Jamie Oliver webchat, Thursday 29 August, 2.45pm

[GeraldineMumsnet]

We're chuffed that Jamie Oliver is paying a return visit to Mumsnet this Thursday. His first MN webchat was back in 2010.

Jamie has a new book out, Save with Jamie: Shop Smart, Cook Clever, Waste Less (all subjects dear to MNers' hearts). It has 100 brand-new recipes designed to be accessible, reliable and, above all, affordable.

This is what Jamie says about his new book: "For years I have been telling people that if you look back through history, the best food in the world has always come from communities under massive financial pressure. But the proviso is that you MUST be able to cook! If you can't, and have no money, that is where the trouble starts. This is a cook book which, from start to finish has tasty recipes, all dedicated to great value, is a brilliant weapon to have on the shelf, and is relevant to every household. If you use this book the way it's intended, you should end up saving a wodge of cash from your wallet."

And to tie in with the book, he has a new six-part series on Channel 4 starting on Monday 2 Sept at 8pm.

Please post your question and join Jamie for a chat at 2.45pm on Thurs.

Ah, the old, "as far as I know".

Assuming JO was actually present fro this web-chat and it wasn't done entirely by his representatives which may well have included someone who knows his style inside out

Some of you lot sound like you are cackling over a cauldron while trying to think of new ways to slag the poor guy off.

He doesn't address Workfare directly but does say, even the lowest paid employee walks away with more than minimum wage and they get all the benefits that you would expect^

I read this to mean that his employees got employment benefits, like paid holiday and sick leave, not that he was talking about state benefits.

I don't know if anyone here has mentioned the Gill Holcombe book 'How to feed your family a healthy balanced diet with very little money..." but she does meal plans and budget about £50 per week ( probably increased now with food inflation) but better than £170 or whatever. I got it for about £7 I think on Amazon. Less hype, more realistic and cheaper!

Jamie Oliver is far from being a Poor Guy.

I'll save my sympathy for the woman he attacked in his comment about televisions and the recipients of Foodbanks.

The Gill Holcombe book is another good one along with Austerity Housekeeping. I bought it a few years ago and it's great. Can't wait for Jack Monroe's one!

BrokenSunglasses apart from the fact it was all qualified with 'as far as I know', 'all the benefits you would expect' are mostly mandatory, especially holiday.

Broken you call it Cackling over a cauldron (mysogynistic undertones there)

I call it Not being blinded by celebrity.

Each to their own

Id buy Jack Monroes book too.

Jack Monroe is wonderful and so understanding. Her sunshine breakfast buns don't include a handful of sun-dried tomatoes from the store cupboard for a start.

She is marvellous and most of her stuff is free anyway. I'd love to buy her book.

I also love Jack Monroe.

So if somebody is well off they can only be in the wrong then. I don't imagine JO cries himself to sleep over comments made online, but that doesn't mean I can't disagree with his detractors.

It seems he is hated for being successful. There's nothing he can say that will be taken seriously as everybody knows he's rich. I think that's a pity.

I wish she had been invited instead.

The sad thing is, I used to like JO but I haven't been able to for a few years now. He has totally lost touch.

No he is not hated for being successful. If that were true EVERY successful person would be hated.
Its his bigotry that some of us have a problem with.

MorrisZapp. I imagine that if I gatecrashed a party where Philip Green, Bernie Ecclestone and George Soros were and then proceeded to tell them exactly which yacht they should buy, where they should buy it from, why they should buy it and where and how they should purchase the private island they would more it at I would be laughed out of the bleeding room.

Because I have no idea about what it's like to live like that nor what the financial ins and outs are.

Similar to the way that multimillionaire Jamie Oliver has fuck all idea what it's like to live in poverty despite the fact he 'dips in and out' of it.

As a great man once said 'You'll never get it right, because when you're laying in bed at night, watching roaches climb the wall, you just call your Dad he can stop it all.'

To those criticising how many questions he didn't answer, how was he supposed to find them in amongst all the Jamie bashing?

That's exactly what I thought gert. People were determined to pick apart everything that he said even stuff unrelated to what he did or didn't say in the media.

If he'd have said he had red socks on they'd be something wrong with that.

Jamie has the hide of a rhino and doesn't give a toss what anyone thinks. He even tried to reform schooling at one point via Jamie's Dream School and it didn't occur to him this might be seen as a waste of time. It was telly, he makes money, bish bash bosh. Don't attribute feelings to these such figures when they exist on a other plane entirely.

Anyonein the public eye had better grow a thick hide, very quickly indeed. They wouldn't survive otherwise.

Just wait until A Girl Called Jack becomes even remotely successful. It will be Open Season. If she puts a foot wrong (and she has in the past and will again) the same people lauding her now will turn.

I've seen some of her recipes. They still require a stash of spices and things like kidney beans. She still gives prices of things from sainsburys basics range so it's still no good for those who can't access a super market. And she still requires cooking and weighing equipment.

Her recipes are cheaper but funnily enough just like Jamie she can't do the frickin impossible.

That menu unthread to for £50 a week could be greatly reduced in price if you don't go to tesco for all the stuff.....

I read this whole thread in chunks yesterday and didn't see any of the newspaper reports.

By the time he got to suggesting that if you actually need a low budget menu then you should look on mumsnet or other sites, i had lost patience with Jamie.

We don't have to cook on a trick budget, but mostly I do. And make most things from scratch. Because I don't like wasting money or buying ready meals. The comments about his book being aimed at preparing food for half the price of a takeaway had me floored.

But I think I've cracked it. His comments about the tv and not understanding people's choices was not a blunder. It's perfect PR. because this book is not really aimed at poor people who struggle and need help learning how to cook on a very low budget. So by making those comments he has an excuse for why that particular demographic does not buy it.

Instead the book is aimed at the people who can spend more, but like the idea of eating fancy food for a bit less.

My own kitchen bookshelf has delis complete guide, a 1950s edition of the good housekeeping cookery compendium, and a river cottage year book which is great for what to do with British seasonal produce. Between those I don't need anymore. hey are all basic without too many fancy ingredients and if these slebchefs would just go back to writing books like that then everyone could save money.

Ha ha Freudian slip, trick budget = strict budget. I think it's Jamie does the trick budgeting!

Interestingly in the Guardian today they are reporting a study that indicates people in poverty have less mental energy to do the right things. That's going to be the root if the problem here, surely?

Well, tbh, that comment about using the food threads on Mnet makes me proud of Mnet.

Fine come here and berate people for not accepting a load of promotional waffle, you have every right to defend poor little persecuted Jamie.

But .....

We all share our recipes and tips for free.

We offer help and ideas anonymously, and gain nothing from it

We actually do care and give and shit, and a lot of us are working quietly away to engineer change, and are too busy doing so to worry that one or two people think we should be more gushing to celebrity status.

I have no problem with his riches. Some consistency over how he comes by them would be nice.

For instance, he?s in favour of the right of EU citizens to seek work in any member state because it gives him a steady supply of what he calls our hard-working Eastern European friends, who are so much more diligent than British workers.

However, he?s not in favour of the European Working Time Directive, presumably because that costs him money.

He?s not entirely clear on where he stands on workfare and zero hours contracts, though he set up 15 using unpaid jobseekers, which sounds an awful lot like workfare to me. So it would be fair to assume he favours a light Government touch WRT business.

But he wants a very heavy-handed Government approach when it comes to school meals and the wider education of people about food. Some might say that expecting the whole country to subsidise other people?s children?s food and telling people what to eat is very Nanny State indeed.

How come it?s good to feed a child a State-subsidised meal at school but not to protect or extend the employment rights of that child?s parents, so that they might be able to afford to feed their family without State or charitable help? When does a young person stop being worthy of our sympathy ? is it when they start working for him and their mummies get concerned about their hours?

Jamie Oliver may well care passionately about some issues. But there are complex reasons behind poverty of all kinds - income or ambition - and if they don?t fit his prejudices, he lashes out.

It's a very unattractive trait in someone whose entire image is based on his engaging personality. And when he trashes the weak it's actually bullying.

And I strongly believe that what drives his a la carte approach is because he makes money championing one cause, and also makes money by ignoring others.