Mat Lucania

"Yes I was on Britains Best Dish"For years I have adored my cooking & had my mother as a role model, although the food was great I hated all the burnt pans as yours truely was always lumbered with the dishes. I must have done every job imaginable from Selling toilet tissue over the phone to running a care home. It took me 28 years & a failed football career to realize my ambitions & that was to become a cook. I helped set up & run an Italian Resatuarnt in Devon which proved to be a success but always feared the stove, It wasn't until I moved back to Suffolk in 2007 whilst on a night out in London with a good friend that it struck me like a thunderbolt up my !!!!!!!!! I met culinary god Gordon Ramsay, It was then like some weird drug induced vision that I realized I was being a complete girl & so plucked up the courage to run a resaturant from the kitchen as a chef. My first experience & 60 covers later, cooking alone, fresh to order starters, mains & desserts, my fears had vanished & the best part of the story was , It went fantastically well. I ran the show for 3 months & not had 1 single complaint over my food, it was unbeleivable, business doubled & takings were up, we became one of the best spots in town only for the owners to F**K it up & spend all the money, we had to close.My life has never been simple since i can remember, been homeless, had to get food from social services, lived with domestic violence & watched my mother get beaten to a pulp & receive a few lashings for my troubles along the way with my brother. Myself, My Brother & mum stuck together & pulled ourselfs out of that horrible life & have never looked back since, maybe thats what drives me to suceed so much like a man on a mission "I will not Fail" truth is I cant fail as I dont want to ever experience the traumas that life gave me. I recently took part in ITV1's Britains Best Dish that was aired on 1st October 2007 (you can catch this at www.itv.com/bestdish & select catch up) . After the show I was given a great opportunity & worked at Gordon Ramsay's Boxwood Cafe for a day "Fantastic" to see what goes on & be a part of it was a dream come true, I did not get a job as I lived so far away but will eventually re-locate & try again, I do wonder if I had of told them about how much it meant to me & how Gordon's life reminds me so much of mine maybe they would have offered me a job their & then. I totally worship the Talents of Angela Hartnett, she is fantastic at what she does & would relish the chance to learn alot from her in the future & Gordon can teach me anytime he chooses. I was quietly working as a Chef/Manager for Eurest, a catering company under the compass Group running a staff canteen at a Sainsbury's supermarket "Come on Jamie, if only you knew what they were eating" I had alot of work to do their but all is going well now & hopefully I will continue to grow & develop to live my dream the way I want it "by God I deserve it" & so do many of us who have dreams crushed but we continue to fight on "I respect you all" I now take part in TV & film Acting as well as looking for that right place to showcase my cooking. I have now accepted a head chef job at Core Grill London www.coregrill.co.uk