United Kingdom portal Dame Mary Rosa Alleyne Hunnings[3] DBE (née Berry; born 24 March 1935) is an English food writer, chef, baker and television presenter.

She then moved to France at the age of 22 to study at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, before working in a number of cooking-related jobs.

Mary's great-great-grandfather on her father's side, Robert Houghton, was a master baker in the 1860s who provided bread for a local workhouse in Norwich.

[1] Her first creation in the class was a treacle sponge pudding which she took home, and her father told her that it was as good as that made by her mother.

At the age of 22, she applied to work at the Dutch Dairy Bureau, while taking City & Guilds courses in the evenings.

[1] She then persuaded her manager to pay for her to undertake the professional qualification from the French Le Cordon Bleu school.

[8] She left the Dutch Dairy Bureau to become a recipe tester for PR firm Benson's, where she began to write her first book.

She has since cooked for a range of food-related bodies, including the Egg Council and the Flour Advisory Board.

[12] She has also appeared on a BBC Two series called The Great British Food Revival, and her solo show, Mary Berry Cooks, began airing on 3 March 2014.

[16] She describes Raymond Blanc's restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons as one of her favourites as well as the Old Queen's Head, local to where she lives in Penn, High Wycombe.

[23][24] In 2018, Berry was a judge on Britain's Best Home Cook alongside chef Dan Doherty and Chris Bavin.

[34][35] During November and December 2023, Berry presented Mary Makes It Easy; a six-part series that aired on BBC Two.

However, some viewers were outraged during the first series when a decision was made to make the contestants use one of Hollywood's recipes for scones instead of one of Berry's.

[1] Her work on the show with Hollywood led to The Guardian's suggesting that it was the "best reality TV judging partnership ever.

"[40] In September 2016, Love Productions announced that a three-year deal to broadcast the show on Channel 4 instead of the BBC from 2017 had been agreed.

The competition sought a new pudding dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II as part of the official Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 marking the 70th anniversary of her accession on 6 February 1952.

As part of the BBC Two programme Mary Berry's Easter Feast at Easter 2016, Berry visited Bishopthorpe Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of York, who is the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, and filmed a special "Cooking with the Archbishop" segment.

[62] Berry was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to culinary arts.

[70] Berry was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting, the culinary arts and charity.