Jamie Oliver is a twat!!!

[MrsMertle]

Discuss......

Well said Expat.

These people had none of the excuses that some of the other posters mentioned, they had lovely houses, great kitchens (I was very jealous of the size of their gardens) and lived near food shops not outer Mongolia.

Their biggest problem, all of them, was they where fucking lazy. I can't imagine having the cheek to claim that you can't afford to cook for your DCs whilst puffing on a fag. And, she only had about 3 puffs before flinging it in the garden.

I think JO has been over ambitious as he should have started them off on easy food like scrambled eggs and banger and mash. He does need help with planning these things properly. There must be plenty of Rotherham mums who do cook for their kids, they could be mentors.

BIWI, but Delia's first How to Cook book sold a couple of million copies adn the tv programme was hugely popular too.

Did you know she left school with not even one O level?

Expat - what you said was pretty much what I meant by "the negatives of modern life" - ie you can't help depression by a slap and a "pull yourself together" but it is also hugely aggravated by the popculture Trisha/Oprah tendency to indulge it and use it as a catch all cop out from any personal responsibility.

That woman is a victim of that in that she is aware that she is failing her child, but cannot motivate herself or find the support to do anything about it, as presumably everyone around her is in a similar situation and the most an oversubscribed gp is going to do is prescribe anti depressants.

I did not grow up in a household where people cooked - I figured out how to do it by reading instructions on the back of packs of rice or pasta or lentils or whatever. If your priority is spending your money on kebabs, 8 ring hobs and ciggarettes, that is not because you can't help your lack of education or your lack of money. It is because you can't be arsed figuring out how to use basic ingredients. Cooking from scratch is much cheaper than takeaways.

Besides, I would be very surprised if any landlord would provide an 8 ring hob.

Just to illustrate - I bought 2 salmon fillets for £2.62.

They were big, and if I had small children would probably have fed 4. They could have easily fed 3 (possibly even 4) adults if I was using them in a recipe rather than whole - e.g. cut up and used in a pasta sauce

Unfair to call him a twat.

Misguided maybe, but at least he's getting off his arse and trying to make a difference.

Well, turquoise, I'm here to say, though, a prescription for ADs is better than nowt!

Salmon s expensive if ytou are actering for a big family! there are cheaper alternative that deliver the same nutrients, and even if you are going to serve salmon the vast majority of people are going to cook with lemon or butter.

It is also a MC food- something we eat at home yes, but we're seen as snobby by our family ()- traditionally salmon was / is for weddings and restaurants.

Fish in fact is I think still seen as a bit posh. Where I come from anyway. And lots of places dont even have access to a supermarket- if you're on the estate here you can choose between a spar or a -o yes a bigger spar . Supermarkets are a PITA bus trip or two away.

I'm a northerner but grew up on home-made yorkshire puddings, plate-sized ones filled with gravy. Didn't have a Chinese or Indian meal until I went to University, but I think that's more to being ancient (grew up in the 70's) and having a mother who cooked everything from scratch, which is pretty much wehat I do now.
And we had Domestic Science lessons at school, do they have those at all now?

also, there is a lot of support in this country.

WAY more than you find in most places.

but in all honesty, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

it's like smoking (DH still does) - you have to really want to change.

JO is not a twat. Why do we go about criticising someone who by his own admission was not the brightest at school but has worked damned hard to get where he is - yes he's had some lucky breaks being in the right place at the right time to start of a TV career. He is trying to put something back into society - set up the 15 foundation to help those that have not had similar opportunities. Recognised that school dinners had gone downhill and tried to chnage this - maybe not everything was all well thought out etc etc but seems to me he got more funding and put these issues upfront to the public. Now he wants to get people back to real cooking, and yes once again the choices may not be 'the best' but hey it seemed to have got people from Rotherham out and talking / thinking about what and why they eat the stuff they do. He has got some 'simple' views but again the direction is right and at least he trying to do something. The statistics don't lie we are the unhealthiest nation in EU. I do think changes made to things like the Home Economics type sylabus' are to blame - my DW is an ex HE teacher and didn't like the fact that the subject was more about design than teaching basic skills. Yes you can argue its not gov't job to teach us blah blah but we alsways seem to have short sightedness when it comes to dropping investment in some areas like HE rooms, playing fields etc etc and whats the outcome - a fatter more unhealthy nation that in many cases doesn't know or maybe doesn't care where food comes from. if people are given more education and advice no matter what their income then they can make informed choices and improve the well being of their families. I think JO sees there are resources that could be used - good example of the schools how mnay of these are empty from say 4pm onwards - why not use those public resources more to help communities not just cooking but sports etc. Maybe all this exposure does help to keep him in the public eye so he will be more attractive to sponsors and sell more books etc but why should we think he's a twat because of that. Those that desire / seek fame for its own end are those that contribute little to society and help us (BB type contestants etc etc).

Rant over.

Salmon here is £1.80 a person (small piece)

maybe it varies?

for a fiver you can have a bag of frozen fillets but you can get a lot more mince, or frozen stuff from iceland

A lot of my childhood was spent on benefits and my parents always cooked from scratch because it is so much cheaper. Every couple of months we would have fish and chips as a treat.

I think good on him for trying to do something - you can't accuse him of taking the easy route can you?! And how lovely was that mum Natasha when she realised that she could cook and that her kids would eat it - that little boy's face when he had the pancake!

Although I think DH made a good point (which shows I have brainwashed him well) when he said "well who is going to look after the kids if all the mums are supposed to be going to night school to learn to cook?". There was a real reality check moment when the 2 year old was yelling when his mum was trying to cook, and she was getting stressed - you could see Jamie realising that there were another whole set of problems!

I agree that maybe meatballs weren't the easiest thing to start with though!

I agree with you Expat - but society has created this, society has to help them change as it has taken self motivation away from them. IMO.

I think JO is pissing in the wind, but admire him for trying.

I wanted to know more about that Critchley woman who he recruited to help him. She cooks from scratch but passes burgers and chips over the school fence. I wanted to know why!

dittany - do you seriously believe that people on benefits can not afford to spend 40p on some basil seeds, or 78p on a full grown plant which will provide for many meals? The same goes for lots of other herbs, rosemary, coriander, thyme, parsley all grow easily and well in pots and are v. cheap to buy.

Maybe JO should have explained that, but even my tiny local co-op sells these plants. It is not like they are a secret.

people have to want to change, too. society/the government/etc. can put in SureStarts, offer free training and cooking classes, implement healthy eating policies, etc.

but change has to come from within, too, regardless of being on benefits, how you were raised, having bills to pay, etc.

Well said expat.
JO Not a twat - they are just lazy sods. Those poor kids being fed like dogs on the floor, silly bint.

and does every meal have to contain meat?

or they won't eat it?

holy shit.

a lot of folks on here who are technically middle class professionals go veg at least a few times a week due to honestly not being able to afford meat.

ok i can cook. was taught how to.

but i cant cook fish of any sort. i dont know how. was never shown how to.

would love to know how to cook that sort of thing.

can cook a whole heap of other stuff but not fish.

i really should learn how to.

I don't like basil with salmon.