Kitty Travers

Originally from London, Kitty Travers was a waitress in a hotel in Cannes when her daily visits to an ice cream shop inspired her to set up her own ice cream business. She decided to cross the pond and enrolled at ICE to help hatch her plan. She completed her externship at Otto, working with pastry chef Meredith Kutzman to produce the restaurant’s renowned gelatos. In 2003, she was hired by Fergus Henderson, and spent three and a half years at St. John. Henderson selected her as one of his 10 chefs of the future for the book Coco: 10 World-Leading Masters Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs. She has made name for herself in England thanks to her line of artisanal ice creams, La Grotta Ices. She has no shop, but rather sells her wares in take-out containers out of a three-wheeler pick-up truck that includes a freezer in the back, as well as to restaurants in London. The busy ice cream maker is a consultant for a national restaurant chain in Great Britain; she retooled all of their recipes and upped their quality, using milk from a Welsh organic producer. She also teaches at the School of Artisan Food, which strives to educate people on producing food using artisanal techniques and sustainable resources.