Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has become a champion of trying to change the way people eat.

His Channel 4 series, Jamie’s Ministry of Food, was aimed at teaching basic food skills to people living in Rotherham. It went on to spawn a bigger project getting communities cooking healthily.

The first of his Ministry of Food centres was in the South Yorkshire town, where people could embark on courses learning how to cook healthy, nutritional meals from scratch. The second centre was opened in Bradford last autumn and it is hoped that Jamie will visit this year.

The centre’s position next to the Oastler Centre means project manager Soraya Overend can walk to buy the ingredients students use.

The Bradford Council-run centre, where classes began last month, has been hailed a success, with cookery classes full until Easter. An average of 85 people a week, from children to pensioners, are using the centre where, for just £4 a week, they can cook and take home a meal for four.

Over a ten-week course, participants learn how to cook healthy food and are taught about nutrition, hygiene and shopping on a budget.

Soraya and her colleague, catering officer Lisa McLoughlin, are busy in the stylish kitchen, neatly placing two eggs alongside each white bowl lined up on the granite worktop, ready for their latest batch of students.

Shortly, those eggs will be poached, scrambled or plated up as omelettes or pancakes. By week ten, the students will have prepared a homemade soup and cooked their way around the world, creating a range of dishes, including Chinese food, curries, pastas and pizzas.

“We are trying to educate people about nutrition and eating healthily, cooking food from scratch, learning a dish and passing that on to other people. Once they’ve done that, they’ll feel confident they have learned the dish and could give that knowledge to other people,” explains Soraya.

Jatau McKama hopes to vary his menu once he’s completed his ten-week course. “I want to enjoy myself cooking,” he says. “And I’m hoping to be able to cook for the family and cook for my wife when she comes home from work.”

Mick Parkinson also enrolled to develop his cooking skills, with a view to making a living out of cooking. “I’ve done cooking before, but I’m 43 now and I want to go to college and do it for a living,” he says.

Soraya has worked with a team of chefs cooking for 7,000 sportsmen and women competing in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Australia. She was working on education contracts before coming to work for Jamie’s Ministry of Food when it launched in Bradford.

Jamie sent his good wishes for the venture via a video link.

“He is really passionate about it. We are using his recipes and working with his food team,” says Soraya. “It’s about giving people the confidence to try different flavours and try different ingredients.”

Schools and community groups are among those who have expressed interest in the courses. Soraya is delighted with the response so far and is confident of the project’s future success.

In the light of pressure on the Government and local authorities to address obesity, particularly in young children, she says: “There are all sorts of different health issues which need to be addressed, and I think this is an innovative way of addressing some of those issues.” Bradford Council leader Councillor Kris Hopkins, who was instrumental in bringing Jamie’s Ministry of Food to Bradford, met the TV chef after being invited to Rotherham.

“I was impressed by what Jamie had to say and invited him to come to Bradford, where he subsequently did a ‘Pass It On’ demonstration to a group of teenagers at one of our healthy living centres,” says Coun Hopkins.

“The young people there loved him. It was clear to me then that a Ministry of Food would be an excellent resource for Bradford.

“We are looking forward to welcoming Jamie Oliver himself here very soon to see what has been achieved in his name.”