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

[ConfusedPixie]

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.

oh i will also tell my punabi MIL that children don't eat lentils.

because they do in India.

JO is.

punabi = Punjabi

oh come of it, faster never said its easy to live on lentils. i perhaps may have said its easy to go veggie because In MY experience it is. Dont live on lentils though.

I thought you were going Faster?

I dont think JO has a sneer in him.

so SAF what do you say about all the indian people, adults and children, who eat tomatoes, lentils and onions?

pretty much the food i described.

how can they and i be wrong? or maybe you are just talking about your family?

nothing wrong with that, but that is all it is.

no she's still here. so far she's only insulted parents, poor people, fat people and me so still has work to do.

TheCrackFox Wed 28-Aug-13 16:14:32
I thought you were going Faster?

no - saying goodbye.

empress i think you're a little bit in love with him.

Defintely not, Im just amazed at the hatred directed to him. soooo many worse things in the world to hate.

Enough sneering at people w/ or without children. Argue a point but it is getting cruel now.

Child free people pay taxes to support our child benefit, child care tax credits and the rest.

She managed to insult me yesterday, but I ignored it.

No one has said there is anything wrong with lentils or any of that. If that is what a family eats then good for them.

The debate here is that JO is making stupid bloody comments about how easy it all is and for quite a few people it isn't easy.

The debate here is that JO is making stupid bloody comments about how easy it all is and for quite a few people it isn't easy.

but not everyone agrees with that statement.

lots of the 'Jamie Oliver is not that bad' posters give up.

because the accusations against him - lots of them just aren't true.

But it's a statement of fact rather than opinion because there are quite a few people who will find it very difficult for many and varied reasons.

See how many nutritious meals you could make from £10 for a week, with only a microwave, using only a corner shop for ingredients.

i don't think JO is giving any advice about meals you can cook only using a microwave.

so he is not talking about that group of people.
yes they have a difficult situation - but not one he is referring to.

I don't think he was referring to anyone other than 'the poor' - which will include lots of people. That's part of the problem.

If you're going to make flippant comments about TVs and poor choices, you need to be quite specific about what you mean unless you want to cause offence. But maybe that was the whole point since it's certainly raised his profile.

FWIW, although I think JO fails to see the nuances in subject matters he likes to pontificate about, his heart is in the right place. I really think the TV comment was very ill-advised though, and if I were him I would have apologised for it.

No, he's not giving that advice. Very true.

But he is making vast generalisations that I, personally, find offensive and all for the good of promoting his new series and selling an over priced book.

Wow, just wow. This thread has certainly taken the vipers label and run with it
My 2pworth having read the article. I got the impression that JO was talking about British society in general, he used the example of one family that claimed to be unable to feed their children decent food but had a nice tv. He was using it to show that as a society a lot of us have got our priorities skewed.
I actually remember the people he was talking about too. The mother fed her small child (may have been two) on takeaway every night. (I remember feeling nauseous at the site of a small child eating donor meat and chips)
I have to agree to some extent, a lot of society does seem to have dodgy priorities BUT JO's downfall is that he isn't quite so in touch, by the very nature of his lifestyle, and doesn't realise quite how difficult it is to readjust those priorities again.
So he is out of touch but at least he cares and does what he can. Maybe he needs some mn advisors.

The debate is JO only thinks the poor need educating about healthy eating.

He doesn't seem to care about wealthy people being overweight.

He cares about selling his books and his range of ready made pasta sauces,yes.

Oh but the 'poor' are not allowed to buy them.

They can make their own with a tin of tomatoes and an onion.

well 'The Childless' and their 'Imaginary Children' aren't allowed to comment but if i were someone else, i would say....

it tastes better if you make it yourself.

don't forget the lentils!