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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

"they ate fast food and junk food but had splashed out of a plasma TV."

901 replies

ConfusedPixie · 27/08/2013 08:38

This comment just came up on the radio news, supposedly said by Jamie Oliver about one of the families he was working with in his new TV show.

AIBU to wonder how the fuck what you eat relates to what TV you have?

Surely this just reinforces stereotypes of the people likely to have bad diets through lack of education on the matter? What a bullshit statement.

OP posts:
happybubblebrain · 27/08/2013 14:49

Even if you don't buy his book or other merchandise and you look his recipes up online, you'll still be spending an extra £22 in Sainsburys buying all the random ingredients and spending an extra 50 minutes looking for cumin seeds and vanilla pods that week.

happybubblebrain · 27/08/2013 14:52

Isn't the 'obesity problem' still getting worse? I don't think his school dinners have helped.

AmberLeaf · 27/08/2013 14:53

I am really surprised that posters didn't think tomatoes and onions were a good basis for lots of meals

There are great basis for lots of meals, but Empress77 was saying that just tomatos and onions alone is a tasty meal/sauce for pasta.

I beg to differ.

I used to really like Jamie and I still do like the way he cooks, but I think he is out of order over this and it isn't the first time recently that he has said something equally stupid/ill informed.

Not everyone has the skills to cook from scratch. Luckily I do [thanks mum], so when I was at my poorest I did the best possible in that situation to feed myself and my family. But I don't think he and many on this thread have a grasp on how little money per week you have to play with particularly when fuel costs come into play.

If I had a very limited amount of money for food and didn't have much by way of a 'store cupboard' [which is typical for people on benefits] I know I could feed my family cheaper by going to Iceland [the supermarket not the country!] and stocking up there, it's not all crap either, but it is definitely cheaper than cooking totally from scratch, it certainly wouldn't be ready meals though, just not the sort of food lots here would be seen dead feeding their families with.

I think he may have been justified to say what he said about that particular *family, but in saying it he just fans the flames of all the benefit bashing crap peddled by the right wing media [and idiots on forums] if he really cared he would choose his words more carefully.

*Anyone in their position though could well just not have the knowledge to feed their families on a budget. The TV is irrelevant for the reasons others have already mentioned.

Still Grin at the shooting deer and fishing post.

FasterStronger · 27/08/2013 14:56

I don't disagree they make him money. just not much to him.

if you had over £100m, why would you bother with the negative press for a few more thousands he will never even spend?

YouTheCat · 27/08/2013 14:58

Makes no difference to him. So I agree with that.

But he has lumped all the poor together in thinking that we all sit about eating chips and feeding our kids rubbish. And that is totally not on. As I previously said, that might be a minority but it is not the norm.

And also, Amber says it much better than me.

limitedperiodonly · 27/08/2013 15:00

Jamie Oliver might be a nice geezer, however he does have form for lashing out whenever he has a book and TV show to promote.

He called the Rochdale pie pushers arseholes - charming.

He said unpleasant things about some of the fat people he'd met while touring America showing them how to eat.

He called Michael Gove - or Govey, as he called him when they were still mates - rude names when Govey decided that he didn't want the Jamie Oliver plan for school meals after all.

He's said other headline-grabbing stuff too.

I'm sure Govey can cope but some of the other people used in the pursuit of the greater good of Jamie Oliver can't.

I really don't know whether it's over-enthusiasm or a cynical PR move. But it's happening a little bit too often to be a mistake.

Empress77 · 27/08/2013 15:06

goodness is he worth 120m! Clearly the mumsnetters hatred for him is not representative of the country then! Thats good, i was feeling sorry for him to be so hated for so little!

YouTheCat · 27/08/2013 15:12

I have just seen his smug face advertising his new programme.

It would seem, from the ad, that his idea is basically bulk cooking and relying on the freezer. Great for those with a huge freezer and those with the money to splash out to start with (plus the time to cook in bulk) on all the ingredients.

Not so great for those truly on a tight budget, living from week to week, and trying to fit in full time jobs too.

BrokenSunglasses · 27/08/2013 15:20

Does it have to work for absolutely everyone for it to be worthwhile then?

YouTheCat · 27/08/2013 15:24

Well working for the poorest would be a start.

I'd love to have a massive freezer but have neither the space for one, nor the cash.

AmberLeaf · 27/08/2013 15:25

Actually, at a time where more and more families are relying on food banks to eat, what he has said is even more irresponsible.

In highlighting the whole 'flatscreen TV' stereotype, he is fanning the flames of the argument that poor people are poor because they deserve to be, because they make poor choices and are feckless, which just isn't true for the majority.

Way to go J O.

Moln · 27/08/2013 15:30

changing school dinners would hardly tackle the obesity problem, it's one meal that some children are getting a few months out of the year. it won't tackle the problem of yhe poor attitude and/or the lack if knowledge about nutition

TravelinColour · 27/08/2013 15:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FasterStronger · 27/08/2013 15:33

you don't need a massive freezer to batch cook. I make 5 veggie lasagnes, reusing trays and stack them in carrier bags. they would fit in a freezer compartment.

then we eat 2 then 1 per week when we CBA to cook.

  • 3 tins of tomatoes
  • 1 pack lasagne
  • veggie mince costs about £1
  • cheese for top
  • onions, garlic and any old veg that need using up
BoozyBear · 27/08/2013 15:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

YouTheCat · 27/08/2013 15:37

I have no room in my freezer (3 drawers). It is all accounted for by bulk bought meat and veg (and a pack of fish fingers).

twistyfeet · 27/08/2013 15:43

I went into our local Tesco the other day. The only shop I can reach without a bus fare. 40p for an apple. 40 sodding pence.
And there are five of us. That would be £2 a day on fruit.

LaurieFairyCake · 27/08/2013 15:43

I'm just in general getting a teensy bit sick of the lie that :

"Poor people are fat, entitled, beer swilling, chip eating, lazy cunts who claim benefits and sit around watching Jezza Kyle, slapping Chardonnay round her tattooed rump,being anti social, committing crime, working cash in hand, driving without insurance, starting fights, and fucking each other endlessly to produce kids to steal council houses"

Hmm

It's lazy, cunting journalism. Slapdash, shoddy, and a bag of shite.

AmberLeaf · 27/08/2013 15:47

Its atrocious people saying 'well not everyone knows how to cook' why don't they? If they weren't taught by their parents, why haven't they taken the time to learn themselves?

Because they don't see their way as wrong or something that needs to be expanded upon? Because they don't know how to access that learning? Because they have literacy problems?

It isn't always as simple as saying 'just learn how to'

That's a really small minded opinion to have you know.

InTheRedCorner · 27/08/2013 15:49

I think lack of store cupboard ingredients and utensils is a problem for many with little advice on the basics that are needed once you need to start feeding a family.

If people were educated on what is needed when you start weaning it would be easier for people to cook instead of relying on fast food.

YouTheCat · 27/08/2013 15:51

Where is the money coming from to pay for all these ingredients?

And also, who is going to pay for me to move into a nice house with a utility room for a massive freezer? Grin

timidviper · 27/08/2013 15:56

This is just a cheap publicity stunt to drum up publicity for the next load of shite he wants to sell to add to his already immense fortune.

Sirzy · 27/08/2013 15:58

Its atrocious people saying 'well not everyone knows how to cook' why dont they? If they weren't taught by their parents, why haven't they taken the time to learn themselves?

because the world doesn't work in such a simplistic way.

To me making a spag bol is easy because I have been taught how to do it so it is second nature to me. Other people have never had that opportunity so they have no idea how to do it.

taking the time to learn themselves is all well and good but people have to have the time and motivation to do that in the first place. Learning to cook is often very much trial and error, something that people can't afford if they are on a tight budget.

Often online recipes for things, or recipe books vastly over complicate recipes compared to the basic methods people actually use.

That is why we need, like you have said, proper home economics lessons from primary school with ingredients all provided so all children leave school with the ability to make a handful of simple but nutritious meals.

twistyfeet · 27/08/2013 15:58

what is meant by 'fast food'? MacD's or supernoodles?
I taught all my kids to cook but they certainly dont like JO's pasta and carb heavy stuff.

BoozyBear · 27/08/2013 16:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.