"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.

ooh yes Badger Burgers with dandilion salad. Dunno what them poor people are bitchin about

Tinned tomatoes & an onion is a meal that I would do if I had no garlic, basil, pepper etc and Id be very happy. Obviously it would be better/more healthy to increase the ingredients but my point is that I am perfectly happy to eat it, its super cheap and it wouldnt cross my mind to be disapointed in it. But then I am a spagetti a-holic who would even happily eat spagetti with ketchup and grated cheese - I really do love it. And thats not because I cant cook but because i like it, its cheap and its really easy. So maybe I am biased about the level of 'sauce' that other people will deign to eat.

I tell you what else they could do in my programme. Jamie Oliver could go and lecture notorius fat bastard Philip Green chairman of Arcadia (net worth £5 billion) on how disgraceful it is that he spends all his money on yachts and private islands when he could spend it on not being such a fat bastard.

That would be novel instead of haranguing poor people for being fatties all the time.

Oooohh Empress, Spaghetti with just butter and seasoning was one of my favorite things to have. Not had it in years though...might just have to have some for lunch now.

yes all this spagetti chat and watching jamie on you tube is making me hungry!

empress77 What I have to say might shock you. Tinned tomatoes and an onion isn't a meal.

It's a tin of tomatoes with an onion in it.

Your programme SeaSickSal

Actually I think that a plasma TV from Brighthouse and a TV licence are a very effective way of providing entertainment on a budget. £3.29 a week for a 24" plasma TV plus around £2.50 a week for a TV licence. With 2 kids that's cheaper than a trip to softplay or swimming and provides you with entertainment for the whole family for an entire week.

Although as always on these type of threads we will discover that there are a large chunk of people who think the poor aren't deserving unless they live in a bare flat with only library books for entertainment eating only lentils and boiled mung beans for tea.

no no you dont put the onion in the tin see, you chop the onion small, lightly fry it, add the tomatoes and simmer it down for a good long time, stirring regularly, until it makes a delicious thick passata. Then put it on spagetti. Nice. Not one you want to serve your mil but one that will do fine if you have nothing much in the cupboard (as I live in the country this is often the case) or cant be bothered to spend time making an epic dinner for one.

Oooh sorry. Our programme Moln. I'm getting like Jamie, he jettisoned all the mates that used to be in his show didn't he.

Also I suppose Juddly Oliver does know that "25 mussels, 10 cherry tomatoes, and a packet of spaghetti" cant be bought for for 60 pence here, no matter if it knocks out the most amazing pasta

I think that the key is to provide education in schools for healthy, economical and simple recipes. We do a cooking lesson each week at our school, starting with very simple recipes for the younger students (scones, pikelets, etc), building up to more complex recipes in grades 5-6. My class has done things like a basic pasta sauce, fried rice, jacket potatoes, omelettes, and have made their own fish pieces (fingers) and nuggets. It's easy to teach in class, the kids enjoy it, and the more familiar the students become with ingedients and food handling, we then start discussing portions, budgetting, substitutions,ethical food choices, and plenty of other cross curriculum aspects. I think it is definitely something which all students should learn.

it's a concern SeaSickSal, soon you'll be making millions from it and i'll be left forgotten with only a giant plasma for comfort

Or you could give me a farm and I could sell insanely overprice bacon sandwiches like. Jamie's mate Jimmy

(btw I meant Jubbly not Juddy, not even sure I mean Jubbly though)

HIBU to think most Parents are generally too busy after getting Home from work etc to be able to whip up a Roast Dinner from scratch etc. On the point he Made about well they can buy tv's You buy a TV once. You have to buy the healthsy things every day so technically he is still wrong as it still costs more if that makes sense? I want to a) Know where this woman is that can cook mussels etc on 60p?! b) would like to see him conduct an Episode if 15minute meals whilst he is constantly telling his kids to not Run riot round the kitchen in the middle of answering the phone and tryinghis hardest not to burn the Dinner. Burning it after having to sort the umpteeth squabble between Child no2 & 3 and being that worn out he ends up ordering a Takeaway anyway

I would quite like to know the context of the OP's quote, but it really just sounds like one of the many things that Jamie says that is direct and potentially offensive because he speaks straight from the heart. That's why he made those big changes in school dinners - he says the things most people don't want to say, says them publicly and risks his own reputation by doing so - I respect him for that.

You could say that IDS is doing a similar thing - I remember when he did a documentary series and went around housing estates engaging with people in poverty. He went in not with prejudice but with curiosity to work out why people do the things they do (eg choose not to work). He asked valid questions and got real answers and these have made policy changes that were necessary. I'm not a Tory but I did admire his honesty. I think he was out of politics at that time. The previous years of nudge politics just didn't work.

But yes, eat good food if you can and don't spend too much time in front of a screen.

*not too busy/tired thats meant to say at the.beginning ~

I know Moln. When I read that bit about the noble Sicilian dustman and his 25 mussels I cried until the tears ran down my legs.

And if you're going to pitch to Channel 4, that Iain Duncan Smith on the settee bit was my idea.

He's speaking straight from some body part noobieteacher, but it's not his heart.

Misspixietrix I think the way families function has changed. In the past there would have been a grandma at home cooking, spending time kneading dough and steaming puddings. We live in small family units now, with not enough time as you say, to make complicated meals when children need homework doing, hair detangled, costume made for school, picking up from football etc.

A programme on bulk cooking might be a good solution.

It's a pigs heart. He bought it for 6p down the market and he's going to feed an entire orphanage with it.

I love how he gets bitched at for being rich and successful
Yet if he wasn't people would say why should we listen to him he can't even get it right himself.

I think he mostly gets bitch at for not having a clue tbh

Oooer, MNHQ have just announced a JO webchat on Thursday.

Thats a good Idea noobieteacher we have a surestart that regularly does cooking courses. I still make the DC's some of the Recipes now. But I'm lucky to still be in an area where such centres havent had to shut down. They had to cut some resources though to stay open :( uptheairy has a good point too about how if you are on £70 a week you've spent it before you have even thought about getting food. I.e gas electricity and now the 'spare room' charge. I remember once paying near on £2 for 3 Cooking Apples to make desert. Would have been able to get two cheesecakes for the same Price! So yes agree with more education but also think that fruit and veg prices should be lower to encourage consumers to shop more healthily ~

It is a bit of a myth that poor people always spent ages baking & cooking. In many poor families prior to the 20th century often everyone worked either in the fields or in the factories or making lace, taking in darning, milk nursing, turd collecting, midwifery, market traders etc etc etc. So poor people had to spend their hard earned money on pies from pie shops or travelling vendors. It is only from WWI onwards that more women stayed at home and did all the baking & washing.