A HEALTHY eating initiative launched by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is looking to extend its reach at it marks its fifth anniversary this month.

Jamie’s Ministry of Food , based in John Street, near the Oastler Shopping Centre, is looking to expand its cooking classes and education programmes into local businesses.

The venture, which was set up in 2009 following Mr Oliver's visit to Bradford for his TV series in which a group of people learnt to cook and passed on their skills to others, wants to add commercial clients to the school, community groups and individuals to which it provides culinary skills and advice.

Manager, Soraya Overend said that after working with a local building society to provide cooking classes for Alzheimer's sufferers as part of a charity push, she saw an opportunity to offer healthy eating advice and cookery skills to employees in local firms, such as banks.

Classes at the Bradford facility cover basic egg dishes, soups, salmon tikka, various risottos, chicken chow mein, vegetable jalfrezi, chilli, meatballs, vegetable pasta, cakes and scones or muffins and flapjack.

Ingredients are provided and course members are taught how to follow recipes and produce fresh food, cooked nutritiously.

Courses are run for groups of parents and children, young adults, young families, disabled people, charity organisations and cultural community groups, both in Bradford and at the Healthy Eating Centre in Keighley.

Since it opened, Jamie’s Ministry of Food Bradford centre has run more than 300 eight-week cooking courses and more than 260 one-off cooking workshops. It has cooked around 200,000 healthy meals using fresh ingredients.

The project forms part of Bradford’s Food Strategy, which aims to support and encourage healthy eating in a bid to tackle obesity in the district.

On the fifth anniversary the Lord Mayor of Bradford Cllr Mike Gibbons will visit on Friday, October 31 for a free family fun day at the centre and the Good Food Advice Stall in the Oastler Shopping Centre between 11am and 3pm.

The day will include Halloween themed activities, including cooking demonstrations, pumpkin carving, face painting and guess the weight of the giant pumpkin. Attendees will also be able to decorate their own healthy muffin and get useful information about how to cook healthy meals and improve their lifestyle.

Soraya said: " We're really looking forward to celebrating our fifth birthday and proud that the centre has helped so many people learn the basics of cooking and about healthy eating. We have catered for people from eight to 80, helping them be self-sufficient in selecting sourcing and preparing recipes for a healthy diet.

" As we reach this landmark we believe our offering could be taken into local businesses where people would benefit from the knowledge and expertise we offer. Also, we would be keen to speak to any potential business sponsors."