Food and NatWest Entrepreneur of the Year. They co-created and hosted three series of the BBC’s Sam & Shauna’s Big Cookout, appear regularly on national television, judge leading food awards, and co-authored the bestselling Hang Fire Cookbook. They run their own popular BBQ school in Wales.

Genevieve Taylor is the author of 14 cookery books including How to BBQ and the bestselling trilogy Scorched, Seared and Charred. She runs the Bristol Fire School, a cookery school with the principal aim of helping people light better fires to cook better food. As well as writing and teaching in the UK, Genevieve travels the world cooking, teaching and learning with other BBQ chefs and pitmasters. She is a member of Parrilleras Internacionales (International Association of Women Grillers), is on the International Advisory Council of the AEAP (Spanish Association of Grill Masters and Pitmasters) and is a WBQA Judge (World Barbecue Association).

Melissa is the author of two cookbooks: Fired Up celebrates barbecue with modern recipes and tips on the BBQ basics for beginners. Her debut cookbook, Motherland, charts the island’s history through food with accompanying recipes. Of Maltese and Jamaican descent and based in London, her heritage features heavily in her food. An ambassador for global BBQ brand Weber, Melissa has demonstrated the art of jerk and barbecue cooking to audiences across the UK and Europe, and is a regular chef at Meatopia. She is a panellist on Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet, and writes for national publications about food.