It’s utter chaos when I’m in the kitchen with dad!
Tilly Ramsay – daughter of Gordon – is a chip off the old block. As she releases her first cookbook, ELLA WALKER meets the teenager to talk food, fame and family
TILLY Ramsay is only 15 and already has her own TV show and cookbook, but she’s still not in charge of the kitchen at home. In fact, when it comes to doing the washing-up, she says: “I try, but mum always says, ‘You’re doing it wrong’, then she takes over!”
Youngest daughter of sweary, hot-headed celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, 50, and former school teacher turned cookery book writer Tana, 41, Tilly’s Kitchen Takeover is her first book and combines recipes from Tilly’s CBBC series, Matilda And The Ramsay Bunch.
It’s been designed for complete cookery beginners, whether they’re kids or not, so don’t expect the pages strewn with Michelin star-worthy dishes – this is food Tilly-style, with only the occasional practical hint from her dad (who apparently doesn’t swear at home) woven into the book.
“My dad wasn’t overly involved, he just helped me with a few things. There were a few recipes I couldn’t quite nail, and I said, ‘What would you do? How would you improve this?’ and he really helped me there, but he wasn’t pushing me to do any of his stuff,” explains Tilly, who lives in London and California. “I would come to him for help, instead of him coming and telling me what to do.”
It’s just as well they didn’t create the book together; when
they do join forces in the kitchen, things can get out of hand. “I’d say it’s utter chaos when we’re together. There’s a lot of mess, we’re very loud together, we sing, we have a lot of fun, we boss each other around.”
“I once told him to, ‘Please get out of my kitchen!”’ says Tilly with a grin. “He nearly made me set stuff on fire because he was distracting me. I shut the door and just said, ‘Excuse me!”’
Tilly started in the kitchen when she was still tiny, chipping in when her parents made dinner, and that hasn’t stopped.
“It’s funny seeing where I’ve come from,” she admits, considering how she’s progressed from helping her mum ice cupcakes aged four, to becoming a teen cookbook writer and independently creating tiered rainbow cakes with multicoloured sponges.
“I’ve practised so much,” says Tilly, and despite criticisms of nepotism, it is difficult to knock her work ethic.
Summer holidays are spent filming The Ramsay Bunch, while Tilly fits in TV appearances, recipe writing and book commitments around school.
“It’s really easy to manage because my mum makes sure I do my school work,” she explains.
And anyway, filming in Las Vegas, yoga paddleboarding and training with Cirque du Soleil, isn’t exactly painful.
“I think of it as fun,” says Tilly, who has grown used to being on telly – from appearing on The Late Late Show with her dad and James Corden, to cooking her All-American Chilli on This Morning (“Phillip and Holly liked it!”).
“The first few times I did it, it’s obviously quite scary, but now I know it’s good just to be myself.”
Want to join Tilly’s gang, and get the kids involved with cooking? Try one of these three super simple and healthy recipes...
MATILDA & The Ramsay Bunch: Tilly’s Kitchen Takeover by Tilly Ramsay is published in hardback by Hodder & Stoughton, priced £20. Pictures by Jemma Watts