Paterson was expelled from convent school at 15 for being disruptive. Paterson later became a matron at a girls' boarding school near Reading before ending up as a cook for the Ugandan Legation in London and becoming a well-known figure on the London party circuit. She worked on the ITV show "Candid Camera" and later became a food writer for "The Spectator"; for 15 years, she provided weekly lunches for personalities, including the Prince of Wales. She later wrote a book of recipes and reminiscences from her time at "The Spectator" entitled "Feast Days, Recipes from The Spectator", in the introduction to which the English writer A. N. Wilson professed, "Jennifer Paterson is the best cook I know."