Aegean

Marianna Leivaditaki is the head chef at Morito, Hackney Road. She grew up in Chania, Crete, where her father is a fisherman. They had a local seafood restaurant where Marianna helped in the kitchen from an early age. After studying forensic psychology in the UK, cycling round southern Europe and volunteering in Ecuador, she went back to work in the family restaurant for two years. She returned to the UK and asked Sam and Sam Clark of Moro for a job at Moro and has worked for them ever since. She has written recipes for Guardian Cook, was on the front cover of Observer Food Monthly magazine and helped to write the Morito cookbook. She is a judge of the Observer Food Monthly Awards.