World-renowned Aussie chef Bill Granger has passed away aged 54 following a battle with cancer according to the Daily Mail.
It is understood Granger had been given the diagnosis earlier in the year before he passed away in a London hospital surrounded by family on Christmas Day.
His devastated loved ones revealed the legendary chef had died ‘peacefully’ in a post made to the chef’s Instagram.
‘A dedicated husband and father, Bill died peacefully in hospital with his wife Natalie Elliott and three daughters, Edie, Inès and Bunny, at his bedside in their adopted home of London,’ the post read.
Granger, who spent a lot of his time overseas was born in Melbourne, Australia. He was a self-taught cook who went on to become a globally renowned restaurateur and food writer having a career which spanned over 30 years.
In 1999, Granger and his wife Natalie, jumped into a professional partnership that launched their business globally, to now having 19 restaurants across Sydney, London, Greater Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Seoul.
Granger has also authored 14 cookbooks, produced five TV series and most recently was awarded the honour of Medal of the Order of Australia in January 2023.
Granger will be remembered as the ‘King of Breakfast’, for making boring and often over looked foods into delicious and now insanely popular meals and for kickstarting the growth of informal and communal eating from Australia to all corners of the world.
The chef has also been credited with invention one of the now most iconic breakfast menu items that has since defined a generation being avocado on toast.
The Washington Post has traced back to the first ‘recorded sighting’ of avocado on toast to Granger’s Darlinghurst cafe where the chef put the now-famous breakfast item on the menu in 1993 only out of necessity.
His cafe had restricted trading hours of 7am to 4pm, meaning that he was forced to open his doors for breakfast to be able to pay his rent.
Granger is also now credited as being the first person to put his avo on toast recipe in a cookbook, which he has said felt “silly”.
Granger burst onto the international stage in 2002, earning the title of ‘the egg master of Sydney’ from the illustrious New York Times. They said his scrambled eggs were “as light as the breath of an angel.”
The untimely passing of Granger sparked an overwhelming wave of sorrow within the Australian and global culinary community.
“I’m heartbroken to hear this. So cruel. Deepest love to N, E, I and B,” Nigella Lawson wrote.
Jamie Oliver, wrote that he was “devastated” after hearing news of Granger’s passing and went on to describe the chef as a “wonderful human” who made simple food good.
“This is devastating news, I’m so sad to hear this, what a guy he was …. a wonderful human, kind calm soul,” Jamie wrote.
Former MasterChef Australia host Matt Preston said “Bill was a genuinely lovely bloke and an inspiration. Together he (with Natalie by his side) helped shape the image of modern Australian food around the world” and “My thoughts are with his family, friends and all those he worked with at this sad time.”
