Gino D'Acampo

16-10-2009

Gino D'Acampo has turned things around. From the boy who cleaned the pizza oven in Naples to the food manager at a Pavarotti reception, the direction of his young life's journey so far could have been very different.

Born into a poor Neapolitan family, Gino inherited his grandfather's (a head chef) love of cooking and entered the Luigi de Medici Catering College at the age of fifteen. He continued to develop his skills through the kitchens of restaurants in Europe, including Perignon in Nice and a spell as Head Chef at Sylvester Stallone's Mambo King in Marbella (aged 19) before coming to England the following year.

Here, he took on Head Chef assignments in London restaurants - including Pane Vino and The Orchard in Belsize Park - before joining a major Italian food company as Development Chef. He has also developed recipes for Tesco (their Finest range), was Head Chef at the Italian Ambassador's birthday reception and took care of the food at the aforementioned Pavarotti concert reception.

His particular skill in the blending of olive oil led to his first TV engagement with UK Food as a guest on Good Food Live . Such was his immediate success that, besides making frequent appearances as studio guest chef, he became a featured co-presenter. BBC TV soon took notice of his natural ability and regular appearances on BBC2's leading food programme Saturday Kitchen quickly followed. 2004 also saw Gino's first appearances on BBC2's prestigious Ready Steady Cook , where he has become a favourite mainstay. He also became a hugely popular regular guest on The Terry and Gaby Show for Channel 5 before moving to ITV to present the One Stop Food feature on their flagship magazine programme, This Morning.

In 2005, Gino featured in two new series, both as co-host and chef: Too Many Cooks found him testing culinary contestants in a battle for survival and in Chef vs Britain he took on talented amateur cooks in the nationwide equivalent of an old-fashioned prize fight. He also found time to travel to Central America for the UK Food series An Italian In Mexico and to Australia to headline in live shows at the Good Food & Wine Show. Such was the popularity of An Italian In Mexico that Gino returned to film a second series in May 2006 - An Italian Returns To Mexico – and he has since become a featured regular on ITV's Daily Cooks Challenge . Also for ITV, he has appeared as guest chef/judge on Soapstar Superchef and, for the BBC, Take On The Takeaway , Step Up To The Plate and Put Your Menu Where Your Mouth Is

Gino's first book, Fantastico! , was published October 2007 by Kyle Cathie (Winner: Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2007 - Best Italian Cookery Book in the World). His second, Buonissimo! , followed in autumn 2008.