Aibu to think jamie oliver can't win??

[MOTU]

You'd think this would be his key demographic what with people vociferously shaming people who dare give their child squash or a sprinkle of sugar on their weetabix; but every time he speaks out about public health, people seem to erupt with indignation that he dare criticise our diets and accuse him of patronising poor people.

The latest one being that his suggestion of a sugar tax on sugary drinks is penalising poor people but allowing wealthy people choice.
Actually I think the tax would mostly just differentiate between the sugar added drinks and others, making it a more obvious choice across the socio economic spectrum and if you're so poor this would price you out of the market then you really couldn't have been afording these drinks to start with, their not exactly the cheapest option.....

I like him he is trying to help imo. He is doing it out of kindness misguided or not.I haven't forgiven the twat for turkey twizlers though.

He's not currently fat, but he was. It was a subject he managed to mostly dodge too. Fat-shaming is for poor types only!

I don't understand the vitriol. He's trying to get people to pay attention to how overweight kids are in the UK. It doesn't bode well for anything.

It's not like he was ever massive, and I'm really confused as to why everyone thinks wealthy people can't express opinions or help with situations they've not personally experienced. His books on saving and being healthy are all relative, for many people they will help, plenty of people are excessively wasteful without even realising it and might benefit from his advice-most people don't know how to feed a family well on a modest budget but yes I guess the save with Jamie certainly wasn't showing breadline recipes -not that he ever claimed it was........

He can't win?

But he has won! He is rich and famous and we are all talking about him

That is winning, no?

And as to "let the poor drink sugar free squash"... Aspartame is headache inducing poison.

Let people eat sugar if they like

Personal choice. Personal responsibility.

I do find it ironic that he goes on about healthy eating when he himself has always been on the chubby side. He's lost a bit of weight recently though. His recipes are often not very healthy. I hate the way he covers everything in olive oil. You can have too much of a good thing you know.

Haven't been following Jamie's latest campaign but my problem is with all the other additives and sweetners they put in sugar free stuff. So yes too much sugar is bad but at least it's a natural product and not a manufactured chemical replacement.

I wondered whether there'd be a thread about him!

Yeah. Wanker. On a day when even some of the fucking Tories are asking the Tories to try to make sure their cuts are, at least, only a little bit unfair rather than really unfair, this man is lobbying about pop. patronising wazzock.

Oh yes, and if you'd like to hear more about delicious alternatives to pop, tune in to my show this evening when that's what I'll be talking about! And if you'd like to know more about it after that, buy my book, where I have more recipes for lovely no sugar alternatives! Does he think we are stupid? Shouting about how big business must not run Britain - superfoods are how he his making his own money right now: it's a business!

Can't bear this man.

Patronising chubby mockney millionaire who's recipes don't stand up to scrutiny lecturing people on what to eat. He admits his wife doesn't like his food.
Sugar is a massive issue but replacing it with artificial sweeteners isn't the solution.

He isn't claiming a sugar tax is a magic bullet. It's a symbolic act to show that government is taking obesity seriously. It would raise money which would be used on education, for example in cooking skills and nutrition. He has many more ideas (a list of 70 I think) which he has submitted to the select committee.

Jumping on the superfood bandwagon made him look really pathetic.

YANBU OP. I don't understand the vitriol towards him either. No one is obliged to watch him / read his books etc... I also think he is ahead of his time and that Ian Wright did not have a leg to stand on on Newsnight.

Why do sugary drinks have to be replaced with chemical laden ones? The ultimately healthy drink which we all need a lot of is water.

Sugary food (choc, puddings etc....) is the only treat I have in life. Not sure I want to see the price going up. If the 'sugar tax' went to the nhs it would be ok though.

Are we the only 'water only' household? We've never had squash or fizz in the house. Certainly not had anything with aspartame either.

We don't need symbolic acts - we need for the food industry to stop filling their products with crap (and that includes aspartame). We need companies to produce healthy take away food, so there really is a choice and we need to teach kids how to actually cook, rather yhan open a jar or the microwave door!

I agree it is a good idea to put the number of teaspoons of sugar on each can of coke etc.

The problem with JO is that he is perceived as fake - he's not the 'poor kid done good' that he pretends to be. Iirc his first job was in his dad's friend's restaurant - the accent is fake. I think he was privately educated, so not poor. The pretence at being working working class is irritating and that's why no one wants to listen to him!

'patronising wazzock' is right.

I also agree with BabyGanoush Personal choice. Personal responsibility.

How about we try and educate those who need help, instead of fucking taxing them?

He is a patronising twat. The party line in his restaurant if you think the food is shit is "you just haven't experienced real Italian food before, your pallet isn't used to it"

Fuck. Off.

the ultimate healthy drink we all need is water

Indeed. Can't flog a recipe for that though, can you?

This thread is very depressing but interesting at the same time. Do people seriously find nothing pleasurable in life except sugar in food?

How about getting lost in a good book, listening to music, sex, singing, dancing, drawing, walking in nature, having a laugh with friends over a cup of tea, a good film or comedy on tv/radio, going for a run, mumsnet to name a few that are very cheap and accessible.

People lie

He is proposing most of your suggestions, using the tax money to teach children how to cook/foot education.

But I take sugar in my tea Feta

I just knew someone would say that^^

Personal responsibility is a failing fat children. They are facing a life time of ill health because their parents are not able to act responsibly enough to protect them. Therefore intervention is required, it needs lots of approaches, ideally I would prefer subsidising healthier food with the taxes raised from taxing sugary drinks.

I don't particularly like JO but that is irrelevant.

So to unpack the argument a bit.

in theory, if JO gave all his own money to the cause of tackling obesity would that change anything? Or is the whole idea of trying to change people's diet through education, taxation inherently wrong? Should it just be a case of choice in individual families despite the health consequences?

Genuine question.

I like him. I love olive oil and don't eat processed sugar if I can help it. I admire what he has done with Fifteen and school dinners. I enjoy watching his cooking programs and have made some of his food and it has been nice.

I do try not to judge people by their class or weight if I can help it. But I am tubby and middle class so perhaps it is easier for me.

I think that a lot of attention has been given to how much money he has made. I would love to have made so much money, so I can't criticise the man for being more successful than me.

I think he jumps on the bandwagon personally and ends up looking a twat this is just his latests thing he has put his podgey face too he is patronising and smug his last economy cooking programme was ridiculous if people are poor or have very little motivation then they are not going to have his store cupboard ingredients and they will still buy value juice even if there is a tax on it.