Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Jamie Oliver Cooks up a Storm.

Jamie Oliver is known all over the World as the Naked Chef and for his fresh food attitude too cooking. He has done a lot of good over the last five years or so by introducing healthy meals to kids at school and giving troublesome teenagers opportunities they might not have had through his Fifteen restaurant. He is now continuing that trend by having a dig at the average Brit’s diet and attitude to food.



It looks like he has made it his mission to rid the UK of the shitty attitude and get the country out of the rut that it has found itself in. I feel that I can comment on this what with being a staunch Brit myself, and living in NZ has given me a different perspective on the way British people live. Too many Brits are lazy and don’t care about anything other than wether they should go to the pub on Friday night or Saturday night or both. This attitude goes through to the way that people eat too. It is too easy these days to eat Fish and Chips, Takeaway curry or reheatable, microwaved, reconstituted stick thing that’s supposed to be fish, or chicken or something. Kids don’t even know what vegetables are these days.
"The people I'm telling you about have huge TV sets – a lot bigger than mine! They have state-of-the-art mobile phones, cars, and they go and get drunk in pubs at the weekend – their poverty shows in the way they feed themselves." He said.
When I grew up my Mum cooked us a proper meal every night and we knew what vegetables were and where they came from. Dad has a vegie patch that he grew a good portion of our greens. Even for those that don’t have gardens the supermarket does actually have a fresh vegetables section. I would like to think that my kids will grow up with a healthy diet and know what and were their food comes from. Fancy not knowing what a carrot is, or what a potato is.
Over the last generation the idea of having a good meal has changed in Britain from having meat and two vege to what’s the quickest thing we can nuke.
When asked to compare British and French cuisine, Oliver said the following:
"In the past, British cuisine was similar to Italian cuisine nowadays, without the pasta and risotto,".
"Steam cooking, grilled meat, herbs, spices – we used to cook fabulous dishes. It's all in the past!
"Unlike French people, and I regret it, we lost our traditions. In gastronomy, the world evolves and changes. And right in front of us, isolated from everything, you have France where nothing changes."
I really feel that people like Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey can make a difference in the UK with the good work they are doing but unfortunately we live in a time where the celebrities have to do the jobs of the parents. People need to motivate themselves to live better lives and maybe having a good healthy feed is the start.

Thanks to stuff

1 comment:

Mooghead said...

I live in the UK - always have. He is 100% correct. Its a horrible place to live.