The real naked chefs! Crazy web craze sees participants shun meat, dairy products and their clothes



Three Manchester flatmates started NakedVeganCooking.com

The site aims to discuss ethical food and positive body imagery

Enthusiastic fans now send in pictures of them cooking in the nude

There isn’t any shortage of cooking blogs on the web, with as much choice as anyone could want.

So, when flatmates Jess, Greta and Luke decided to publish their recipes they needed something to make them stand out from the crowd and accidentally sparked an internet craze for baring all in the kitchen.

Naked Vegan Cooking was launched from the Manchester kitchen of the three extroverted friends in June 2011 and now has thousands of followers.

Baking: Sammy from Portland, Oregon, was a fan and decided to contribute to the site

Co-founders: Greta (left) shows off her culinary skills, while Jess (right) described how the site has encouraged discussion of body image as well as ethical food



The friends insist that it is entirely non-sexual and co-founder Jess recently explained that the site has promoted the discussion of both ethical food and a positive body image.



In an interview with website goingveryvegan he said: ‘Luke, Greta and I had the idea to start Naked Vegan Cooking when we all moved in together two years ago.

‘We decided to team up and create a blog to share our recipes. At the time we thought of the idea, Luke happened to be in the kitchen cooking naked and Naked Vegan Cooking was born.

‘We soon realised that by being naked we can talk about some of the issues that we care about – creating positive body image, showing real naked bodies in a world of photoshopped, unrealistic images, and feminism.’

Starkers: Enthusiastic fan of the site John submitted his pie recipe

best friends: The whole gang get involved with a fun group photo

Delicacy: Sandra contributes a photo of a steak sandwich for the site

Although the idea was originally a ‘gimmick’, the founders insist that there is not ‘an airbrush in sight’ and that they publish pictures of real people in their natural state.

Now, fans of the site’s ethos send in their own recipes and photographs to be featured on Naked Vegan Cooking.

With 1,600 likes on Facebook, and 2,600 people following them on Twitter, the threesome are considering writing an anthology of essays.



When asked if she had had any cooking mishaps, Jess, whose favourite recipe is for Hazelnut Pate, replied: ‘I’ve had a couple, in the early days when deep frying falafel.

‘We quickly learned that aprons are not the enemy.’

The site received even more publicity last month when Jess was featured on Channel 4’s ‘My Daughter the Teenage Nudist’, something that Jess described as a ‘scary prospect’ but that they received a very positive response.

Despite their strong ethical message, Jess, who was put off meat after watching Babe, said that they do not want to pressure people, and that Veganism is ‘one option among many different options.’

He said: ‘To be honest I cheat a fair bit. I don’t think the odd bit of cheating is a bad thing.

‘I kind of have this impression that a lot of vegans are obsessed with “purity”; scouring ingredients for small traces of animal products that probably don’t make a massive impact on animal suffering.’

He added: ‘Veganism is not the revolution.’