Justa Nobre

Chef at O Nobre - Campo Pequeno (Lisbon, Portugal)

Justa Nobre is a must-know in Portuguese cuisine as one of the greatest exponents of the country's most typical fare.

She was born in the village of Vale de Prados in the Trás-os-Montes region, but left home for Lisbon aged 15 to work for the family of writer Soeiro Pereira Gomes, where she looked after his niece.

She and her husband opened their first restaurant in 1988, which they called Constituent, winning the acclaim of critics which helped launch her career as a chef. She subsequently opened the Nobre restaurant in Lisbon in 1990.

She gained a reputation on television programmes such as "Mesa à Portuguesa" in the "Chefs" series produced by RTP in 2010, where a number of Portuguese chefs discuss their lives and careers in gastronomy, and more recently as a member of the jury panel on the Portuguese "Masterchef" programme.

Justa Nobre has gained renown for reinventing popular cuisine, with gastronomic fare based on top-quality seasonal produce.