‘It’s quite scary!’ Jamie Oliver says upscale restaurant kitchens are ‘flooded’ with drugs

Jamie Oliver has revealed that illegal drug use is rife in his industry.

The celebrity chef said that workers at fine-dining restaurants regularly consume narcotics on the job, which is known for being a high-pressured environment.

“Very male-driven kitchens, and – I’m not saying this for any effect – are quite aggressive and often flooded with drugs,” the TV star admitted.

“It’s quite scary. I knew these kitchens and I have worked in them in London and abroad.”

The Naked Chef added that he believes that for there to be less stress and anguish in a kitchen, it needs a balance of the sexes.

“The lovely 50/50 balance [of men and women] is the Holy Grail,” he explained on Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast. “If you skew one way or the other you can get issues. If it’s 100 per cent men, all hell breaks loose.”

Oliver has previously said that women are the key to a more successful kitchen because of the energy they bring.

He faced backlash after claiming he cooks best when he “thinks like a woman”.

While promoting his recipe book One, the 47-year-old chef explained that he taps into “more feminine traits” when cooking.

“As a young boy, getting a craft and this energy about Michelin stars and measurement and how you control nature as opposed to how you react to nature, which I think are more feminine traits like nourishment and more maternal feelings,” he said.

“If I’m ever good, I have to try and think like a woman.”

His comments drew criticism online when social media users complained that a style of cooking should not be based on sex, as there is not just one way that a woman cooks.