Jamie's Kitchen
By 2001 it was time to move on and to leave The Naked Chef behind. I had always wanted to pass on my passion for food and to help disadvantaged youngsters, so I decided to mentor fifteen unemployed or homeless people to train as chefs with the idea that they would then staff a new restaurant, Fifteen, with me at the end of their training. All of this was captured in this documentary for Channel 4. It turned out to be a well busy year for me. I was writing a new book, had my business trips to juggle, a host of other commitments and most importantly of all, I was about to become a dad. I took a huge risk, and regardless of whether the trainees could handle it, I wasn’t sure if I could!
But the risk was worth it. The restaurant is still up and running, we've got more Fifteens in Amsterdam, Cornwall and Melbourne and, with the help of the Fifteen Foundation charity which I set up, we are on our fifth intake of students at the moment in London. I'm really proud of them all and I'm so glad that it all worked out as I thought it was going to fall flat and break the bank at any minute!
• 7 x 60 minute episodes
• first aired: UK, Channel 4, Nov 2002
