Snapshot of Me – How did I get where I am today. 27 years of hard work and play of course

I was born in the summer of 1969 in London, England, and was spoon fed paella and curry thanks to my Spanish mother and Pakistani father, As a child I attended the Campbell School of Dancing where I studied Ballet, Tap and Modern Dance for several years, on stage at the tender age of six, performing in the school’s variety shows to raise money for the founder Pat Campbell’s cancer charity.

I attended Notre Dame High School, www.notredame.southwark.sch.uk/  where I received an excellent education, my favourite subjects being English Language,Literature,Geography,Food and Nutrition, French and Business Studies.  I also loved Dance, Gymnastics, and played for the school Netball and Hockey Teams. During summer holidays, a play sport programme, enabled me to learn roller-hockey, badminton, trampolining and table tennis. I also learned to play all three recorders, the guitar and clarinet. Upon graduation  in 1986, I embarked on a ten-year career in the media business in London. Where I worked with some incredibly creative minds in a plethora of London’s leading  and cutting-edge advertising, publishing, TV-production, music, pr and  marketing agencies. I also assisted with the organisation of fundraising balls for Save The Children.

My wanderlust spirit was nudging me and so I accepted a job on the Greek Island of Lefkada, and there spent two seasons managing a small taverna, djing and working as a tour representative. This gave me the opportunity to unearth my real passion for food, people, geography, travel and music. It was here I fell in love with a sailor and the sea, and learned to sail   and received my day skipper license.  http://www.activityholidaysgreece.com/newpage/greece.php

And so I  spent the next fifteen years working as a chef/first mate and stewardess and sometimes engineer on some pretty hot sailing yachts. Zooming around half of the globe with shoreside time in the Greek Islands, the British Virgin Islands,The Islands of  The Bahamas, The Balearic Islands, Malta, Italy and her Islands, the South of France, South Florida and the Eastern Seaboard. Covering over 60,000 nautical miles, with two Atlantic crossings.

I managed to fit in stints as a senior chef de partie at the Fifth Floor restaurant at Harvey Nichols, Sous Chef in London Gastro pubs and Head Chef at Private Members club The Green Room in Soho. These experiences  have honed my repertoire of World Cuisine, with a melting pot of flavours and cooking styles to call upon.

On the strength of a blog I had written in 2005 about one of my adventures at sea, I had my first paid commission for Dockwalk Magazine www.dockwalk.com  This led to my parallel career as a  freelance photo-journalist.

My articles and photographs have been  published  in the worldwide yachting and travel press, imparting my unique style to subjects such as cruising itineraries, gastronomy, career tips for yachting crew, investigative pieces, industry news and other adventures http://issuu.com/christina.bridge/docs I speak Spanish, fairly good French and  Italian and smatterings of Greek, Turkish, and Urdu.

I an honored to have studied Taoist Arts with Grand Master Mantak Chia and Master Kris Deva North  and am qualified to give Zen shiastsu treatments.

I keep in shape by using my own form of discipline, which combines, Yoga,Aikido,Iron Shirt Chi Kung, Tai Chi and Ballet.

After four years of living in South Florida(the recession sent me back to London in April 2009. After living away for nearly 16 years, it was like starting in a whole new country again.  So after walking many paths and not getting anywhere I received a wonderful invite to the Cities of  The Sea Event Greek Island of Santorini, 2010,  this gave birth to the ‘pocket chef’ where we filmed this little fun video in a few days with no rehearsal, my first time in front of a camera

As fate takes a hand in these matters I was taken on by Andy from celebrity chefs and so met the lovely Franck Pontais winner of Iron Chef UK who introduced me to Hulya Erdal owner of http://www.madebythechef.com/ and it started a pot of ideas bubbling away in our creative minds.  So about a year ago to date we have already completed our first successful project the consultation on the new menus and the launch and social media for Frame Bar and Restaurant in Athens we are almost ready to launch our second major project as a collaborative effort with our gastronomic team this project also encompases all the elements of what we are about.

The Gastronomes.    

A Worldwide collaboration of Chefs, Gastronomic and Travel Journalists(member of The International Travel Writers Alliance), Photographers, Producers, Directors, Artists, Philanthropists, Oeneophiles, Musicians and Singers, and other multi-talented individuals. We are active supporters of www.kiva.org and www.unifem.org , www.actionagainsthunger.org ,

Nourishing The Spirit of Humanity:Projects to uplift and inspire people: Charity, Gastronomy, Music, Art, Travel, Education. Intelligent TV Content, Responsible Social Media

https://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomes

https://twitter.com/thegastronomes

http://worldtv.com/the_gastronomes

photo taken by Soley Mustafa

We have such an amazing team who believe in our spirit of sharing.  To find out more about our projects  and our team and how you can get involved or for how we can help your business please email us here: we will not share you email address or send you anything Spam related.  We only do tinned tomatoes.. Thanks

Some Lovely Tokens of appreciation below:

“One of the few people I know whose performance exceeds promise. If you get the chance to work with Chrissie, grab it.” Kris Deva North, Taoist Master. www.healing-tao.co.uk

Christina, I just wanted to thank you for your help and perseverance over the past couple of weeks, we could not have managed without you! I know only too well how difficult it is to turn up and have to perform without the luxury of time to establish yourself and find your feet in a new environment. I stand in awe of your expertise as a chef and ability to keep turning out consistently great food, your presentation, delicious flavours and pure quantity required by such a demanding bunch of guests is a true sign of your professionalism.

Capt, Christopher Shaw, M.Y. Gemini, Palma De Mallorca ( gave me the name Pocket-Chef)

 “I have known Chrissie Bridge for over ten years, she is a ball of positive energy bringing a can do attitude to any situation she finds herself in.  I have watched her cook Peking duck in an Atlantic gale, help pass much needed water and fuel to drifting refugees in the Gibraltar straights and  smile her way bleary eyed through many a night watch.   She has been entertaining guests and crewmembers at sea for many years and I am sure her lively spirit is as welcome ashore as it was in the many ports around the world she would  sail in and drop her hook for awhile.” 

Captain Phillip Duffy, President Interface Marine. www.interfacemarine.com