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Raise Your Game: What inspired you to become a chef?

Ainsley Harriott: I started to take a keen interest in food when I was 16 years old. When I was a young teenager my mother always encouraged my brother, my sister and I to get involved in the kitchen - stirring and smelling things so we would understand how things were made. That sounds so basic, but it's only basic if you know.

It helped to grow up in a household where food was actually cooked. It's being healthy and being aware about the foods you put in your mouth. If you can start to understand that you'll feel so good about yourself.

RYG: Are fresh ingredients key to a healthy diet?

AH: It's good to have fresh ingredients, but let's not completely ignore some frozen ingredients. Vegetables are absolutely brilliant because as soon as they come out of the ground they are prepared and frozen instantly.

However, you can't beat fresh ingredients and seasonal fresh ingredients even more so. There's nothing quite like the taste of a beautiful summer strawberry. If you get vegetables in season, the difference is remarkable compared to vegetables that might have been imported. I like carrots that have got a bit of personality and have three or four legs (laughs)! They may look weird but they taste fantastic.

RYG: Is it important to have a balanced diet?

AH: Absolutely. People sometimes say that it's cheaper to give their kids a couple of pounds to get themselves a burger or pizza. I don't mind people doing that, but not every night. It's like everything in life, you've got to get the balance right.

I know that some people feel that cooking is time consuming, but cooking is an activity that you can do for yourself and you'll be in good condition to do all the other things that you want to do in your life for a very long time. Your skin and hair feel good, you sleep better and you start feeling so much better about yourself when you start eating properly.

RYG: You recently teamed up with Dame Kelly Holmes to put healthy eating back on the menu for students and young athletes. Can you tell us more about this project?

AH: We have all these fantastic athletes, especially as we approach London 2012, and after conducting research Dame Kelly Holmes and I discovered that young athletes' diets weren't particularly good. They wanted to eat properly and cook for themselves, but they just didn't know how and a few of them felt a little bit embarrassed about sharing that.

Once we began to share this problem and talk about it, many of the young people realised that they weren't on their own and that many of them felt the same way. Dame Kelly's involvement was remarkable because she was able to bring attention to these issues and she gave the young people the confidence to speak out.

As a result, we organised a day where we would all cook together. We showed these young athletes how to cook simple recipes which wouldn't make them feel intimidated, such as a basic Bolognese and how to make their own energy bars and some really cool deserts.

The students enjoyed it. They went away having learned something that they felt confident about and they cooked in front of their friends. We received some really fabulous letters afterwards saying "I'm still making the energy bars," "I can make Bolognese now and my mum thinks I'm a great cook." They went back with this new-found confidence and that's what it's all about.

RYG: What can you learn through cooking?

AH: Cooking gives you the ability to grow as a person and to give yourself confidence. You can invite people around, you can sit down and eat together and it makes you feel about ten feet tall because you've done it with your own hands. Cooking is a life skill.

We need to eat every day so why not find out about what you're putting into your body? Let's address that and let's find out how to prepare it.

RYG: Tell us about your previous role as head chef of the Long Room at Lord's Cricket Ground.

AH: Lord's Cricket Ground was a great opportunity. My cousin is Jeffrey Dujon who was a great batsman and wicket keeper for the West Indies cricket team so I was very excited to take up the post.

I was responsible for looking after people who had a passion for sport but they also needed to eat. Unlike a football match which lasts 90 minutes, cricket can last all day especially when it's a one day international.

You have to have the right team on board, the right produce and you've got to deliver at meal times so there's a real discipline about it.

RYG: Does healthy eating have an effect on performance?

AH: Definitely. When I was working on the Olympic cookbook it was amazing to discover how different athletes need different types of diets. Everybody thinks that an athlete has to eat lots of carbohydrates, however some athletes don't need that. Some sports such as sprinting are explosive so you need a diet that will give you the energy for that moment. You've got to get the balance right.

It was fascinating to work alongside Olympic athletes such as Matthew Pinsent and Steve Redgrave and finding out a little bit about them, their diets and the types of foods that they liked. Like anybody else, they liked to pig out on a bit of junk food every now and then, but they also knew that they couldn't do that all the time if they wanted to keep their body in peak condition to compete at the highest level.

RYG: What would your advice be to any young athletes who are training hard but might be ignoring their diets?

AH: Food is fuel and it keeps us going just like a car needs petrol. When you're running a car it's important to think about what fuel you're putting in because if you put in the rough stuff, what's going to happen? The car's going to slow down and perform badly because you've neglected it. If you look after it, you'll see how well it performs and it's exactly the same with our bodies.

Let's care and nurture what we've got here. You are looking after something from a very early stage. Like a plant, you're giving it food and water and when it grows, look at the amount of buds it gives you. Every year it flourishes and comes back time and time again. Look after yourselves and don't be embarrassed about it.

RYG: What would be the best way to start being more pro-active in their diets?

AH: Try and spend a couple of nights a week cooking something up. It doesn't have to be complicated, it can be something really simple. One of the key things is to encourage people to have a go in the kitchen and not to be embarrassed by it.

It doesn't happen over night, but you can start by using a microwave to make a jacket potato. While it's cooking you could chop some leak and bacon, fry it off, then finish that jacket potato in a nice hot oven and serve it with some half fat crème fraiche with the leaks and bacon on top. It's just delicious, it's simple and once you build your confidence you can take it that little bit further.

RYG: What would your advice be to any young people wanting to be the next Ainsley Harriott?

AH: You need to be enthusiastic and you've got to be dedicated. I used to say to people when they worked in the kitchen "If you start at 7am, get here at 6:50am so that you can get changed into your whites and be ready to go." Think about it as if you were running a football game that kicks off at 3 o'clock. If the players roll up at 3 o'clock and they haven't got their boots, how do you expect it to start?

Be ready, be prepared, be alert and then everybody around you will notice and they will want to share their skills with you even more. You're showing that you're enthusiastic, you care and that you're dedicated. It's not always easy, but if you've got a passion and a desire to do something then your natural energy will get you through.