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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think jack Monroes recipe book is pretty shit

240 replies

Itsgonnabeacoldone · 04/12/2017 19:58

Secret santa present and i was interested to have a quick look through, but after 10 mins I've decided it's a waste of space and will be going to the charity shop tomorrow.

She often speaks as if she's doing charity work and helping the poorest people with these. But really who would buy it if you were that poor.

She talks about it being inexpensive as you just need a small amount of this and that but you cant just buy half a teaspoon of a spice. It might be useful if you already have the spices and end up broke, but honestly if you already have a collection of spices you are going to know how to use them.

Lots of the ingredients she says you can't buy from the local corner shop and this is where many poor people have to shop.

Some of her sage advice is to just have one type of oil and vinegar. If you are poor that's exactly what you wouldn't do - your not going to be stocking up on half a dozen different types of vinegar if you are skint. If you are not skint then why on earth would you limit the number of oils or vinegars - they are all used for different things.

I can't see who this book would help, if you have access to cheap ingredients you can make cheap food. It just comes all of as very middle class faux help.

OP posts:
stopfuckingshoutingatme · 05/12/2017 07:16

I don’t understand why she gets such a bashing on here

She cares and she uses her voice not always wisely but she puts herself out there

It’s sometjing of the tall poppy syndrome methinks

And I lived what she said about Diane Abbot when it got all nasty at the general election

LizzieSiddal · 05/12/2017 07:16

God what a nasty thread!

WhirlwindHugs · 05/12/2017 07:21

not the right kind of poor that's it exactly isn't it,?

DH and I had quite blatantly MC childhoods and still ended up food poor at times as adults. Being MC is not a magic bullet against losing your job, childcare costs and high rent. It also means you don't necessarily know how to handle it. Our family has helped us occasionally but not with day-to-day budgeting and we wouldn't ask tbh. I'm not begging from anyone.

I found Jack's first book really useful when we were skint, and I still regularly use it.

It's the mindset of what else can I do with this half a yoghurt that will make it more, I know, make bread, that is really useful.

stopfuckingshoutingatme · 05/12/2017 07:26

Miaow!

treaclesoda · 05/12/2017 07:28

This thread is maddening.

The 'stand on your own two feet and don't expect your parents to support you' people are always out in force when someone posts that they are struggling and thinking of asking their parents for money.

But when someone actually did that, they're just a fraud.

I think her books are good. I don't think she has ever claimed that she is still poor. I think she has some difficulty knowing when silence is the most dignified option and I find her grating at times. But anyone who sued KH and won has definitely done a good thing for society as a whole.

BertieBotts · 05/12/2017 07:29

The thing is that her background is MC (she describes herself as having been quite "foodie") and then she found herself poor.

So of course there will be a slant of that within the recipes.

God this country is so obsessed with class. If you want more "traditional poor person fayre" try Jamie's ministry of food. Personally I find the recipes in there and Jack's both useful, because funnily enough food is food. I found Jack's book in TK Maxx and bought it because I had enjoyed her website - I probably wouldn't have specifically sought it out. But it is useful and I like her. You can get all of the recipes from the book for free online, even with a search function.

BertieBotts · 05/12/2017 07:33

Hilarious TBH that people are claiming stopping work as a firefighter because she had a child was foolish - what was she meant to do, strap the baby to her back and dive into a burning building? Confused Firefighters are not known for their family friendly work hours.

IamNotDarling · 05/12/2017 07:44

What a vile OP. If you don’t it, pass it on.

Many cookery books aren’t my cup of tea but tearing down a woman with mental health issues is not on. Shame on you.

tiredbutFINE · 05/12/2017 07:48

Looking forward to Jack having to write a post called “the wrong kind of poor” explaining how a plucky band of mumsnetters exposed the secret contrived media takeover plan, and fessing up to eating kilos of rare Italian truffles and gold whilst blogging there was no food in the house. Those pesky mumsnetters, if it wasn’t for their meddling she’d have gotten away with it, too!

Ceto · 05/12/2017 07:51

I don't understand why you're bothered about what she says about oil and vinegar. She's saying don't stock up on different types, you seem to agree with that, so what is your objection? Likewise, why should poor people be uninterested in different ideas about how to use spices if they already have them? Sure, some poor people shop in corner shops, but an awful lot shop in supermarkets.

And what do you mean by self-inflicted poverty being different from "real" poverty? If you've got no money, you've got no money, irrespective of the cause.

whiskyowl · 05/12/2017 07:54

I think you're being really unreasonable.

I have been poorer than the vast majority of people. I've been properly homeless for several months, and - later on - I've also supported two people on a PhD stipend in London, which works out as less money than you get on benefits by quite a long way. I used to have to be extremely creative about cooking to get by and books like this really helped me. I learned a bunch of habits that are still useful now, if I'm having a tight month for one reason or another!

As thread after thread on here shows, people need help and advice about how to cut their food bills. The audience for this book (sadly) extends beyond the absolute poorest in society, into families who are just about coping. There has always been a strand of cookbook publishing for this market - I have an old ATDS cookbook that's full of wartime recipes that make creative use of cheap root veg, Delia Smith wrote Frugal Food in the 70s, now we have Jack Monroe.

I think her work does a lot of good in drawing attention to food poverty and keeping it in the news. Of course, a cookbook is not going to solve poverty - we need government policy to do that. But it isn't a stupid idea.

I also think your criticisms are ridiculous. I would point out that ingredients that might seem "exotic" in, say a rural village in the UK are actually very cheaply and readily available in more multicultural cities - including spices.

PumpkinSquash · 05/12/2017 08:08

Jeez, this a particularly nasty thread, OP.

At the risk of sounding like a 14 year old, I know , right?!
WTF is wrong with some people?! You don't like, don't read. Get another cookbook with recipes you do like.
It's more like a character assassination on here now.

PumpkinSquash · 05/12/2017 08:10

How do you work a rotation of shifts like the fire service with a child as a single parent if you have no support network?

Her blog started as a way of letting out what she and her son were going through. It's not a hook to get famous. It's real. Real doesn't mean perfect.

Very well said to both. Maybe people think you can take your small child to work and stick it in a drawer with you? (Anyone remember Brittas Empire? Kind of like that with the receptionist Grin )

onlyconnectfour · 05/12/2017 08:12

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

DonkeyOaty · 05/12/2017 08:16

onlyconnect why would you write that? I don't understand, can you explain why please?

VioletHaze · 05/12/2017 08:16

Did you know she used Mishcon de Reya solicitors to sue Katie Hopkins? Guess who else they used to represent? Only Princess Diana.

Well, I don't think she'd claim to be poor any more. She makes a presumably decent living as a journalist and writer. I think what she's always claimed is that she's an example of how anyone can end up in a very bad financial way. She was middle class, stuff went wrong and she wound up really struggling for a bit. She's never pretended more than that.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 05/12/2017 08:25

This thread is very nasty in places.

OP, if you don't like the book then give it to a charity shop.

I've thankfully never been in poverty, but I did read her column in the Guardian and hsve used recipes from her blog. She comes across as very genuine.

People seem to be sneery because she's now no longer poor. She really can't win, can she?

Glad you're ok Laudunum

onlyconnectfour · 05/12/2017 08:28

You have to be the right kind of poor person for Jack to be interested in you .

LemonShark · 05/12/2017 08:51

Two things spring to mind reading this thread since I last posted:

  1. the whole 'if you disagree with OP you must be Jack/their publicist, ha ha!' Why the fuck bother posting anything asking for other opinions if other opinions are instantly dismissed like that? Oh, I have an idea actually... to goad.

  2. for all of the people who think having two alive parents of whatever level of wealth means they will always support you financially, I'm glad you've never found out the hard way that that's not always the case. Not all parents can or want to support their kids. Not all kids want to sacrifice what it will cost them of their dignity to ask. Not everyone has parents. How lovely it must be to feel like your entire life is supported by one big safety net.

I'm not a massive fan of jack (fairly ambivalent) but I can recognise they've done more than probably the majority of us on here to enable people on low incomes to access healthy food and learn how to cook/stretch ingredients. Not sure they ever claimed to have the solution to every person's individual problems or be able to eradicate food poverty. Even aside from the poverty aspect of their cooking, I love that they've shown you can make nice meals with fewer ingredients than most cooks expect you to buy.

And for those complaining their meals aren't inspiring, I'm glad you've never been so hungry or skint you've just cared about how best to fill your stomach and your kid's stomach without causing long term health problems many cheap junk foods contribute towards. Who cares if it's inspiring, beans on toast with grated cheese on top is a decent, boring meal that is fairly good for you and almost anyone can cook.

user1471596238 · 05/12/2017 09:22

Judging by some posts on here, this doesn't seem so much of a critique of her recipes as an excuse to critique her.

BarbaraofSevillle · 05/12/2017 09:34

The thing is that her background is MC (she describes herself as having been quite "foodie") and then she found herself poor

Eh? What is the link between being middle class and foodie? Surely WC people could equally be 'foodie'. Or do you say they will only ever shop in Iceland for frozen pies and pizzas?

One thing I really can't get my head round is the assertion that cooking real food with real ingredients, as opposed to eating cheap convenience shite is seen as a niche middle class pursuit that is inaccessible to the poor or working class.

It's like when Jamie Oliver got critised for saying that the Italian poor would make a great meal out of some dried pasta and cheap tinned fish and lots of people said how the poor would never eat that type of food, wouldn't be able to cook it, wouldn't have the equipment, etc etc etc. If the poor of Italy can do this, why can't poor people in the UK do the same?

CloudPerson · 05/12/2017 10:09

I don't get the JM hate, and always think there's a subtle undercurrent of ableism going on.

The features that people have a problem with (over sharing, over honest, self identity issues, being outspoken etc) are all common features of autism, which she disclosed recently when criticising an ad campaign from PETA saying that dairy products caused autism.
I'm autistic and have always recognised her as someone I understand, but at the same time it gives some insight as to why people don't like her and pick holes into everything she's done and tbh it reflects more on them than it does her. It's uncomfortable reading when people pick her to pieces. If nothing else it shows great resilience on her part to keep going.

TellMeItsNotTrue · 05/12/2017 10:18

What I really found different between her and other people writing cheap food cookery books, is that she thinks of things that they don't. If you haven't lived it then you don't think about have I got enough money on the gas/electric to cook this for an hour? Have I got a blender and a bread maker?

Her recipes don't just use cheap ingredients, they use very basic equipment and as little fuel as possible. Her recipes are also pretty adaptable, with her recommending changes, people commenting on her online recipes with changes and the assurance that it will work if you use x instead of y. She mentions herbs but also says use a bit of whatever you have, it can be done without but will taste better with so slowly build up a few key herbs as and when you can

Ghostontoast · 05/12/2017 10:20

I don’t get the JM hate either

The world would be a better place with more “doers” like her and less shit-stirring people like the OP!

ItsAllABitStrangeReally · 05/12/2017 10:23

Her / their / they / they's ?? sons dad wrote an article a while ago......he seemed genuinely hurt !