Age: 30

State: New South Wales

Occupation: Registered nurse

Instagram: @annabellloyd_

Having grown up in Canberra, Annabel Lloyd has been a Bondi local for 12 years, where she lives with her younger brother and sister. Her happy place is in the water, and she can often be found swimming or surfing. Her other happy place is, of course, the kitchen.

Annabel is a registered nurse, working in heart and lung transplant retrieval and formerly in the intensive care unit (ICU). Her career has followed in the footsteps of her parents’; mum Pippa is a former ICU nurse and dad Greg, a doctor. She has also inherited her mum’s deep love of food, with childhood memories of weekends spent at farmers’ markets, talking to growers and cooking for family. Annabel’s curiosity and creativity in the kitchen were sparked, and she has never looked back.

Having spent most of her adult life working in the ICU, working on the frontline during the COVID pandemic saw Annabel reevaluate what’s important to her. Cooking provided much-needed respite from the confronting intensity and pressure of long days as a frontline worker. It has long been a hobby, but the idea of turning her love of food into a career is now coming into sharper focus.

Growing up, Annabel’s family home had an incredible vegetable garden that she would forage, loving the farm-to-table approach to cooking. Describing her own style as rustic, Annabel loves to cook food that is generous and produce-driven, leaning on bold flavours and restaurant techniques. She loves nothing more than planning a menu featuring seasonal ingredients to share with family and friends. In the future, she would love to work as a private chef, providing unforgettable, intimate dining experiences, as well as pursuing pop-up restaurant opportunities to share her food more widely.

Not one to favour savoury or sweet, as both have their place, Annabel is adaptable and always up for a challenge, trusting her palate to build depth and balance in a dish.

After facing tough times as a healthcare worker, Annabel has resilience, stamina and the ability to cope well with pressure, attributes that will stand her in good stead in the MasterChef Australia kitchen as she gets ready to take her food game to the next level.