[mojojojo]

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.

Poor people shouldn't have those things, or any moments of pleasure, you see? Not like worthwhile people like Jamie who have earned them.

[new puritan]

And of course then he'll moan about them coming home from their 80 hour week and flopping out in front of the massive fucking TV with a plate of cheesy chips.

I fucking hate it when rich twats go on about how many hours they work doing something they (presumably) love and have always wanted to do - there's a massive, massive difference between that (and the handsome financial rewards that go with it) and working in a warehouse, a supermarket, or a dreary office job you despise. It's like they expect people to fall down and worship them. Oliver and the rest of them can fuck off.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Quite.
And there's a difference between working for the minimum wage and copping £150 million...

[youngian]

I fucking hate it when rich twats go on about how many hours they work doing something they (presumably) love and have always wanted to do - there's a massive, massive difference between that (and the handsome financial rewards that go with it) and working in a warehouse, a supermarket, or a dreary office job you despise. It's like they expect people to fall down and worship them. Oliver and the rest of them can fuck off.

[youtube]QzF6Q8ER-R0[/youtube]

[Winegums]

It's all so weird...it's like everything he's said is principly sound but has been projected through the prism of utter douchebaggery.

Principle: Poor people don't eat well. This is bad and should be addressed.
Projection: Lazy proles, stop eating chips!

Principle: Immigrants are hard working and are a credit to our economy.
Projection: Brits are lazy scroungers who won't work as slave labour.

[sporran]

You're probably right, but even then I'm not sure he's right to generalise that poor people don't eat well. I wouldn't be surprised if the posh ready meals out of Sainsbury's or Waitrose have just as much salt and other crap as the ones out of Iceland.

He's in a great position to offer cooking advice to people without the skills, for example on what you could do with the bits of meat or fish out of the reduced section in the supermarket, or what you can substitute for some of the expensive ingredients in various recipes. But instead he uses his position to take a swipe at the less privileged people in society. Twat.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't understand why taxes aren't put on unhealthy foods. I know Denmark tried it and gave up, but surely it could be done here, where people (apart from Nothern Ireland) can't pop over the border.

The likely effect would surely be for the bad shit to be reduced to avoid the tax. So no poor people "priced out" of eating what they want.

[AOB]

Oliver said that when he was in his 20s, it was normal for him to work 80 to 100 hours a week in the restaurant trade.

Your choice son. That's not normal for everyone so don't expect it of everyone else.

And if you're crying about the people you employ then you only have yourself to blame so I suggest you go about your recruitment differently.

[Winegums]

I love stuff like this...Spectator. In particular the bit from something Orewell wrote from Wiggan Pier...

The miner’s family spend only ten pence a week on green vegetables and ten pence half-penny on milk (remember that one of them is a child less than three years old), and nothing on fruit; but they spend one and nine on sugar (about eight pounds of sugar, that is) and a shilling on tea. The half-crown spent on meat might represent a small joint and the materials for a stew; probably as often as not it would represent four or five tins of bully beef. The basis of their diet, therefore, is white bread and margarine, corned beef, sugared tea, and potatoes – an appalling diet. Would it not be better if they spent more money on wholesome things like oranges and wholemeal bread or if they even ...saved on fuel and ate their carrots raw? Yes, it would, but the point is that no ordinary human being is ever going to do such a thing. The ordinary human being would sooner starve than live on brown bread and raw carrots.

[AOB]

Someone called Larain Shepherd posted this fabulous comment (beneath a random "article") on his FB page:

What a vile vile human being you are!! A rich twat with no brain vilifying the poor again. Didnt say no to your 100 grand tax break though eh? It's people like you that causes the vicious hatred of others less fortunate. The TV Sky subsciption, Drugs and whatever is mostly a fallacy mate. Get your facts straight before you mouth off you tory mouthpiece.. Ugly inside..

Is right. Go 'ead Larain! You fucking tell him.

[MisterMuncher]

Also, if he was still working as an actual fucking chef, that is to say a bit more 15 hour service and a bit less 15 Minute Meals, he'd still be (like the rest of the industry) working the "80 hour weeks" he blethers about, and meeting plenty of natives who do the same. He'd also be eating all the shite of the day outside work, and probably drinking too much, too, as reflected by most chefs in the industry. He'd be woefully underpaid, because the idea of overtime is anathema to the industry.

TV Chefs generally aren't. They're businessmen in whites. Fair fucks to Heston, who for all his quirks, still piles in the hours, admits what he does is not an exemplar and cheerfully confesses a shite diet. Jamie failed to recognise that the politicians courting him were jumping on a bandwagon. He's somehow reached the conclusion they wanted, nay, needed his inout.

[Abernathy]

IIRC you're a pan-rattler yourself, Mister Muncher, no?

[MisterMuncher]

Aye, I am, for my troubles. Oliver isn't highly that regarded in the industry. Bit of a one trick pony, reworking native/peasant food in a "gastropub" style, whilst frequently missing the point and dumbing flavours down, leaving nothing subtle. He perfected a style of presentation more than a style of food. Never forget he appeared on telly to suggest softening ice cream, whisking in smarties and refreezing as an ideal dessert. For all his supposed faff and fannying about, Nigel Slater does the same thing better, with cheaper ingredients, better advice and less emphasis on style. Even Hugh FW has the nose-to-tail thing in his favour.

For properly good advice on making the most of every bit of animal, seek out Fergus Henderson. A man who really can make champagne food for vinegar money. The best advice is probably in really fucking old books. I swear by an "Irish Countrywomans' Association" book I've had for years, that filtered down from my granny. That's the thing Oliver et al should be doing. Not a fifteen minute meal of (frequently nasty, processed) expensive ingredients, but bringing back real staples from years ago. Proper feeding.


I'd like to paraphrase the late great Roger Ebert:

Mr Oliver, I am a chef, and your opinion SUCKS.

[Fozzy]

Oliver said that when he was in his 20s, it was normal for him to work 80 to 100 hours a week in the restaurant trade.

According to Wikipedia, he was first noticed by the BBC in 1997, when he was 22: that year he started the Naked Chef TV series and his first recipe book hit no. 1 in the booksales chart. Therefore for most of his 20s, if he was working 80 to 100 hours a week he was working for himself and was making a hell of a lot of money doing it. That's a bit different from people washing the dishes and preparing the veg in his restaurants on a minimal salary.

[PaulOnBooks]

Could Mr Oliver please explain to us how his healthy diet contributed to his becoming grossly overweight?