Jamie Oliver unveils his one-stop cooking shop in Battersea's Nappy Valley
7:40am Wednesday 25th February 2009
Exclusive By Katie Wilson » Your Local Guardian UK
Pukka: Jamie Oliver at Recipease, his latest venture
Jamie Oliver’s new shop Recipease opens its doors in Battersea on Thursday. Reporter KATIE WILSON caught up with the naked chef.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is the first to admit it is not the best time to be starting a business, but his new shop Recipease has been years in the making.
The chef has chosen a spot near Clapham Junction station to launch his innovative new venture: a cooking shop where visitors can pop in for ingredients, baking lessons and even utensils from Jamie’s very own JME range.
It stems from a long-standing belief that everyone should have access to good food - an idea Jamie has pushed ever since he found fame as the naked chef in 1998.
Now the pukka 33-year-old has turned it into reality by opening his first Recipease shop in St John’s Road, Battersea.
“Recipease means recipes made easy. It’s a response to modern day life. There is nothing like this in the country.
"People can make food themselves, pick up freshly-prepared meals in our ‘grab and go’ section or get advice on where to buy great local produce. There really is something for everyone,” says Jamie.
So, why choose Battersea?
“We thought it was a good starting base. There are lots of professionals and families, it’s ethnically diverse, and it has great independent food shops.
"Rather than taking away anyone’s business, we want to be a resource centre for the community,” he added.
Customer’s can book a do-it-yourself cooking session, take part in a chef-run master class or drop in anytime to make an impromptu pizza or curry.
The Recipease team have also contacted local schools to offer cooking lessons to kids - something Jamie says has not happened for the past 12 years.
“Kids don’t learn anything about food in school anymore. That’s something we are trying to change,” he says.
“Celebrity chefs can only do so much. You can’t really learn from the TV, it’s about real life teaching and having the confidence to do it. That’s what makes you a great cook.”
Jamie, whose wife Jools is expecting their third child next month, hopes Recipease will change the way people think about food.
He says: “Seventy per cent of people in the UK don’t get time to cook and we consume more pre-packaged food than the whole of Europe put together. We want to get people cooking with fresh food again.
“Genuinely, the most important thing about the business is not the business. It’s about trying to empower people who are nervous about cooking or are already good at cooking to have a go.
“It’s a risk opening a business right now. It will either work or it won’t, but fingers crossed it does.”
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