Skye Gyngell was singular. She had the palate of a chef and the palette of an artist

Her commitment to food directly connected to its source shaped the tastes and thinking of a generation of cooks. We all wanted to sit next to her at dinner

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pring is a season of transition, when bare earth transforms into something alive with promise. It was also the name chef Skye Gyngell, who has died at age 62, chose for her London restaurant. She said it was her favourite season, but the truth is she embraced all four and lived them wholly.

Gyngell was singular: she had the palate of a chef and the palette of an artist. Those twin gifts met in food that was painterly in its composition, delicate in its details and tuned to nature’s shifting notes.

It was that interplay that made her so beguiling, placing her at the heart of a movement she never sought to lead, yet in her own quiet, uncompromising way undeniably did. It is why she stands as one of the most significant chefs of her generation.