The new generation of foodies It is no longer enough to slave away in a provincial kitchen for years before earning your first Michelin star, followed by a column, cookbook and slot on telly. A new generation of young culinary types do it all, right now, with blogs, a keen sense of their own brands, book deals and TV careers. From next week, they will also have their own awards ceremony. The Young British Foodies (YBFs), a celebration of young chefs, producers and entrepreneurs taking place in Camden, north London, deliberately evokes the Young British Artists of the early 90s. Amy Thorne of Taste PR, co-founder of the awards thinks that just as the YBAs are a memorable part of the early 90s, so this era will become synonymous with the YBFs: "It feels like Art has had its day and food is the focus of our creativity." The paradox may be that while this culinary generation is preternaturally media-savvy, these practitioners insist they are moving away from faddy food porn and overcomplicated celebrity cuisine. One celebrity - Jamie Oliver - is still a massive influence; so too is an emphasis on relearning old skills, such as smoking fish or old-fashioned butchery. It's easy to be cynical about bright, hyped young things but it is striking how these individuals have done it for themselves, from a young age, and are still eager to learn their craft. Food may turn out to be a precious creative outlet for the generation hardest hit by the vicissitudes of the global economy. Charlotte Harbottle, 24 Girlbutcher blogger, butcher at Lidgate's, Holland Park, London Struggling to fund her theology degree at York University, Harbottle's mum suggested a job with a butcher friend of hers. "No way," said Harbottle. A few weeks later, debts rising, she succumbed. Slowly, in trying to answer customers' questions, she developed a passion for the job. Script editing after university failed to excite her so she decided to get apprenticed to a butcher. Unfortunately, with her degree she no longer qualified for a government scheme: for the past 18 months she has created her own training scheme, persuading butchers to take her on by helping them with their websites. After working at O'Shea's of Knightsbridge, Harbottle has moved to the high-end butcher, Lidgate's in Holland Park. Although her status as a female butcher attracts attention, and she blogs and tweets, Harbottle is not interested in becoming a "food personality" for its own sake. Tweeted deals of the day are no substitute for "old-fashioned" customer service, she says. She has yet to find any other female butchers in Britain (although plenty serve behind the counter). "Lots of women think it's a bit of a rank job," she smiles. Her ambition is to return to Newcastle and set up a business providing affordable locally sourced meat. Beef is Harbottle's favourite meat "because it's the most versatile and in this country we produce the best beef in the world." Ultimately, she'd love to write a book about meat - not recipes but cuts. "It sounds ridiculous but I'd love to do a proper textbook," she says. If Harbottle wondered where her unusual passion sprang from, she discovered the answer recently when her gran sent her an old photograph: it showed her great-great-grandfather, outside his butcher's shop. Harbottle had never realised she was continuing a family tradition. Van Tran is the co-founder of Banhmi11. Van Tran, 26 Joint proprietor, Banhmi11, London With her partner Anh Vu, 27, Van is the joint founder of Banhmi11. Purveyors of Hanoi street food at five London markets, this pair of Oxford university graduates quit lucrative jobs in the City to pursue a passion for fresh fast food. Van and Anh met at university, where Van studied PPE and Anh maths. They became housemates when they followed the Oxbridge crowd into City jobs, then discovered Broadway Market in east London. It's rare you see such a bond between the traders and their customers ... It was an experience we recognised from when we were growing up in Hanoi," says Van. To their financier friends' bemusement, they opened a stall on the Saturday market, staying in four evenings a week to prepare their banhmi, a grilled Vietnamese baguette encompassing meat, pickles, pate, herbs and chilli. Like all Vietnamese food it's about balance ... Sour and salty from the pickle, sweetness from the meat, spice from the chillies and a fragrant slightly bitter taste from the pate. After two years with no social life, Van quit her job; Anh is now leaving hers, as Banhmi11 expands into a Shoreditch shop next month. Are they disillusioned bankers downsizing? "Not really," says Van. It was a very difficult decision to leave - we had amazing teams and we weren't unhappy. Running a stall is "much harder" than banking. Food is alive. It is fresh. There's so much more uncertainty. It's not like a product that is a piece of paper you can copy and replicate. Nevertheless, there is a sense they have broken away. It's so much more real. We know that this is something where we can really make an impact," says Tran of their stalls. We come from a generation which says you need to go into a corporate job ... Because of all this disillusion and recession, the generation that comes after us are finding ways to do smaller and more meaningful things. Luke Thomas is a head chef at the age of 18. Luke Thomas, 18 Head chef, Luke's Dining Room, Cookham Dean, Berkshire The son of a local council administrator and a factory worker, Thomas, running his own fine dining restaurant at 18, is perhaps the most striking example of the Jamie Generation. He was inspired as a small boy watching "someone so young and enthusiastic" on television. Oliver fanned a fire already ignited for Thomas by food shopping at farmers markets with his grandmother near his home in North Wales. He started cooking aged four, was encouraged by an "amazing" cookery teacher at secondary school, and then began helping out at a butcher's. He got work experience in a restaurant kitchen aged just 12. "It was hands-on, it was fast, it was pressured, it was exciting," he says. On a Saturday night, I got a real buzz from all the shouting and screaming. I knew it was what I wanted to do. He won competitions and wangled work experience for Michelin-starred Simon Radley at the Chester Grosvenor. His break came at a charity auction when a businessman bid for Thomas to cook for him and was impressed enough to sponsor him in work experience around the world. After sampling kitchens including The Fat Duck, Rhodes W1, Rhodes in Dubai and Alinea in Chicago, Thomas was invited by the entrepreneur Mark Fuller to set up his own restaurant at the boutique hotel Sanctum on the Green, where John Burton Race was once a consultant. "At the age of 18, for someone to put your name above the door is amazing," he says. As well as the pressures of cooking, and cultivating good suppliers during 16-hour working days, Thomas is learning - fast - about profit margins. It is about the cooking but as Mark says, we've got to look at it from a commercial point of view. Thomas has just signed a TV deal but is aware of the dangers of a celebrity chef backlash. "You must not spread yourself too thinly," he says, "but then people slag off Gordon Ramsay which is crazy. He's been a massive inspiration. Carla Henriques is head pastry chef at Hawksmoor. Photograph: Sarah Lee Carla Henriques, 26 Executive pastry chef, Hawksmoor, London There are fights when Carla Henriques goes home to Portugal for Christmas. Both Henriques and her mother, also a pastry chef, are desperate to make the desserts. Henriques' grandparents owned a bakery on the outskirts of Lisbon. Her grandmother would rise at 3am and make bread; her grandfather would sell it across the Portuguese capital. At six Henriques played with pastry while her mum worked; aged 14, she studied pastry, full-time, for three years. At 17, she got her first job. After a year at a five-star hotel in Lisbon, Henriques was "bored" and so, despite speaking no English, she travelled to London. She got a job at Patisserie Valerie, learned English and worked her way up. At first, chefs bullied her - "you know what the kitchen world is like. I used to go home and cry but it taught me a lot. Unlike back home, however, she was never patronised for her youth. She now oversees desserts in Hawksmoor's three London restaurants. "We are the best steak restaurant in London," she says proudly. Hawksmoor really trusted me. I do everything I can for them. In Portugal, Henriques used much more sugar and syrup in her creations. We love pastries. Every morning we go to a pastry shop for coffee and a cake," she says. In Britain, she has adapted, and makes her desserts less sweet, as well as experimenting with new, salty flavours. I expect a continental contempt for British desserts but Henriques is far too ebullient. "The crumbles!" she exclaims. All my friends call me crazy because I love them. And there's nothing better than a sticky toffee pudding! Sam Stern is now publishing his sixth cookbook. Photograph: David Sillitoe Sam Stern, 21 Writer of the book Virgin to Veteran: How to Get Cooking with Confidence, published this month When he should have been revising for his exams at Edinburgh University last week, Stern was "procrastinating" on Twitter. The politics and sociology student had an excuse: promoting his sixth cookery book. The youngest of five, Stern was drafted into the kitchen at an early age to help cook for elder siblings, awkwardly including two vegetarians and a vegan. Aged 10 he was catering for all. Later, he pitied friends living on pizza. His mum, a vocal coach in theatre, knew a literary agent, and soon he was writing a cookbook for teens. It was translated into 14 languages and sold nearly 700,000 copies. Stern is another Oliver fan: "Jamie definitely made cooking more cool for boys of my age." He now gets his inspiration from a library of old cookbooks, bought by his book-dealer dad, and eating out as much as he can afford. Culinary combinations often pop into Stern's head. "I can kind of imagine how they would taste," he says. Stern also always tries to create ­practical, ­achievable meals rather than ­elaborate recipes. His latest book has "a more mature feel," he thinks. As I'm growing up the people using the books are growing up with me. So, would he rather have a TV show or a restaurant? "Both?" he ventures. A restaurant would be brilliant in the future but it has to be done well. Charlotte Harbottle and Carla Henriques are among the nominees at the Young British Foodies, May 29.