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Original poster

Jamie Oliver is a twat!!!

260 replies

MrsMertle · 30/09/2008 22:55

Discuss......

OP posts:
TheHolyGrail · 01/10/2008 11:23

So would anyone of you on here sign up to the movement and teach others a few recipes - doesn't have to be JOs just some of your own / your mates' dishes they'd like to try out / can afford etc. Is his plan flawed? What would be a better way to achieve his goal - example evening classes in local schools? Could people bring in their own food and cook and then eat same or next day?

noolia · 01/10/2008 12:02

Well said expat!
I used to think JO was a bit of an idiot but he's really gone up in my estimation since he started his campaigns. It's just a shame that it seems a losing battle.
The people last night just aren't bothered about eating good food. IMO if you waste money on fags you cannot use the 'no money' arguement and generally when people say they 'don't have time' they mean that they are either too tired or lazy to cook from scratch. I, for example, had pizza last night because I couldn't be bothered to cook!

mrsgboring · 01/10/2008 13:00

I'm not sure that salmon was the best dish to start with, but I do think it had to be a dish and not the very simple boiled eggs, jackets, cheese on toast type stuff. Two reasons:

  1. If you eat doner kebabs every night then a lot of the simple foods are going to taste rather bland to you, so they aren't going to like them

  2. No great sense of achievement in being able to boil an egg, even if you know you personally couldn't do it before and have now learnt.

Wish I'd seen it - will try to catch future episodes.

laweaselmys · 01/10/2008 13:36

I think the reason he did teh salmon because (as you saw if you watched it) he watched what one of the women would do if faced with a bit of fish to cook (fry it) and then showed them how to do it and make it taste good and not crap. He WAS trying to stay in their comfort zone.

It's important that the first few attempts taste really good (hence the herbs and salmon instead of tuna etc)- otherwise what's the point if the food doesn't taste as great as the takeaway?

I agree and do think he needs to plan his campaigns more before he starts them though! It took him listening to people trying to read his recipes to realise the style he writes his books in (for people who can already cook) isn't suitable for people who are at the very basic point of starting. Surely if he'd just consulted somebody who ran cooking classes for absolute beginners they could have easily told him this.

dittany · 01/10/2008 13:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dittany · 01/10/2008 14:05

This reply has been deleted

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willali · 01/10/2008 14:51

I admire this campaig because it is really true that there is a generation of young(ish) people who have never learned to cook at home because THEIR mothers were of the generation that went out to work as a matter of course in a way that the women behind them really didn't.

HOwever I do think the choice of recipe for beginners was bad and assumed a range of skills that they couldn't be expected to have (down to chopping an onion which isn't very easy!!). HE should have started off with a casserole where you fling loads of stuff in a pot and leave it for a couple of hours rather than something that required a lot of fannying around and attention at the hob when there was a lot of distraction going on in the house.

Even usuing a packet sausage casserole mix (one of my personal favourites!!) is better than doner and chips and cheese surely??

I found it difficult to believe that Natasha didn't have a shop selling any kind of fresh food within walsking distance of her house and agree that moaning about cost while pulling on a fag is laughable. The fact is that to feed your family decent food takes a level of personal effort that some people are just not used to - the awful truth is that there is a sector of society that are used to having things done for them by family or state and so being asked to make an effort to achieve something like making the family healthier is anathema.

CatIsSleepy · 01/10/2008 14:54

blimey dittany i didn't realise the meatballs recipe was so complicated
all it showed them doing on the TV was mixing mince, onions and crackers (although later on when they were teaching eachother they had dijon mustard and oregano etc)

that's mad actually
meatballs can be alot simpler can't they?
yes and it did seem silly to just teach them one thing and then disappear for a fortnight or more

wasabipeanut · 01/10/2008 14:58

That meatballs recipe is laughable. I like to cook and I do make a priority for it but I'd balk at that recipe - it's just too long and faffy.

Agree totally that the one pot job should be the focus.

As for the effectiveness of all this....I know this sounds really harsh but if someone cares so little about their families health that they have fed them all manner of shite for years on end then I don't see how they can be persuaded to change. As several have said, this is all about telly not the health of a grateful nation.

I wonder whether JO truly believes he can make a change that sticks.

BecauseImWorthIt · 01/10/2008 15:01

dittany - (sorry, not getting at you, I'm just curious!) - what is your point here?

Is it that it's a complicated recipe, or that the ingredients are hard to source, or that they may be expensive - or all three?!

CatIsSleepy · 01/10/2008 15:06

BIWI- I'm guessing, all three! he could have started off with something so much simpler and cheaper

expatinscotland · 01/10/2008 15:08

he could have done fuck all and just ponced it up in london or filmed another poncy Jamie at Home series or gone on cooking challenge shows.

BecauseImWorthIt · 01/10/2008 15:09

I haven't watched it yet, so not sure how he actually made these - but is it that complicated? Surely most of it was just being mixed together?

And how expensive would this be? Not that much, surely? Mince isn't exactly at a premium. It must be less expensive than a take away anyway.

TheCrackFox · 01/10/2008 15:17

Willali - working class women have pretty much always gone out to work, they had no choice.

My great aunt(would be 95) worked in a cafe and her baby used to get brought in to breast feed.

They don't cook because they are lazy. They had no real excuses, their kitchens were lovely, they were not that far from the shops, just lazy fuckers.

CatIsSleepy · 01/10/2008 15:19

BIWI i guess if you already cooked and had some of the ingredients it wouldn't be so bad
but these were people who NEVER cooked-one of the women didn't even know that water bubbled when it boiled- so would have had to buy every thing on that list

expat I admire JO for stuff like this-he's not obliged to help anyone and fair play to him for doing so. I just think he didn't think it through completely. probably because he has alot of other stuff to do as well!

sure it was a nice recipe and they enjoyed eating it so that's great
but i think a bigger range of simpler stuff would have been more practical
there are plenty of recipes without such a long ingredient list

Peachy · 01/10/2008 15:41

I don't know thecrackfox (love the name btw- Dh would phsl, loves mighty boosh) none of the kids on our estate had working mums, becuase their mums were still working and there was no childcare.

Doner kebab in this style is known as meat n chips here- tasty

Peachy · 01/10/2008 15:48

'expat I admire JO for stuff like this-he's not obliged to help anyone and fair play to him for doing so. I just think he didn't think it through completely. ' I would agree there; certainly admire him for having the balls to try.

But I have taken his books out of the library and they do have huge lists of ingredients

AbbeyA · 01/10/2008 15:53

At least he is trying to make a difference-better than doing nothing IMO.

wasabipeanut · 01/10/2008 15:57

I agree that his heart is probably in the right place but the execution is clumsy.

This is all a class thing. When poor people can't cook everyone gets all uppity when they buy junk food. When midde class people can't cook they buy M & S ready meals and its seen as a cute character flaw.

"Oh I use my oven for storage" etc.

Original poster
MrsMertle · 01/10/2008 16:28

wasabipeanut, finally someone who gets what I mean!!

I agree that his heart is in the right place but his execution is definately very clumsy, very judgemental and very patronising.

You are so right! It is a class thing!!!!

OP posts:
BecauseImWorthIt · 01/10/2008 16:33

I've just watched it, and I really can't see how it's patronising. He set out with a view, came across things he didn't expect to see - and said how much he had to learn.

How is that patronising?

dittany · 01/10/2008 16:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Carmenere · 01/10/2008 16:39

The thing is that poor people as you call them, have not always not been able to cook. This is a recent phenomenon.

CatIsSleepy · 01/10/2008 16:40

i don't think he was patronising
these people answered an ad, they wanted to learn how to cook, they knew they had a problem with the way they were living
he tried to help just not in the most effective way

CatIsSleepy · 01/10/2008 16:41

there are a lot more opportunities not to cook these days

loads more takeaways and readymeals etc that didn't exist before