33 year-old celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has a new interview in Paris Match Magazine in which he rips on the British working class as drunken materialists who don’t appreciate good food. The Naked Chef thinks his fellow countrymen are drinking too much beer, eating too much crap, and buying too many gadgets. By Oliver’s estimation they’re all a bunch of louts who are wasting their time by not preparing healthy meals and wiling away their hours drinking pints in pubs instead. Oliver wants to put out a cooking show in France and he praises the love of good food and wine that’s endemic to French culture, which he says the UK lacks:
Commenting on the fact that 80 per of the British do not even bother sitting round a table for dinner any more, Oliver says: “It’s true in the centre of London and in the big northern cities. It’s linked to the new poverty.
“It’s nothing to do with famine or war – quite the opposite. England is one of the richest countries in the world.
“The people I’m telling you about have huge TV sets – a lot bigger than mine! – they have state-of-the-art mobile phones, cars, and they go and get drunk in pubs at the weekend – their poverty shows in the way they feed themselves.
“I found the cooking of the inhabitants of the slum in Soweto in South Africa a lot more diverse than ours. It’s true! I’m going to be harsh, but I think a lot of English people’s food lacks heart. It’s bland.” When it was suggested that the English can’t savour food because they drink too much, Oliver says: “It’s true. Historically we’ve never produced wine. We have a culture of alcohol and we’re more beer orientated: the only people who drink more than us are the Irish and the Scottish.”
Asked by French interviewer Mariana Grepinet how British cuisine compared with French cuisine, Oliver says: “In the past British cuisine was similar to Italian cuisine nowadays, without the pasta and risotto. Steam cooking, grilled meat, herbs, spices – we used to cook fabulous dishes. It’s all in the past!
“Unlike French people, and I regret it, we lost our traditions. In gastronomy, the world evolves and changes. And right in front of us, isolated from everything, you have France where nothing changes.
“It’s not a judgement, it’s an observation. In terms of grand restaurants, it seems to me that only one country competes with France, and that’s Japan.”
Significantly Oliver is planning a TV show in France. Asked what his links were with France, he says: “I don’t have many. But I would like to shoot a TV programme soon.
“The French-English relationship amuses me. As neighbours, we criticise each other. We mock each other, but behind all this, we appreciate each other and we respect each other.
“I’d like to watch French women and observe them behind their ovens in their kitchens. “I’m sure that the rest of the world would love a series on French cuisine directed by an English chef! It would be crazy!” Oliver was born in Clavering, Essex, and learning to cook in his father’s local pub. He is now said to be worth an estimated £25 million.
[From Telegraph.co.uk]
Nothing good can come of so broadly dismissing an entire class of people’s taste in food and drink. It’s also really short-sighted to say that people are chosing to drink beer and watch TV instead of cooking meals. People all over the industrialized world have less free time now and when they chose to spend their time vegging out instead of preparing vegetables – and I’m constantly annoyed by how long it takes me to make a salad with all that chopping, peeling and washing – you can hardly blame them for it. It’s a partially cultural thing that may need to be changed but Oliver is just going to draw ire by being so obnoxious about it.
Some of the comments for this story on The Telegraph article’s website are supportive of Oliver’s abrasive opinion, but many people call him out as a hypocrite and an attention-seeker who is dismissing the very people to made him as rich and famous as he is now:
Yet another attempt to revive a his flagging career. If Jamie genuinely feels so strongly, perhaps he will also attack the supermarkets who supply cheap booze. eg Sainsburys. But Oh no – that might endanger his multi million pound contract with them. This story is just a PR stunt to win attention from rival chefs and get his podgy face back onto our screens. He’s yesterday’s man. – Mike Baess
didn’t realise I was in such a minority sitting down to dinner with my family! Whatever his views, it’s unfair of Jamie to bad mouth the whole nation in a foreign paper. – Con
Saint Jamie has been happy to overcharge ‘drunken materialists’ in his very average restaurants for some time now. Nothing like biting the hand that feeds you! – Keith
[Comments from Telegraph.co.uk]
Maybe Oliver thought that if he was talking to a French Magazine his comments wouldn’t get widely publicized, or maybe he’s rich enough now that he feels like saying goodbye to England and moving on to France. A lot of British are likely to say good riddance to him.
Oliver also insulted Germans last week by making a terrible holocaust joke during a show about the poor treatment of commercially farmed chickens. He said that only German people complained about a scene in which chickens were gassed to death.
Jamie Oliver and his wife are shown at the Bafta Awards on 2/10/2008 Credit: Solarpix / PR Photos
Jamie looks like a fat, porky, pasty, podgy little oink in that pic. Here he is, at his oily, oinking, arse-licking best, desperately trying to reclaim some relevance. Yesterday’s man indeed.
Yep Geronimo, I was thinking the same thing. The Header pic of him reminds me of that portrait of Henry VIII where he looks piggy eyed and vicious.
The man has lost all his charm
thats because he started to believe all the media generated hype when he first started out…
thinks he is better then everyone else.. its the downfall of fame.
OMG Geronimo, your comment is hilarious! Tell us how you REALLY feel 😆
Oh I have lots more ‘P’ words for him, RAN. Pompous, patronising pillock. 😛
Am i the only one who thinks that his comments don’t come across nearly as harsh as CB paints them?
Living in England myself, Jamie indeed has a point when it comes to eating crappy take away rather than healthy self prepared. (and yes i know, take away can be delicious too). Besides, while there are people who really don’t have the time to cook regularly, most of them are simply too lazy or don’t have the slightest clue when it comes to cooking. But to each their own.
It’s his bullshit, gross generalisations that offend here. Of course people could improve their diets and eat more healthily, don’t think anyone needs this self-appointed, would-be food saviour to point that out.
I kinda like one of his shows on the Food Network, but he does strike me as being ridiculously arrogant
I thought you Brits had adopted Indian food as “traditional British food” – all of that ginger, garlic and curry is good for you, you know.
But lamb with mint jelly? *shivering and barfing at the same time*
Kaiser, can’t even begin to describe how droolingly, insanely, mouthwateringly, orgasmically delicious the two together are. You MUST try it.
@Geronimo – 😆 It’s just not my taste, I guess.
But yeah, Oliver comes across as very preachy and arrogant here. Will you kick him out of England for this offense? Or just take him to the Tower of London?
Jamie’s got all the time in the world to spend hours cooking meals, and he’s also got the advantage of being a CHEF. Most people can’t cook as well as he does. His TV show about how to casually cook all these amazing foods assumes that you’re middle class, have a huge house with expensive cutlery, a beautiful garden to have BBQs in and an outdoor oven.
He has a point but it’s not just the British. He should have thought about the statement first. As for arrogance, it’s been there for years. I saw him put lemon slices under the skin of a chicken before roasting and the way he talked about it, it was like he invented this amazing way to infuse lemon into chicken. Mums have been doing that for years PLONKER.
Well, K, he’s obviously got his uppity sights set on France so maybe they’ll indulge his big greasy ego for a while.
Disagree, Megan. Jamie, up to a couple of years ago, cooked food that anyone with half a braincell and some fresh ingredients could emulate. He was a very inspiring chef when that’s what he focused on. Instead he decided, as duda said earlier, to believe his own publicity and turned into the pretentious, spew-spilling twonk that he is today.
I agree with Lara that he has a point, though he doesnt make it in the best way. Our culinary traditions in the UK ARE dying out and far too many people
DONT eat as a family any longer, preferring to concentrate on drinking rather than eating. I’m British and I find it a depressing trend.
Also agree with geronimo about lamb and mint sauce.
His arrogance reminds me of the starfallen American “chef” Rocco DiSpirito. They even resemble each other physically.
You’ve hit the nail on the head Megan………..and if you don’t have those things Jamie assumes you have no culture and live on turkey twizzlers and frozen chips. He deigns to condescend to us for our own good……..the insufferable pimply little prat
Kaiser – lamb is just not lamb without mint sauce – try it 🙂
Xiao & Geronimo – I have tried lamb with mint jelly! And it makes me barfy. I just don’t think you should do that to a nice cut of lamb – but that’s just my tastes.
Probably because I’ve also had grilled lamb with a heavy red-wine herb sauce and lamb curry – both are far, far superior (to me).
Kaiser……..I was weaned on the stuff….lots of warm and fuzzy memories of lamb Sunday roasts with mint sauce and mint peas and mums yummy gravy that she made with the pea water.
Clash of cultures here I think 😉
“..grilled lamb with a heavy red-wine herb sauce and lamb curry..”
Yum, I’m down with that!
On the positive side, all the more mint sauce for the rest of us. 😛
*munching on my popcorn rice cake with peanutbutter*
It must be a culture thing. I have never eaten lamb in my life. But then again my German mother in law makes her own head cheese. URP…..
check your email Kaiser
I agree with Feebee. It’s not just the British, its the whole industrialzed world. People as a whole don’t sit down to dinner anymore. I do, maybe once a week. I’m just too damn busy. I eat dinner standing in front of the fridge with the door open, eating leftovers out of the take-out container. That said, I love Jamie–but he’s got to remember how many of his Naked Chef shows he ended up totally drunk and silly with his friends. Don’t bite the hand that made you rich, little boy.
@Daisy – Done. 8)
@Geronimo & Xiao – what other British food can I make fun of? Not fish & chips – I adore anything deep-fried…
Earl Grey with lemon, no sugar? *barf*
You’re just pissed because he’s right.
Kaiser: eel pie. Big chunks of silvery eel all slithering about your plate like they’re still alive, covered in a watery parsley sauce of an eerie, haunted green. Cockney East End fare and regarded by some as a delicacy. 😯
It’s all yours to make as much fun as you want of.
@Geronimo – OMFG. I think I really did just throw up in my mouth a little. That’s horrible. Cruel Brittannia, indeed.
Hi folks, try mint sauce with lamb instead of the jelly. It’s wonderful and not sweet at all. It’s made by Cross & Blackwell. It’s also great on peas.
Actually he’s having a pop at the English, not the British as a whole. He makes the distinction when he says the Irish and Scottish drink more than the English (only because the Scots can’t batter and deep-fry it :lol:)
Traditionally the only thing the Brits were really good at cooking were puddings and gravies. And according to my family it’s only in the past 20 years or so that anything else could be considered tasty. (grandparents lived there for nearly 50 and the parents for 25 – I still have loads of family in London and the North)
But I digress – I didn’t think he was being that rude. The whole cultural shift away from proper cooking and eating meals in front of the telly has been commented on by many for years. As is the frightening binge-drink culture in Britain and Ireland. It’s hardly revolutionary to say that these aren’t desireable trends.
Perhaps the furore is because it was printed first in The Torygraph rather than in the Guardian, thereby alienating the hyper-PC middle classes?
Oooh geronimo… you forgot Star-n-gazey pie! 😈
Yum!! Mairead, Kaiser will LOVE this. You’re a fan of fish heads, aren’t you, K?
Mairead, I know I’ve already exhausted my ‘P’ words as far as JO is concerned, it’s more the way he’s gone from being a really interesting, talented chef to being a complete and total finger-wagging, lecturing twat that offends me.
Judging from that photo — pudgy face and Boris Yeltsin-like flush — I’d say he’s a little TOO fond of good food and wine.
He is right and its why i left at 21. c i didnt want to spend my life with everything revolving around pubs n drunks.
UK and European beer is potent stuff, 2 of em would put an american on his ass and they sit in pubs drinking pints all night.
@ Lara – “Am i the only one who thinks that his comments don’t come across nearly as harsh as CB paints them?” — No, you’re not the only one, Lara! I read Oliver’s interview here, and I daresay, the guy’s stating truths. Oftentimes, truth kinda stings a little.
If he sounds pompous and pratty, it’s because he is a CHEF! 😆 At least, at LEAST 95% of all chefs, ‘specially male ones and espECIally if they really are naturally gifted at cheffing, are arrogant and egotistical. Anyone who’s done any time in the field of the fine dining industry can attest to this fact.
I saw nothing at all wrong with what Jamie Oliver said in that article above. Why mollycoddle people and blow smoke up their asses? I admire anyone who doesn’t bullshit and just comes straight out and says it like it is. Although, I’m not sure what he’s talking about in regards to this mythically great English cuisine of the past. Except maybe Yorkshire pudding and roast beef. BEST English dish EVER!! If it is done right, of course. 😀
Ladies, um fisheads & eel soup? Really?
Or is that British code for something else????
And what is black pudding?
Have you ever had a slider?
Fish heads, fish heads, roly poly fish heads!
Fish heads, fish heads, Eat ’em up, yum.
😆 😆
Eeels I cannot abide the thought of eating ever since I read that novel The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass. There is a chapter in this novel which vividly describes the way this family caught and ate eels, oh my god just remembering it now is making me squirm inside.
It involved a rotting horse head on a rope which was tied to a rock off a jetty, and the eels were *shudder* I can’t go on!! 😯 I really can’t!! I’m serious, you will NEVER look at eels the same way again after reading this book’s eel chapter.
Daisy, black pudding is blood pudding, bella! Congealed blood. I’m not sure about the slider, isn’t that a raw oyster? I LOVE raw oysters!
Oh, please… at 21 you left the UK because ALL there is to do is go to the pubs…
My husband lives there, and I live there on and off, and I’ve been in a pub there ONE TIME. We find all sorts of things to do, and we’re DEFINITELY “working class” there.
Jamie Oliver has been a dickhead for a few years now, but I will say that “ready made” food is extraordinarily abundant in supermarkets in the UK. When I’m not there, my husband LIVES on pre-made pork pies, sausage rolls, savory bites, etc.
On a side note… lamb and Coleman’s mint SAUCE is like nothing I’ve ever tasted… like heaven in your mouth!!! I had lamb and mint jelly once over here in the states and hated it… had Sunday roast with mint sauce the first time I went over and couldn’t get enough!
P.S. I just got back from the UK a week ago and I now have a new favorite food ever, lol… Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Korma! lol
Congealed blood makes pudding? Is it an entree or a dessert….omg, I can’t fathom it! 😯
Sliders are White Castle burgers Snowy.
We call them sliders because they slide right through you. 😛
Daisy – Oh, yeah! I remember “sliders” now! In Tennessee and northern Georgia, the sliders are Krystal burgers, those miniature square-shaped things.
You know how they make chocolate-flavoured ex-lax? Krystal sliders are like hamburger-flavoured Montezuma’s Revenge-lax.
Locals of a Greek town frequented by Brits tell the Times that Queen Liz’s people do a great job of standing out:
They are the ones, the locals say, who are carousing, brawling and getting violently sick. They are the ones crowding into health clinics seeking morning-after pills and help for sexually transmitted diseases. They are the ones who seem to have one vacation plan: drinking themselves into oblivion.
“They scream, they sing, they fall down, they take their clothes off, they cross-dress, they vomit,” Malia’s mayor, Konstantinos Lagoudakis, said in an interview. “It is only the British people — not the Germans or the French.”
“The government of Britain has to do something,” Mr. Lagoudakis said. “These people are giving a bad name to their country.”
Oooh, Geronimo, I love alliteration. Too funny. 😆
Oh and lamb with mint jelly is indeed the shit. (Um, I mean that in the good way). And blood pudding – we call it black pudding in my neck of the woods is absollutely delish when done right.
That said I agree with snow. Maybe because I’m not English but I don’t find his comments offensive or particularly arrogant in anyway. Just a guy speaking his mind.
We have black pudding (blood pudding) here in Sweden, too. It’s a main course that is often served in schools with potato pancakes as an alternative.
We put slices in a frying pan and serve them, black and crunchy on the outside, with cranberry jam.
Black pudding has been a poor man’s dish here for ages, it was wasteful to throw any animal parts away.
On topic: fuck Porky Pig, my main man is Gordon Ramsay. :droools:
If theres anyone from the southern United States would they please tell me what a chicken fried steak is – and what the hell are grits?? 😐
I grew up on blood pudding. Wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot bargepole now. It is a savory, very fatty (you can see the large lumps of white fat in it) sausage that is very dark colored and yes, it is from blood dripping down. Still love me some steak and kidney pie…. If you haven’t tried it, don’t knock it. I’ve fed it to people who didn’t know what it was and they love it until they find out about the kidney!
Black AND white pudding (SO good, I Choose Me), must try cranberry with them, piedlourde, not come across that before. And homemade steak & kidney pie…so much to drool over…
I’ve eaten grits in the States but still not sure exactly what they are. Potato?
And Oxa, I’m not British, but I live in London and your comments are narrow and stereotypical. Either you mustn’t have gotten out much or you lacked imagination. But you’re right on the reputation of Brits abroad, can’t disagree too much with that. But it’s only a % of Brits, not the majority, who give Brits abroad a bad name. Some British people are actually quite civilized….
Xia; Have had grits, but not chicken-fried steak.
‘Chicken-fried or country-fried steak is usually made with round steak, tenderized then dipped in an egg and milk mixture, then dredged in seasoned flour or bread crumbs. The coated steak is then fried in hot fat until the coating is crispy and browned, much like fried chicken. A milk gravy is often made to be served with the steak, along with mashed potatoes.’
‘Grits is a Native American corn-based food common in the Southern United States, consisting of coarsely ground corn.’
Thanx Daisy…..always wondered 😉
never mind what Jamie said, but his wife is gorgeous. Now, how does that happen?
Geromino, I too live in London – and the Brits abroad are a bunch of drunken idiots! They are lazy when it comes to cooking, even though there are endless cookery programmes showing how to cook a good meal in 20 minutes….and I am saying this as a Brit.
Agree, Hel, so much of it is just pure laziness. Cooking and eating well and healthily costs probably far less than the ready-cooked, take-out crap that so many people stuff their faces with every day. Always kills me when people say they haven’t time to cook!! And yeah, sadly the case re Brits abroad but I’m sure you, like me, have loads of British friends who know how to enjoy themselves at home and abroad without ending up having their stomachs pumped at the end of the night.
Thanks for the grits expl. Daisy.
xia & Geronimo 8)
I have the time to cook, I don’t like to cook. I’d rather stick needles in my eyes.
I do however love to eat 😆
This thread is seriously making me sick. Blood pudding? Eel pie? Are you joking?
You know, at least Americans are overweight for a reason — our food is amazing! Fried chicken, hamburgers, hot wings, full adoption of Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, and Greek cuisine as “American foods” — seriously, sometimes it pays to be a melting pot.
English food was good before???? Really that’s news to me. English food was terrible, now however chefs are starting to pay attention and good restuarants are all over London.
What an a$$hole. Did he ever stop to realize that maybe the working class can’t afford to pay for expensive food so they have to eat what they can. Maybe they don’t feel like spending 40 quid on a meal. I’m always reading in the Daily Mail how families are having trouble buying food because of the rising costs of groceries, yet this putz expects them to cook gourmet food every night? Unlike him, they have to work, they don’t have time to spend hours in a kitchen.
xiaoecho – chicken fried steak is good but chicken fried chicken is better. It’s just meat breaded and then fried. Oh it’s so good with mashed potatoes and broccolli, yummy.
oxa – I’ve been reading a lot of stories about Brit tourists and their drinking problems in British papers. I always thought Brits were supposed to be civilized and Americans were the frat boy a$$holes who trash places and get drunk?
Ashley – I don’t think he meant that everyone should become cordon bleu gourmands. It’s more a case of using fresh foods more often. A portion of carrots, broccoli and sweetcorn and a dose of spuds is very cheap if you go to a greengrocer or lower-cost supermarkets like Aldi or Lidl- even the big chains have cheap veg ranges. And if you shop wisely, making things yourself will be much cheaper.
But when it comes to time – I’m the same. I work long hours and just can’t face the performance of preparing and cooking food in the evening. When I do have a decent freezer I will try to make batches or cook for a couple of days. It’s the only way to go about it in this day and age.
Beat his ass Gordon, Go on!