After Dinner Speakers: Silvana Franco, Michael Whitaker, James Dyson

Born and raised in Derby to a large Italian family, Silvana enjoyed home-cooked food throughout her childhood. She trained as a chef at High Peak College in Buxton and then went on to finish her studies with a degree in Home Economy at Southbank University. Silvana got a college work placement at BBC Worldwide writing for BBC Vegetarian Good Food magazine. She soon progressed to senior writer on its sister paper, BBC Good Food and later moved on to work as Food Editor for M&S Magazine before moving into the world of television. She began behind the scenes, working as a food stylist and writer on Can't Cook Won't Cook, Ainsley's Meals in Minutes, Ainsley's Big Cook Out, Gourmet Express and Friends for Dinner. Her association with Ainsley continued in New York, where she whipped the Manhattan food team into shape for his NBC series. However, Silvana's engaging personality soon attracted producers and she started to appear on screen in her own right, working alongside Ainsley as his side-kick in Gourmet Express 2, and featuring on BBC TWO's Saturday Kitchen and Ready Steady Cook. As well as her television appearances, Silvana continues to write. In 1998 she worked on Can't Cook Won't Cook Leaves Home for BBC Books, and in 2001 and 2002 she published two books, Pizza and Pasta, for Ryland Peters & Small. She also runs a food media company called Fork with two former work colleages. A weekly column the girls wrote for The Sun called Grill Power gave cookery advice and recipes to an audience of three and a half million. We found out Silvana's secrets of the perfect store cupboard, and hassle-free dinner parties. And find out the answers to some of your culinary dilemmas in Ask Silvana.