Model-turned-presenter Ross Burden is one of the regular chefs on BBC Two's Ready Steady Cook.

Ross hails from New Zealand and is a self-taught cook. He has hosted and been a guest on programmes across the world and was recently voted one of the UK's most eligible bachelors.

Since first coming to prominence when he won MasterChef, Ross has been a regular on Ready Steady Cook for the past eight years, filmed a healthy-eating video with Joan Collins, and has made five series for Taste. He has published two books and continues to write columns for two magazines.

As well as all his cookery, Ross is a patron of Against Breast Cancer and supports Children's Wish Organisation and the WWF

Rick Stein OBE is the first TV chef everyone thinks of when it comes to seafood. But with his series Food Heroes, Rick has shown that he's equally passionate about the best of British produce whatever its provenance.

Rick's Seafood Restaurant in Padstow clearly displays his philosophy - "Nothing is more joyful or exhilarating than fresh fish simply cooked."

But he didn't always harbour ambitions to be an award-winning chef. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, he spent a few years running a disco before buying a nightclub in Padstow. Fortunately for us, the venture was not a success and Rick turned to food as a way out. He opened a restaurant that specialised in freshly caught local produce, supplied by the fishermen who had once frequented his club.

Rick has run the Seafood Restaurant for more than 25 years, seeing it grow from a seaside bistro to an award-winning restaurant with an international reputation. Since those early days, the Steins have added a guest bedrooms, a Seafood Delicatessen, a gift shop and two smaller restaurants - St Petroc's Bistro and Rick Stein's Café. The most recent addition is the Padstow Seafood School overlooking the Camel estuary and a fish and chips takeaway.

He has been honoured for his cookery success with many awards, including the Glenfiddich Trophy for his outstanding contribution to widening the understanding and appreciation of excellent food and drink in Britain through his work as a chef, teacher, presenter and author.

His many TV programmes include Rick Stein's Taste of the Sea, Fruits of the Sea, Seafood Odyssey, Fresh Food, Seafood Lovers' Guide, and most recently Food Heroes. He also finds time to contribute to the BBC Good Food magazine.

Although a professional chef, Rick bases most of his recipes on simple cooking so that they appeal the way "most of us cook". In January 2003, Rick was awarded an OBE for services to Cornish tourism.

Jamie Oliver

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has been credited with getting the Government to increase funding for school meals - something that many parents have been trying to do for years.  The hottest young star of TV cookery programmes, Jamie Oliver has wowed all generations of food lovers with his fresh, no-nonsense cooking style and his inspiring recipes.

Jamie grew up surrounded by good food: his parents ran the Cricketers pub in Essex and, from the age of eight, he started cooking and helping the chefs. The use of quality fresh produce at the pub gave Jamie a love of good ingredients. After an undistinguished school career, he decided he wanted to cook for a living and went on to study at Westminster Catering College. It was around this time that he met Jools and they started dating. After college, he travelled to France to learn more about his trade.

Jamie's apprenticeship to restaurant cooking came under some of the best chefs in London. To begin with, there was Antonio Carluccio at the Neal Street Restaurant, then he moved on to the River Café under Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers. The Italian influence on his cooking is strong, with its use of herbs and simple, full-flavoured recipes. It was while he was working at the River Café that he was spotted by a TV producer and his life changed.

The first series featuring Jamie cooking was the Naked Chef. Viewers were treated to a glimpse into his world, zipping about London on a scooter and hosting parties for all of his friends, all to a rock'n'roll soundtrack. The food was reassuringly hearty, but not too fiddly, and Jamie always seemed to have his hands full of fresh herbs and olive oil. It was an overnight success, attracting an audience that wouldn't normally watch food programmes. The book that accompanied the series became a bestseller and the young chef, always fully clothed, was catapulted into the limelight.

Fast on the heels of the first series came the Return of the Naked Chef. Again, it was packed full of the same stylish food and London partygoers, but we also saw more of Jamie's domestic side, at home with girlfriend Jools and cooking on a smaller scale. The second time around, viewers loved the show and the book, forcing Jamie into a whirlwind schedule of travelling around the world to promote the Naked Chef. After taking some time off to marry Jools, Jamie worked on his third series, Happy Days with the Naked Chef. The series and book had a slightly different feel as Jamie had taken into account what viewers wanted. There were different moods and ideas in the last outing, but the cheeky grin and wisecracks were still there.

In 2002, Jamie embarked on his most ambitious project yet. He took 15 under-privileged youngsters who had never been anywhere near a restaurant kitchen and turned (most of) them into professional chefs to work under him at his new restaurant Fifteen in London. The restaurant and its accompanying TV series have both been huge successes. Jamie now plans to repeat the formula elsewhere in the UK and in Sydney and New York.

Before leaving to set up Fifteen, Jamie was consultant chef at Monte's in Knightsbridge, working with his close friend Ben O'Donoghue, star of BBC Two's The Best. He has written for The Times, as well as for GQ and Marie Claire magazines. He currently writes for Delicious magazine in the UK and Australia.

Jamie also started, and continues to be involved with, the charity Cheeky Chops, which provides training and mentoring for disadvantaged young people - allowing them to follow their dreams and become chefs. Jamie lives in London with his wife, Jools and their daughters, Poppy and Daisy.