Gang Life Prepared Me for the Kitchen

Available for over a year

Tim Raue is one of the world's top chefs; he's cooked for prime ministers and presidents. As a child he grew up in a poor area of Berlin with his mum and often used to go hungry. He also spent a few turbulent years in southern Germany where he suffered abuse at the hands of his father. As a teenager he returned to Berlin and joined a notorious gang called 36 Boys and would have vicious street fights with other gangs in the city. Food became his salvation and, after focusing on a career in the kitchen, he rose quickly through the ranks to become a head chef by the age of 23. Image: Chef Tim Raue outside his restaurant Credit: Kieron Humphrey