Does anyone love Jamie Oliver's recipes but find him a bit odd?

[MrsKingfisher]

I'm sure he speaks very highly of me! I really enjoy his recipes but the more I see of him and Jools on tv I don't know he creeps me out a bit..can't put my finger on it. Anyone else?

James Martin fascinates me (as a linguist).
The way he goes from posh to ay up where's me ferret as and when it suits him.

On the other hand I was in my local Waterstones a couple of weeks ago and I saw Richard Osman with his new book. I'm not sure if it was an official book signing but I think he was early and they were getting ready. He seemed so nice. He was really kind to all of the staff and one of the customers in the shop. I remember thinking what a lovely man.

Oh I am reading that at the moment, it is rather fun.

The problem with his recipes like in the 15 or 30 minute meals books, is yes, it takes a few seconds to whizz something up in the Magimix but if you follow them to the letter, your kitchen looks like carnage and it just totally defeats the object. Maybe he has people to do all his washing up for him?

What?! Jamie taught Britain to cook. He was the first chef I saw on TV that used simple ingredients and emphasised fresh food and herbs and high welfare meat/fish. Before him it was either cooks who used 5 million ingredients for a dish or chefs who did not consider average people, tastes and budgets. I think he's great. Ambitious, successful (apart from the restaurants), and he puts his fame and influence to good use to improve the nation's diets. And he's a hell of a marketer. I don't think there's ever a lull in his business. Yeah, I heard the cokehead and serial shagger rumours a decade ago, but so what? I follow him for his expertise not his fidelity. Besides, I think Jools knows what's up and had decided to tolerate it.

Feel indifferent about his recipes as there are other chefs and cooks I prefer. I’ve meet Jamie a few times and he was lovely, personable and genuine. The only surprise was that he is much taller than I thought he would be. His heart is in the right place so can overlook the fact he can be a little annoying. I think some kind people would call him ‘enthusiastic’!

His wife is a cow though.

We had the books...never looked at them !!...chucked the lot out as he still owes wages etc to employees when chain went bust etc. My nephew still waiting despite court orders to pay up...he refuses. !! He is a wanker !

I think Delia Smith taught the nation to cook not Jamie Oliver. Her shows were on Tv years ago, she's unpretentious and explains the method really well. She also doesn't drown everything in olive oil and smother it in 10 different herbs. We went to Fifteen restaurant and it was awful - cold, oily, undercooked. DH felt ill after eating greasy white pork belly. His recipes never work either.

He’s always unpopular here, but for me he’s the person who taught me how to cook and be interested in food. I still sometimes dip into the naked chef book. It was definitely a gap in the market, he was young, not unattractive in a 90s kind of way. Very different to Delia et al.

Had he morphed into a bit of a nob these days? Probably. Is he horrid in person? I wouldn’t know - but I imagine being a celebrity is draining. Can I forgive him for putting aspartame in everything? Absolutely not.

But he still deserves his place on the cookbook shelf in our house.

I'm not a fan of the recipes and he lost me with the 'quick recipes for after work that use every pan in the house'.

I also can't quite put my finger on why but I've always felt he could be a bit controlling.

I find it hard to give a shit about Jamie either way.
My DH always says his Jools is minging.
We did have his first recipe book though, and had a good laugh at his ice cream with crushed maltesers recipe. Literally, shop vanilla ice cream, with a bag of maltesers crushed on it. Ripping the piss!

Horrible comments on here, most probably untrue.

bebarkered that's a pretty fucking nasty thing to say about someone you know sod all about, shame on you.

@Clawdy Google Jamie Oliver Scotch Bonnet

@jeffgoldblumlovespenguins

I loved Gary Rhodes 🥰 and ainsley harriot!

I love watching Ainsley Harriot but not for the cheffing. He is comedy gold :)

Ah but for comedy you need Keith Floyd and the ostriches.

Well that escalated quite quickly

blimey bebarkered...

Delia was boring as fuck and I always feel like she's not actually that interested in food or eating. JO made cooking something that was fun, sociable, a laugh, and at the same time something it's OK to be excited and passionate about. It's easy now to take the piss out of the early scooter-riding, Clerkenwell-loft-filmed stuff, but it really did change the image of food and cooking.

bebarkered I won't shut the fuck up, because you chose to repeat something really nasty about someone you don't know because you read it on the internet, that actually says a lot about you.

STFU123, that says a lot about me? Do explain

#bekind all over now I see.
Some shitty comments on here about someone that a lot of you have never met.
Sometimes MN is like a school playground.

@Anordinarymum I used to work in a restaurant near to where Ainsley lives, I waited his table a number of times, he was a repeat customer. He was rude, patronising and an incredibly poor tipper. He also tried to not pay one of our regulars who'd done a huge amount of very expensive marble work in his kitchen. Saying he could feature the kitchen on TV , highlight where he got it done etc, all AFTER it had been installed and he'd been invoiced!!