MasterChef winner Natalie Coleman has praised Chingford and the surrounding area as ‘fantastic’ and says she has fond memories of her time growing up there – but not the school dinners.

Natalie, who lived in Westward Road, moved to Chingford when she was four and left when she was 18.

She triumphed last night in front of a weekly audience of over 10 million, beating two other male finalists, Larkin Cen and Dale Williams, both from Cardiff, to become the 11th MasterChef champion.

Speaking to the Guardian today the 29-year-old former credit controller and DJ revealed she still had family in the area and that her childhood and teenage memories from the area were great.
She said, however, that her school dinners weren’t the healthiest.

“I remember lumpy mashed potato and custard. In secondary school we had cheese pasties and chips and there was the ice cream van outside the school gates.”

The third woman to take the title in nine years, she attended Chase Lane Primary School and went on to go to the same school as David Beckham – Chingford Foundation School.

She added: “Growing up with my sister and parents here there’s a lot of memories from my child and teenage years.

“I liked Epping Forest and the lakes up in Chingford, I used to go there for rowing club.
“I used to play football too and liked football days.”

Her parents and sister still live in Chingford.

She said: “I don’t think they’ll ever move out of the area, they love it.”

She finished by saying Chingford was a really fantastic place to grow up and the schools I went to were fantastic.

She has since moved to Hackney and says her short-term goal is to try and get a job in a kitchen.

Of her win last night, the self-proclaimed ‘proper cockney’ said: “It's a dream come true! This is probably the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life. It's like a fairytale really, the girl from Hackney done good!”

Natalie will be appearing at the BBC Good Food Show Summer and the new MasterChef book - MasterChef: The Finalists - is due out in October 2013.