Jamie Oliver & his flaming perfect Xmas's!

[Halloweencat]

Nothing to gain from this thread except to air my irritation lol. Just been watching Jamie Oliver create his perfect pre Xmas soiree for about 20 friends & family. Gorgeous food, drinks, cocktails, Xmas decorations, perfect children helping out & singing merrily away. I love the fact that he is so in love with food & is very passionate about it, but is life really like that for anybody, & does it give you fomo & make you feel like you're not putting in enough effort cos your Xmas does not live up to it?
After a day at work & dealing with this cold that never seems to go away I can hardly summon up the energy to do the washing up! There is always the off button on the remote to turn this fantasy land off the tv...

The envy shines through, every time

Envy 🤣

Never watch it. Easy.

It's lovely, very common where I'm from.

A leafy salad on the same plate as beef in gravy and mashed potato?

Yech!

I liked the show...but if he says 'get ahead of the game' again I will punch the TV.

I love the fact that he is so in love with food & is very passionate about it, but is life really like that for anybody, & does it give you fomo & make you feel like you're not putting in enough effort cos your Xmas does not live up to it?

Don't watch it if it makes you feel insecure.

Who cares how much effort other people (and especially TV celebs with a production team to do the grunt work for them) [appear] to put in?

You don't have to buy into any of the madness that is being generated around providing the "perfect" Christmas and "making memories" (a phrase that makes me cringe) by retailers, the media and social media.

I note that Tesco are selling personalised cardboard "Christmas Eve boxes" now at £4 a pop for filling with "matching Christmas PJs etc"...and so it goes on.

Kerching!

I thought River was about 2 or 3 but apparently he's 5! His singing was fantastic though
I thought that too. Choir boy in the making there.

He’s never been popular on mumsnet though
Well he is with me. Seems like a genuinely nice family man.

I much prefer him to Nadia ( Nadiya?) She's got a bit too slick and glam / channelling Nigella. I used to really like her.

I still love Nadia and always watch her programme but I rarely fancy any of the things she makes these days. They always seem to be a liitle bit too much. I have one of her books and there are 2 or 3 things in there I like but a lot of it is too sickly for my taste.

I saw a couple of Nadiya's latest series and wasn't overwhelmed. I thought her delivery was a little measured and slow as though she was explaining to a Home Economics class - she's definitely changed (bound to happen) and Mary Berry is just too smiley and 'isn't it all scrumptious'. You can't beat James Martin though (and I know he feels the same about me cos he winks at me every now and then ).

It's just a shame James Martin is such a monumental shit.

@Tal45

He probably doesn't even know most of the people at his soiree, they're probably just hired to make it look like it's the perfect party. It's all for tv, edited to be coveted, none of it should be considered real life.

Kind of like all those very North London dinner with friends that we'd see on Nigella's show. It all looked so amazing, but now we know her real life wasn't so much fun.

[quote ButterfliesAndDaffodils]@Pinkcurtwinsinthebin oh that gravy!! The one with the chicken wings I'm guessing? Yeah I decided to do that one a few years ago, luckily I gave it a trial run first. Followed the recipe presicely, and ended up with bland, insipid beige-y swill. My family were horrified and still take the piss over it

I actually usually really like his recipes, but that gravy was just ghastly. I'm also back on the Bisto [/quote]
His get ahead gravy works great as long as you use chicken stock (just made with cubes) and not water like he does - tastes bland as anything if you follow his recipe. I don't use the star anise either!

The family and friends are genuine

I’m this series he even tells you how he knows them.

I quite like Nadiyas recipes but can't stand her awful delivery.

Mary Berry is smug and irritating don't buy into her nice old lady act at all. James Martin and pru leith all the way for me !

It's the cooking in the garden that grates on me. And everything else people have mentioned.

Meh I like it, just a bit of festive escapism. I like watching the Nigella Christmas shows too, I know the gatherings are fake but who cares.

The make ahead gravy is good but can do without/less of the star anise

Every dish has a mountain of ingredients that I think way too much for the average cook

I remember seeing a scene where he was busy chopping veg for some healthy "treat" "the kids will love this etc" and his kid strolled to the door eating a bowl of crisps. Tickled me and I thought nah they probably won't like your chopped up veg monstrosity. Still kids like any others.

I want to not like it, and me and DH weren't really in the mood for the perfect family meal fantasy last night and were a bit 'fuck off, I'm not watching that bollocks', but I like it when I'm in the mood. I like his style of cooking. I find Nigella a bit more irritating, even OH doesn't fall for weird fondlings of courgettes and rolls his eyes. Much prefer Hairy Bikers and Rick Stein, much more down to earth.

I quite like his recipes, but do find him a bit out of touch with his ranting about feeding kids on a low budget. I would love to see how he feed a family of 5 on £50 quid a week. I expect he would fail miserably.

Given Jamie’s concern for the health of the nation I am surprised he has never written a weight loss cookbook.

@FrogFairy

Given Jamie’s concern for the health of the nation I am surprised he has never written a weight loss cookbook.

Could be in the pipeline. He might go down the Hairy Bikers route when they did the Hairy Dieters.

Not sure how he'd pun his name though - Jamie's Small-iver?

It's just a shame James Martin is such a monumental shit.
Why?

Notice the branded items I’m his kitchen where the brand name has been covered up eg ‘AGA’. That’s because they have refused to pay the product placement fee. Contrast eg the prominent use of ‘tiptree’ jam. It’s all about advertising and money. Agree about his children - they are going to be pretty screwed up when they are older. Not appropriate.

His kids appear to be willing participants if you ask me - the older ones clearly don't want to be involved so aren't. They seem like a lovely family to me. There's a very British thing of knocking those people who are successful and it's evident in abundance on this thread.

I had the feeling this was meant to be broadcast nearer Christmas but with the ever growing Covid numbers they got worried about all the "togetherness and love and gratefulness" at Jamie's being all over the tv if people weren't able to be with family this year...

Food telly is like glossy coffee table books and property porn. Designed to be aspirational not real.

^This. If you don't want to see perfect food, lovely houses and glamorous people, watch Eastenders or something instead! That is the whole point of this kind of show.