jamie oliver is he total fake?

[orangelotus]

i read this today and must say i had no idea of the scale of financial stuff going on.

www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-perverse-greed-of-jamie-oliver-2/

i think i feel angry as i've spent my entire working life in Newham and can see how poor many children are there.
It is shocking how he presents himself as this do goofing crusader but his dealings with small businesses and local councils have been so shady .
i feel angry with myself for having fallen for his nonsense.

I really admire what he’s tried to do. No one should be buying factory farmed chicken or eggs. School kids are fed utter crap and it’s a disgrace. Sugar is a poison but so are artificial sweeteners.
He doesn’t seem to be managing the financial side of his business very well, and the food in his chain restaurants weren’t great. He’s not perfect, but he tries to do good unlike all the other celebrity chefs I can think of. He’s also a decent family man who loves his wife and kids. I love all his cookbooks too:

I like him and good on him if he was responsible for supermarkets stopping selling 2 chickens for some ridiculously low price. Animal welfare is important

He's done some very good things and some questionable things.

He misled totally on his Italy/school dinners programme years ago. Said it was a state elementary school and all food by law has to be organic. It was actually a private nursery and there's no such law. That was him stretching the truth to fit his then narrative about British School Meals = bad, Foreign school meals = good.

That said, he's not obliged to do any of the "good" stuff. I don't see Nigella, Delia, Mary, Nigel or Gordon doing much other than Tv- books-Tv-books.

On balance, I'd still put him in the good category. Probably a bit misguided at times.

"Unlike the pp I am happy for Coke, sugary crap, and other substances which kill us and explode the NHS to be made less accessible"

I am more worried about the long term health effects that artificial sweeteners like aspartame are doing to people. I absolutely detest the taste of sweeteners and avoid them. Sugar in moderation is not bad for you.

I am more worried about the long term health effects that artificial sweeteners like aspartame are doing to people. I absolutely detest the taste of sweeteners and avoid them. Sugar in moderation is not bad for you.

Me too. I don't drink a lot of sugary crap, but trying to find a cold non-alcoholic drink without sweeteners is getting challenging.

Er no… suppliers enter into a contract with a company not an individual. There were contracts and legals and ts and cs. I assume all did their due diligence and felt the businesses were sound to contract with but in catering things can change fast.

Water? 😂

Rubbish. You can buy whatever you want. All major brands still sell full sugar versions.

Not true, most 'full sugar' soft drinks also contain sweeteners now to avoid the sugar tax. The only mainstream pop that doesn't now is full sugar coke. Some of the more expensive brands sell drinks without sweeteners but even those ar staring to add Stevia 🤢

I’ve always thought he was a bit of a prat, (as is Joe Wicks).

Presumably his company weren't paying their bills as per their contract Ts and Cs (say 30 days from invoice or similar) to get to £84 million, you dont clock that up in a couple of months.

One side of a story ... his chain went bust, he actually paid staffs wages out of his own money but ultimately the business was wound up by insolvency practitioners and some debts went paid as per legal procedures for limited companies. Yes it's a shame that they weren't successful but these things happen whether you are a celebrity or not. I think (based on a friend who knows him, he's actually a nice chap, heart in the right place but perhaps wasn't business savvy enough to run a large business.

As to his kid getting a tv show - nepotism gets you a break but tv companies don't renew your contract if you are no good so time will tell!

Can't stand the smarmy creep. Fake as they come.

I thought he was going to emigrate if we voted for Brexit? Still here, though.

He’s rather naive I think. He relied on his father or brother in law (can’t remember which) and the business went bust. But that’s not good enough really when your name is on the front door, dyslexia or no dyslexia.

I suspect he cares about nutrition although perhaps in a self-serving “gimme an OBE” way, but has no idea how most people live. He can’t go out and meet these people like you and me can or would - as a geezer he’s supposed to know.. But this stuff is hard - our politicians can’t work it out. We expect too much from him.

Absolutely right!

Parts of it were unfair - it was plain snobby and silly to talk about David Beckham and Jonathan Ross as "cor blimey pretend meritocrats of his era". Those two plus Jamie Oliver inarguably gained success by merit using their skills and personality. There's no reason why they shouldn't want to make squillions just because they've got Estuary accents. And god knows Julie Burchill has boasted about all the money she's made.

I have no idea whether it's possible to buy drinks without sweeteners as I never buy them (utter shite stuff). But judging by the fact the majority of Brits are overweight or obese, and largely preventable conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardio vascular disease are so prevalent, it's clear the general public can't be trusted to make good decisions. It's obvious that many people are making numerous poor ones every day that negatively affect their health, and it's the overwhelmed NHS that has to sort it out.

him and his sugar tax so were getting less choice now and have to have aspartame yeah thanks jamie

also trying to stop 2 for 1 deals whilst using cream butter and more cream

No they don't. As a PP said, only Coke is available in the original recipe.

Barr's ruined all of their products to avoid the sugar tax, including Irn Bru. They released a special edition version with the original recipe but only in impractical large glass bottles, not cans. Their classic drinks (Barr's cola, cream soda, limeade, etc) were fairly low sugar to begin with but have recently gone sugar free, and they now taste disgusting.

I'm not here to argue about sugar's long-term impact on health - my issue is purely that my choice has been taken away.

I like Jamie Oliver. I'm not really that interested in behind the scenes.

I get angry that we hold people who do good things to different standards.

There are plenty of millionaires and billionaires who do fuck all and deliberately screw people over, but that's accepted because they're 'capitalist'

But show a hint of wanting to make a difference socially, or do anything for charity and suddenly you have to be squally clean or give all your money away otherwise they're a hypocrite.

Leave Jamie Oliver alone and save your wrath for the people who make millions actively making people's lives worse.

I’ve never been a fan, always thought he’s not genuine.

No, we can’t be trusted because 65% of us are overweight or obese.
The food industry knows that and plays it to the max, making sure we spend large chunks of our money getting fatter and slowly killing our selves with sugary processed foods.
I mean, I’m not sure about Jamie Oliver generally but at least he’s trying to do something to cut sugar - just as poisonous as sweetener in many ways. He also campaigned / raised awareness to stop supermarkets selling energy drinks for under 16’s which was a huge problem in schools.
But aside from Jamie Oliver - no we can’t be trusted!

Anyone who tries to bring animal welfare to the core is ok by me. Can’t imagine the agony that the two for one chickens endured.

@orangelotus I guess it must just be how business works but seems seems unfair especially as he presents himself as such a good guy.

I have no interest in Jamie Oliver, celebrities or multi-millionaires in general. But you are being utterly naive if you don't realise that this is exactly "how business works".

(a) The business and the person are entirely separate legal entities
(b) Pretty much every celebrity and multi-millionaire is "a good guy" just as all businesses care passionately about the environment, fair play, or whatever the current trend is. There isn't a lot of money to be made out of "I am an utter bastard, please give me your money" - it's a very niche brand!

I think choice should be taken away.
And better choices introduced.
50 years ago there wasn’t all this awful crap on the shelves - far less choice and people were a healthy weight.
But food companies won’t do that as it won’t make them money so good- I’m glad the government stepped in and it needs to do far far more.