Jamie Oliver

This article is about the TV chef. For the member of the Alternative metal band Lostprophets, see Jamie Oliver (musician).
Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver.jpg
Born 27 May 1975 (1975-05-27) (age 34)
Clavering, Essex, England
Cooking style Fresh and Organic
Education Westminster Catering College
Current restaurant(s)
Television show(s)

James Trevor 'Jamie' Oliver, MBE (born 27 May 1975), frequently nicknamed The Naked Chef, is a celebrity chef. He is well known for his role in campaigning against processed foods in British schools. Since his early years, his Essex accent, which is often described as "mockney" or "fake cockney,"[1][2] has become infamous[3][4] - particularly the use of the Hindi word "pukka" (colloquially meaning "brilliant" or "solid", originally "cooked" or "ripe"). Oliver is reported to be worth an estimated £25 million.[5]

Contents

Biography

Oliver was brought up in Clavering, Essex, England.

Personal life

On 24 June 2000, Oliver married former model Juliette Norton, also known as "Jools". The couple met in 1993 and have two daughters: Poppy Honey (born in March 2002) and Daisy Boo (born 11 April 2003). They live in Clavering, Essex[6] and have stated that they are expecting their third child in March 2009.[7]

Wanting to create something positive using his wealth and fame, Oliver conceived and established the Fifteen charity restaurant where he trained 15 disadvantaged young people to work in the hospitality industry. Following the success of the original restaurant in London, more Fifteens have opened around the globe: Fifteen Amsterdam opened in December, 2004, Fifteen Cornwall in Newquay opened in May, 2006, and Fifteen Melbourne opened in September, 2006, with Australian friend and fellow chef, Tobie Puttock. The process of creating and opening the original Fifteen was documented in the series "Jamie's Kitchen".

Next, Oliver began a formal campaign to ban unhealthy food in British schools and get children eating fresh, tasty, nutritious food instead. Oliver's efforts to bring radical change to the school meals system, chronicled in the series "Jamie's School Dinners", challenged the junk food culture by showing schools they could serve healthy, cost-efficient meals that kids enjoyed eating.[8] Jamie's efforts brought the subject of school dinners to the political forefront and changed the types of food served in schools.

In June, 2003, Oliver was appointed an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. He has also written columns for The Times. A great proponent of fresh organic foods, Oliver was named the most influential person in the UK hospitality industry when he topped the inaugural CatererSearch 100 in May 2005. The list placed Oliver higher than Sir Francis Mackay, the then-chairman of the contract catering giant, Compass Group, which Oliver had soundly criticised in "Jamie's School Dinners". In 2006, Oliver dropped to 2nd on the list behind fellow celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

Advertising

From 1998, Oliver was the public face of the Sainsbury's supermarket chain in the UK, appearing on television and radio advertisements and in-store promotional material. The deal earned him an estimated £1.2 million every year.[9] By 2004, the company had made 65 advertisements with Oliver, but this arrangement has not been without controversy. Oliver was reported to have admitted that he doesn't use supermarkets, saying “For any chef, supermarkets are like a factory. I buy from specialist growers, organic suppliers and farmers".[10] He was also said to have been criticised by the Sainsbury's Chief, Justin King, when he slammed the "junk" sold by supermarkets which ends up in the lunchboxes of millions of children. King reportedly hit back, saying: "Dictating to people - on unleashing an expletive-filled tirade - is not the way to get engagement."[11]

Oliver has also promoted a line of non-stick pans and cookware for Tefal, and has appeared in Australian television commercials for Yalumba wines, using his catchphrase of "Lovely Jubbly".

Television shows

The Naked Chef (1998-1999) was Oliver's first series. The title was a reference to the simplicity of Oliver's recipes, and has nothing to do with nudity. Oliver has frequently admitted that he wasn't entirely happy with the title, which was devised by producer Patricia Llewellyn. (In the UK edit of the show, the opening titles include a clip of him telling an unseen questioner, "No way! It's not me, it's the food!") The success of the programme led to the books Return of the Naked Chef and Happy Days with the Naked Chef.

Jamie's Kitchen was a five part 2002 documentary series. It followed chef Jamie Oliver as he attempted to train a group of disadvantaged youth, who would - if they completed the course - be offered jobs at Oliver's new restaurant Fifteen. This was followed by Return to Jamie's Kitchen in 2003.

Jamie's Kitchen Australia was a ten part 2006 television series, similar to Jamie's kitchen, that was based in and aired in Australia.

Jamie's School Dinners (2005) was a four part documentary series. Oliver took responsibility for running the kitchen meals in Kidbrooke School, Greenwich, for a year. Disgusted by the unhealthy fare being served to schoolchildren and the lack of healthy alternatives on offer, Oliver began a campaign to improve the standard of Britain’s school meals. Public awareness was raised, and, subsequent to Oliver's efforts, the UK Government pledged to spend £280m on school dinners (spread over three years). Tony Blair himself acknowledged that this was a result of Oliver's campaign. Following the success of the campaign, Oliver was named "Most Inspiring Political Figure of 2005" in the Channel 4 Political Awards 2006. During the school dinners programme, Oliver's Fifteen London was visited by Bill Clinton. Clinton asked to see Oliver; however, Oliver refused, as Clinton's party had asked for other diners to be removed to make room for their larger-than-agreed-upon group. In episode 2 of Jamie's School Dinners, Clinton's party had 36 show up for a booking of 16 and many of them were on a South Beach Diet and did not want the special menu that had been prepared, even though the menu had been approved in advance. [12]

Jamie's Great Italian Escape, a six part travelogue series, was first broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK in October 2005. It follows Jamie as he travels around Italy in a blue VW van (plus a trailer for cooking). Jamie is about to turn 30, and this is his personal adventure to rediscover his love of cooking.

Jamie's Return To School Dinners

Jamie's Chef (2007) was a four part series continuing where Jamie's Kitchen left off. Five years and fifty trainees later, Oliver's most recent series aims to help the winning trainee establish their own restaurant at The Cock, a pub near Braintree in Essex. The charitable Fifteen Foundation retains ownership of the property and has provided a £125,000 loan for the winner, Aaron Craze, to refurbish the establishment.

Jamie at Home (2007) featured Jamie presenting home-style recipes and gardening tips, with many ingredients coming from his substantial home garden. Jamie at Home airs on the Food Network in the United States. Due to licensing restrictions, only two recipes from each Jamie at Home episode will appear online; also, access to recipes is limited to users within the United States.[1]

Jamie's Fowl Dinners (2008) A special with Jamie backing Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "Hugh's Chicken Run" in trying to get the British to eat free-range chickens

Jamie's Ministry of Food (2008), a new four part series currently being broadcast, is based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. Jamie aims to make the town "the culinary capital of the United Kingdom" and wants to get the town's inhabitants to learn how to cook fresh food and establish healthy eating as part of daily life. The 'Pass It On' campaign also features in this series with the local townspeople being taught one of a selection of recipes and passing it on to family members and friends. The 'Pass It On' campaign has also gained a following on the social networking website Facebook which has a group and fan page with users signing up to chart their progress. The series is broadcast 30 September - 21 October 2008.[13]

Oliver's programmes are shown in over 40 countries, including the USA's Food Network. Oliver's Twist and "Pukka Tukka" picked up where "The Naked Chef" left off.

Other television appearances

Jamie Oliver has twice guest-hosted Channel 4's The Friday Night Project.

He has also made two appearances in the "Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car" segment of BBC Two's Top Gear. His first appearance was notorious for his attempt to make a green salad in the back of his Volkswagen Microbus while The Stig drove it around the Top Gear test track.

Oliver is the second British celebrity chef (after Robert Irvine) to appear as a challenger on Iron Chef America, taking on Iron Chef Mario Batali in 2008 in a losing battle with cobia as the theme ingredient.

He is starring as one of the judges in the 2008 US series Oprah's Big Give hosted by Oprah Winfrey on ABC (America).

Live shows

The Happy Days Live tour was Oliver's first live show in 2001 and included several dates in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Performing to sold-out venues, he cooked on stage and interacted with the audiences with competitions, music and special effects only usually seen in pop concerts. He took the audiences by surprise by singing and drumming to a song called Lamb Curry written by his longtime friend Leigh Haggerwood. Oliver appears at the BBC good food show each year and took to the road once more in 2006 on an Australian tour where he performed in Sydney and Melbourne. Following the entertaining format of his first live show, the 2006 Australian tour featuring special guests including mentor Gennaro Contaldo, and students from Fifteen London. Jamie also performed a new song written by Leigh Haggerwood called Fish Stew which Jamie cooked to and also drummed along to at the end of the show. The shows were a great success and are featured in a one-off TV documentary called Jamie Oliver: Australian Diary.

Controversy and criticism

In 2003, Oliver was ranked number 28 in Channel 4's poll of "100 Worst Britons". The poll was inspired by the BBC series 100 Greatest Britons. The poll specified that the nominees had to be British, alive, and not currently in prison or pending trial.

In 2005, Oliver was widely criticised for slaughtering a fully conscious lamb on his TV show[14].

In 2005, Jamie Oliver embarked upon his school dinners campaign to improve the quality of food fed to pupils. Whilst the campaign proved to be ultimately successful, at the time it was a highly controversial shake-up for students and parents, some of whom were vocally and actively against the change. In September 2006, Rawmarsh Community School, South Yorkshire, UK, made headlines after a handful of parents revolted against Oliver's lunch plan (in which all 1,100 pupils on site were fed two portions of fruit and three vegetables every day) by delivering food from local shops to the pupils through the school fence. One parent dismissed Oliver's food as "disgusting rubbish" and declared, "Food is cheaper and better at the local takeaways.”[15]

Books

Cookbooks

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4394025.stm Retrieved on 2007-12-31
  2. ↑ http://www.starkgossip.com/blog/index.php/2007/11/25/jamie-oliver-calls-angelina-jolie-and-brad-pitt-baby-piloh-shit/ Retrieved on 2007-12-31
  3. ↑ http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/news/jamie_oliver.shtml Retrieved on 2007-12-31
  4. ↑ http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/food-beverage-stores-specialty-food/4510320-1.html Retrieved on 2007-12-31
  5. ↑ ""TV helps Ramsay cook up a £60m fortune"". The Daily Mail. Retrieved on 12 February, 2007.
  6. ↑ http://archive.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/2007/9/6/257845.html
  7. ↑ http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article1718400.ece
  8. ↑ "Jamie Oliver slams government for not supporting school meals reform" caterersearch.com. Retrieved on 2 November 2007
  9. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2979646.stm Retrieved on 2008-01-01
  10. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/dietfitness.html?in_article_id=421003&in_page_id=1798&in_page_id=1798&expand=true Retrieved on 2007-12-31
  11. ↑ "Sainsbury's gives Jamie Oliver a ticking off over school lunches" (14 September 2006). Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
  12. ↑ ""Enough Rope with Andrew Denton episode 121 18 September, 2006"". ABC Australia. Retrieved on 12 February, 2007.
  13. ↑ "Jamie Oliver takes on British cuisine". Retrieved on 2008-04-29.
  14. ↑ "Jamie Oliver: The silencer of the lamb", Mirror (2005-11-11). Retrieved on 2007-08-11. 
  15. ↑ "Sinner ladies sell kids junk food", The Sun (2006-09-16). Retrieved on 2006-12-01. 

External links