Jamie Oliver is a twat!!!

[MrsMertle]

Discuss......

i like JO and i genuinely think he's trying to do some good. i got fed up with the excuses of some of the people he was teaching. i could understand the women who worked not having the time, i work full time and find time an issue too, especially if i get in at 6:15 and need to get DS fed and in the bath by 7, but things like meatballs can be made the night before.

the excuse about being too poor was shit, takeaways are expensive.

think the salmon was a mistake. even though it can be cheap, as many have said on here, it's still perceived as being expensive, posh or out of reach of the ordinary person, same goes for basil. better to stick to mince, vegetable, easy cuts of meat,eggs, things are are posibly less daunting to a person who has trouble switching on the cooker.

kebab mum would've been better giving her kids beans on toast, baked potatoes, soup, eggs on toast, frozen veg, pasta etc than kebabs, now no one can say it's difficult to bung a potato in the oven, and you don't need someone to teach you that.

Fish is very easy to cook misdee - something I didn't realise until I was in my 30s

He could have started with something really basic, but maybe he wanted to show them just how easy it can be to make something like meatballs, or how easy it is to prepare salmon (or subsitute any fish).

Neither dish is unachievable for anybody really.

The cost of the herbs etc are minimal compared with how much was being spent on takeaways.

Delia's already done how to boil an egg.

Haven't seen the programme (am not in UK) but read this reveiw on-line which was very interesting.
I think JO's heart is in the right place.

I think the combination of entrenched lazinesss (fast food, junk, microwaves) with chronic depression plus a culture of indulging depression/stress has led to a vast swathe of people who just can't or don't want to enough - and the only answer is to nanny them through it. god knows how.

A lot of people do take up the offer of help though

Our surestart had a gardener who taught classs on growing your own (alotted land provided) waaaaay before the JO thing- there was a waiting list for it. We did have a slight issue that we had to make it equal access so the mums who got the first places were often MC Mums who had gardens etc and could grow stuff at home if they wanted, leaving the parents in flats with no garden stuck on waiting lists- that's the problem I think with resources targetd by area. In retrospect we should have had separate teaching courses for all parents but allocated actual land to those without- but we were so ted uop in red tape.

And I don't like cheap salmon tbh

mercy, so i can leave in 18months when i hit 30

seriously, i find fish daunting. which is

and i worry that i will cook it, and the kids wont touch it. which is daft as i know they do like fish when they have it when we are out.

microwaves aren't just laziness

they're great for defrosting ingedients kept fresh in the dreezer; they allow people to batch cook meals when they cam meaning theres good food available all the time; iirc veggies done in the microwave are healther

its readdressing how people use them, rather than labellin them as lazy

i could live without my microwave. but makes life easier for dd1 who likes scrambled eggs on toast in the morning before school. she makes it herself.

Thing is dittany, that whatever recipe he chooses will be unattainable for somebody. In this case, this recipe was obviously not right for you - perhaps his others will be?

The principle of his approach surely has to be applauded?

Peachy - It cost me £5.20 to buy 4 salmon fillets. That was for one meal. Tonight's meal will be vegetable curry and rice, which will cost me pennies by comparison. I wasn't suggesting anyone should spend that money every night, but I was also trying to point out that it's not that expensive compared with other meats/fish at the moment.

I think it's being dismissed as MC/expensive because of its image. If he had used a piece of cod or haddock (which are more expensive because they're in shorter supply/not farmed) then it would have been more expensive, but probably perceived as more 'ordinary' and not so MC.

Yes, whilst it is a noble endeavour on Jamie's part (to get people across the country eating healthily) he did seem a little misguided in what he's trying to get people to cook. Practically speaking, most of the people were on a fairly tight budget, had limited time to shop and had equally limited time and inclination to cook. Something like salmon and basil is:

• relatively expensive if you're cooking for a family (vs. cheap cuts of meat, mince, vegetables) plus, as dittany says, little extras like fresh basil (vs. dried herbs etc) push up the cost further;

• relatively difficult to source and store if you've got limited time to shop (my small local Tescos certainly doesn't sell any fresh herbs or indeed often salmon)

• relatively annoying to cook in that it's pretty time sensitive (i.e. you need kids sat down, everyone ready to eat at same time, can't leave leftovers for people coming in later)

I'd have thought that meals that made a lot more sense for families on a budget were things like shepherds pies (actually pies in general), pasta bakes, casseroles, stews, lasagne even curries - things that are cheap, tasty, can use various substitute ingredients, allow you to screw up a bit and get away with it and can sit in the oven or on the stove for ages and then sit in the fridge for the next couple of days.

RoseoftheOrient - thanks for the link, very interesting.

Misdee, I'm sure one the chefs on here can 'teach' you how to cook fish (or I can recommend a book by Nigel Slater which has some simple recipes in it)

You're right of course becuaseimworthit, but I just tink if he started in the comfort zone he'd have more effect. Because his aims really are good.

Home made fishcakes- a great way to stretch fish (or use tinned) and full of omega if chosen well; kids seem to find accessible and may well already eat them in cheap fried form

Ditto burgers- I make my own; goes from crud to great easily- I fill those for the family members who can have dairy with cheese, add veg etc

Home amde chicken nuggets annabel karmel styleee

you can change loads without challenging massivlely peoples choices- once you've done that you can work upwards.

but he did the fishcakes with his sainsburys ads. and people moaned about them. he cant win cant he.

I didnt see the sainsburys ads much- nots ure we get the same ones here, just sausage bake iirc

he's not a twat-he is very well-intentioned but as others have said he doesn't seem to think things through and could have started these people off cooking some much simpler stuff
though i do think you can get salmon pretty bloody cheap these days (and it's pretty easy to cook)
cheaper than takeaways anyway!

have to say i was a bit jealous of Natasha's 8-burner cooker

and actually cannot believe some people have never even used a cooker...and don't seem to know what a cheese-grater is...

Just thinking as well-

could not a lot of dets be improved even more easily?

teach people (OK not JO's jb here- he is a chef after all) to grill rather than fry? salt after cooking (then just to taste)? bulking meat with pulses for cheapness and nutrition?

I wonder if kebab mum secretly though her kid (didnt see it, on recorder to watch later) was getting salad and bread in kebab so OK? have heard people argue that before in RL. But you know, if the elehant leg meat in a kebab was replaced by something better it would shoot up the nutrition ranks- hummous? cold cicken? tuna?

Misdee when we got the boys into fish we used to get them to choose from the fish counter to get them to eat it. it really isn't hard to cook- most supermarkets do ready amrinated fish which you really just bake; ASDA do those bags which you just slit ad bung in the oven. Even unusual fish is always ok if you place on a piece of fol or greaseproof, add butter and / or lemon, fold and bake for a bit. It really is the easiest fast food after eggs I think.

Don't know if he is or isn't but someone from his publishing staff is

They sent a word document of his new book to one of their mates and its now apparently on t'internet.

I know because I was sent it in an email yesterday

The book thing is a hoax

Noooo

I'm gutted now

Well you have still got lots of his recipes for free.

Peachy it wasn't an actual kebab as in a pitta with salad but a pile of donner meat on a tray and then a portion of chips covered in melted cheese.