Jamie's Kitchen

"Jamie's Kitchen" was a five part documentary series, in 2002, made by talkbackThames for Channel 4 in the UK and executive produced by Peter Moore. It followed chef Jamie Oliver as he attempted to train a group of disadvantaged youth, who would - if they completed the course - be offered jobs at Oliver's new restaurant Fifteen. This series has since spawned several others along similar lines.

Original show

Of the original Fifteen chefs, five went on to secure cooking careers. Elisa Roche (the only girl to graduate), Ralph Johnson, Tim Siadatan, Ben Arthur and Warren Fleet all ended up working in some of London's best restaurants.

An article written by Elisa Roche about bullying in the catering industry for the Guardian newspaper now forms part of the national curriculum. "If you can't stand the heat... get some balls" is now used as a study paper by English GCSE students. It is the only English GCSE study paper containing the word "bollocks".Fact|date=February 2007

Fifteen Foundation

Fifteen is the name of the restaurants and the supporting charitable foundation. The foundation's mission is to inspire disadvantaged youth, including those with drug or alcohol problems, the unemployed and the homeless, to believe in themselves and the possibility of becoming chefs.

The foundation aims to turn Fifteen into a global social enterprise brand. December 2004 saw the opening of a second restaurant in Amsterdam, with others following in Cornwall (May 2006) and Melbourne, Australia (September 2006).

"Return to Jamie's Kitchen"

A follow-up series in September 2003, "Return To Jamie's Kitchen", followed the fortunes of the restaurant after its opening.

"Jamie's Kitchen Australia

"Jamie's Kitchen Australia" began in September 2006 in Australia on Network Ten. Oliver visited Australia briefly to launch the series, and then returned to London, retaining overall control, but delegating management of the project in Melbourne to old friend, Melburnian chef Tobie Puttock. The series followed the training of a group of 16-24 year old Australians to become chefs in the new Melbourne Fifteen restaurant. [http://ten.com.au/promo.aspx?promoID=397]

"Jamie's Chef" (2007)

This continues where Jamie's Kitchen left off. Five years and fifty trainees later, Oliver's most recent series aims to help the winning trainee establish their own restaurant at The Cock, a pub near Braintree in Essex. The charitable Fifteen Foundation retains ownership of the property and has provided a £125,000 loan for the winner, Aaron Craze, to refurbish the establishment. The series consists of three, sixty minute, installments. Prior to airing, this was announced in the press as "Cutting the Apron Strings".

External links

* [http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/J/jamie/ "Jamie's Kitchen"] at Channel4.com
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1132605,00.html Elisa Roche's Guardian article]
* [http://www.fifteen.net/fifteenfoundation/Pages/FifteenFoundation.aspx Fifteen Foundation]
* [http://www.fifteencornwall.co.uk/ Fifteen Retaurant Cornwall]