User:Barb22/Laura Sharrad

Laura Sharrad is a chef and two-time Masterchef Australia Runner Up. She appeared on the sixth season of MasterChef Australia, where her presence became more known. Laura took her cooking skills and began her food carer most notably from her time in the MasterChef kitchen. After her time on the show she explored working as a pastry chef alongside judge Jock Zonfrillo at his restaurant Orana, before moving onto Andres Cucina for three years. Sharrad then spent time gaining more experience at the award-winning Hently Farm in the wine producing region of South Australia in Barossa Valley in 2018, before developing her own restaurant, Nido Bar and Pasta, alongside her husband and fellow chef Max Sharrad.

Career
Laura Sharrad was born as Laura Cassai in February 1996 in Melbourne, Australia. Sharrad was born into an Italian family, where she became inspired by food as a way of life. She spent the majority of her childhood learning and practicing making different pasta dishes like gnocchi with her grandmother. Over the years, she became more driven to learn more about the Italian food culture and her family’s traditions. Sharrad attended and graduated from Siena College in Camberwell, Melbourne in 2012. She later decided she wanted to work in the food industry and after spending the majority of her life living in suburban Melbourne, her parents moved to McLaren Vale, South Australia in early 2013. This is where Sharrad’s love of food expanded to new heights as she attended the local markets every weekend and cooked with fresh produce she grew herself or gathered. Sharrad then decided to attend Flinders University and was in the process of completing her first year of her Bachelor of Health Science degree, when she applied for Masterchef Australia 2014.

In 2014, Sharrad flew to Melbourne to pursue her love of food on the television show. After spending six months in the Masterchef Kitchen, she had made it to the Grand Final. Sharrad was eventually crowned Runner-Up of Masterchef Australia 2014. She was mentored by the Chef Marco Pierre-White, who left her inspired to expand her career in the food industry.

After her time on Masterchef Australia, she got a job working as a Junior Chef for Jock Zonfrillo’s Restaurant known as Orana, in Adelaide. While working at Orana, she met her now husband, Max Sharrad. She also began writing an Italian inspired cookbook, which later came to bookstores in April 2015. Sharrad also took her passion and became an Ambassador for the Starlight foundation in Australia where she gets to help ill children in need. Aside from splitting her time cooking and volunteering she works works for San Remo Pasta, where she endorses their incredible brands, cooking at events and creating recipes for them.