Christopher Richard Stein, CBE (born 4 January 1947) is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur, writer and television presenter.

He is also the head chef and a co-owner of the "Rick Stein at Bannisters" restaurants in Mollymook and Port Stephens in Australia, with his second wife, Sarah.

Distraught by his father's suicide, at age 19 he went to Australia, where he worked as a labourer in an abattoir and as a clerk in a naval dockyard.

[11] Being on his own, he read widely, reflected on his attitude to education, and applied successfully to New College, Oxford, where he earned an English degree in 1971.

[12] After graduating, Stein converted a mobile disco in Padstow, which he had run as a student, into a quayside nightclub with his friend, Johnny.

However, the nightclub lost its licence and was closed down by the police, mainly due to frequent brawls with local fishermen.

[16] In 2009, Stein made his first acquisition in the nearby village of St Merryn, 3+1⁄2 miles (6 km) from Padstow, taking over the Cornish Arms public house on the village's outskirts, intending to keep it as a traditional Cornish pub.

Stein said at the time of opening, "Ever since a memorable weekend eating Pambula oysters and flathead in Merimbula in the sixties, I've had the image of the clean blue sea and sweet seafood of the South Coast fixed in my head so when I was introduced to Mollymook about six years ago I knew that one day I would open up a restaurant celebrating local fish and shellfish but keeping it really simple.

[23] On 22 June 2020, it was confirmed that Stein's restaurant in Porthleven, Cornwall would close permanently due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[25] In 1965, when Stein was 18, his father, a retired managing director of The Distillers Company, who suffered from bipolar disorder, killed himself by jumping from a cliff near the family's holiday home at Trevose Head.

[39] Appearing live on BBC's The One Show in October 2023, promoting his book, "Simple Suppers", he shared that his heart surgery experience had inspired his back to basics recipes but he inadvertently used a swear word and the show's host and Stein had to apologise for the error.