LIVE 24-SEVEN
A CAREER THAT BOASTS FIVE AA ROSETTES, MICHELIN STARS, 'CHEF'S CHEF AWARDS'…
people that watch the programmes, a real mix of people – farmers, producers, people that enjoy watching cooking – it’s fabulous. There are more and more kids that are enjoying cookery shows and that has to be a wonderful thing.
Talk to us about your cookery school or academy…you're extremely passionate about it and it’s busier than ever, isn't it? Yes, it’s very busy, it’s also where I live, so I balance that with my family, it’s my life, my heart and my home. We don’t have classes every day. On Saturday I have 12 people coming in, but we usually take groups of eight. People are booking well in advance, which is fantastic, I love that, you know they are waiting to get in, some are waiting months and months... A good sign… Yes…the thing is when we do it we do it well, rather than overloading courses we’re getting people excited.
Jean-Christophe, we've chatted previously for my magazine, but so much has happened since then, to include a busy summer of festivals. As the nation's favourite Frenchman, do you enjoy the ‘meet and greet’ side of festivals and chatting to admirers of your cooking – and admirers of you? [Laughing] Yes, of course I know you Katie! Yes, I do enjoy festivals and meeting people and chatting to them, it’s just the way I am. I am so busy with my school, TV and other projects that it’s my way of catching up with people; we’re there to socialise, to be part of society! Don’t forget most of those people have something in common with me – that’s cooking, they enjoy cooking too… and drinking wine and so on… [laughing]
You’re no stranger to TV work, it feels like there's a different foodie show for every night of the week, the nation has a growing obsession with food, but do you think that the shows are encouraging us to become more practical or nip to a high-end store and get that meal pre-made? I think shows like the ones on TV can only add to our knowledge and the more people watching the shows and making what they see, using that knowledge, I think it’s just fabulous, whether it’s baking or whatever. Also, kids, children are watching shows and learning, which is so important. Just like people going to festivals, there is a mix of
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Who attends? Are they for professionals or can the absolute beginner like me attend? There aren’t as many professionals attending, but it is people who love food. The first thing we do is find who they are and where they’re from. Every week we have people from right across the country, from all walks of life, we have people who collect bins to top executives. It’s a mix of people and they all get on – we create a great environment. Also, Katie we have people who are coming from all over the world – and I mean that genuinely – we had a woman coming to Europe, she was from Australia, she flew to London, stayed the night there and spent the next day with us, then spent the night in a hotel before flying on to Portugal for her holiday, then back to Australia. So, all that way for a cookery school with us! We don’t have any French by the way, [laughing] we have people from Cyprus, Germany and Russia, in fact we had Abramovich’s head chef who can’t speak English very well – he brought a translator with him. I don’t care if I have to speak Martian [laughing] as long as they enjoy it.
‘Sourced locally’, ‘organic’, ‘street food’ are all words we hear so often, are you conscious of trends when you're teaching or is it about the fundamentals of cooking? Yes of course, you have to be aware of everything, everything for us is sourced fresh, that’s important, organic can be quite expensive, but you can have some fresh or fresh local ingredients that does the same job! It’s like going shopping once a week, you buy lots which can be expensive, whereas if you go a few times of a week and you buy less and fresh then you have hardly any food left over; less waste.
Your career boasts five AA Rosettes, Michelin Stars, 'Chef's Chef Awards'… the list goes on…but if you can pick a defining moment in your career, what would it be? When my kids were born!
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