Gordon Ramsay has made a name for himself as a straight-talking celebrity chef, who intrigues TV audiences with his foul-mouth rants in the kitchen. The Best You caught up with him to find out what sparks his fire
Scotland, and largely grew up in Stratford upon Avon, says his start in the culinary world was a happy accident. He was a promising football player and tried for Rangers until an injury ended his chances of a sporting career. He then entered catering college, in his late teens and since then has developed his personality in the kitchen rather than on the football fi eld. Having moved to London, he soon rose
C
through the ranks via Marco Pierre White’s tutelage and had a successful spell in Paris before returning to UK. His culinary skills were developing at a pace but he hit a steep learning curve when it came to business. “I’d just come back from Paris with all
elebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has carved a name for himself as the Simon Cowell of reality TV cooking shows. Ramsay, who was born in Renfrewshire,
this knowledge, got introduced to some guys who had an Italian restaurant. They offered me 25 percent of it, I didn’t know what I was getting 25 percent of. It turned out to be 25 percent of debt. But what do you know at 26?” Ramsay made a success of the place but eventually left the enterprise and in 1998 launched his own restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea. A sensation on the London scene, his solo project consolidated his reputation and
helped him become the fi rst Scotsman to
gain three Michelin stars. Excelling in modern European cuisine,
Ramsay currently owns restaurants in USA, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Qatar and several in UK including Plane Food in Heathrow. His eatery empire has grown along with his TV career, notably with Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares on both sides of the Atlantic. Ramsay’s fi ery nature in the heat of the kitchen and tell-it-like-it-is attitude
make for irresistible viewing, as delicious as his dishes. “It’s not an act,” insists Ramsay. “We’ve fi lmed Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen and it’s under the extraordinary pressure because I’m so pissed – the fact that they’re spending hours of wasting customers’ time, their own time and charging a fortune for dishes and they’re not even putting their love and soul into it. So I expose them in a big way.” Married
to school teacher Tana Hutcheson since 1996, Ramsay and his wife have four children. Dividing his time between his business pursuits and family life, Ramsay also fi nds time for marathon running. “Having been a fat chef once, I don’t want to go back there,” he says.
When you fi rst started cooking, did your dream to own restaurants automatically follow? Not every chef gets to own their own restaurants.
GR: It’s a good question. There are a lot of great chefs out there that never get the