Hannah Harley Young is a photographer by trade and a foodie at heart. After 10 years shooting celebrity portraits and private parties around London and internationally, she decided to follow her one true love in life: food.

Growing up in a mixed Persian–Jewish family, Hannah was introduced to the importance of good food from a young age; ingredients, fresh produce, flavours, cooking, and of course, eating!

Her mother, of Persian descent, was the primary cook in the family and educated Hannah about mixing different tastes together, creating recipes, guiding her through baking sessions, and – most importantly – included her in her infamous dinner parties, where Hannah would be sat as a guest at the table amongst the adults, eating the same food and discussing the same topics. 

This bohemian lifestyle truly set Hannah up as a young adult with confidence to walk into rooms, speak to people, carry herself confidently and embark on a successful career as a photographer.

Her father, renowned photographer Richard Young, brought his Jewish roots to the table; a religion Hannah is incredibly interested by; culturally and culinarily! The mix of simple but delicious tastes such as homemade kneidel in chicken soup, or the silkened smoked salmon on freshly made bagels, Hannah grew up with a very healthy attitude to food.

Upon entering her adult life, Hannah’s acquired taste buds pushed her to travel around the globe, discovering what the world had to offer. Curries and spices in India, Tagines and sunrise breakfasts in the Mountains in Morocco, pizza, pasta and more pizza around Italy and the best hummus and falafel in Lebanon. Hannah is not just interested in the food on the table, she’s fascinated by the people behind the food, the stories behind the people. Who are they, what do they have to say, how do they cook, how do they live, what’s their story?

Aside from enjoying the food that the world had to offer, she became an avid viewer of food shows on television. Growing up to the likes of Rick Stein, Keith Floyd, Delia Smith and Nigella Lawson, Hannah and her father would spend hours salivating at the screen, wanting to jump right in and join them on their culinary journeys. In more recent times, the rise of a new wave of food shows such as Anthony Bourdain’s series, Chef’s Table and Ugly Delicious saw a much more ambitious, documentary style approach to discussing food. But there was one big issue for Hannah as she continued to immerse herself in the content – where were the young, cool woman presenting these sorts of shows?

After much thought, she decided to take matters into her own hands and wrote a treatment for a food show; loosely taking inspiration from Bourdain’s unapologetic attitude, to the sleek footage of Chef’s Table, and so she welcomed the birth of Crazy Sexy Food. 

What was meant to be a treatment for a simple pilot episode has now turned into a YouTube channel, podcast and platform for her to finally show her adoration for food, the industry, restaurants and even travel. We see her investigating facets of the industry such as the rise of street food culture, embark on “food walks” where she sources the best pizzas and donuts in London. And the podcast; a stand alone concept, sees Hannah interview well known personalities both in and out of the food world, and talks all things food, life and everything in between. In its first season it reached the top 10 Food Podcasts in the UK and was featured on Sheerluxe.com.

Crazy Sexy Food’s approach is fresh, exciting and enticing and this is only the beginning. Bon Appetit!