Daughter of late MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo retraces dad’s origins to the UK
The daughter of late MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo has followed in her father’s footsteps and moved to England, where she keeps his memory close.
Ava Zonfrillo, 24, had a desire to live abroad and moved to London with her British boyfriend 18 months ago.
The PR genius said on Women’s Day that this move would make her father really proud.
“I always knew I would live abroad at some point and he did that; he would give full support,” she said.
“Living abroad is the best, people are really open to making friends.”
The Scottish-born celebrity chef died suddenly in a hotel in Melbourne in April 2023.
He rose to fame as the host of many television series and in 2019, he landed the coveted role on MasterChef Australia.
He also won several awards for his Adelaide restaurant Orana between 2017 and 2020 before going into voluntary administration.
On Woman’s Day, Ms. Zonfrillo said that before he died, she traveled to Italy and Scotland with her father and saw him everywhere.
“Coming back made me feel like he was with me, in a really comforting way,” she said.
The 24-year-old said her father’s legacy is really important to her and is something she keeps alive in their lives outside of food, but the connecting point for their family has always been food.
“Most of our big family conversations took place in or near the kitchen. When my dad was there, that was a place we would naturally gravitate to,” he said.
“He was just doing things we liked, and most of the time we were either helping him or watching him do it.
“I remember my dad teaching me knife skills a few times.”
He said it was difficult to escape his father’s public death, but giving himself time and space to slow down helped him grieve.
