Cat Scratch Fever

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver captivates with his salty words

This past week alone, Jamie Oliver has promoted his seventh book, “Cook with Jamie,” plugged his sixth television series, “Jamie at Home,” and even worked with Martha Stewart in what this writer calls a “bizarre example of culinary fusion.” Oliver talks about other celebrity chefs, British chicken, mothers’ responses to his efforts toward healthier school lunches and his obsession with food in this article from The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

“A little over a year ago, while he was vacationing in Australia, Jamie Oliver flicked on the BBC World Service and felt his stomach churn. In what one London newspaper facetiously described as “a stirring reminder of the indomitable British spirit,” a pair of mothers had mounted a rebellion against Mr. Oliver’s attempts to deprive children of “scrotum burgers,” Turkey Twizzlers and various other cafeteria goodies of dubious provenance. A television crew had captured the women running an impromptu take-away service through the fence of a South Yorkshire schoolyard, dispensing burgers, chips and soft drinks to a delirious throng of young junk-food addicts.

“My heart stopped, and I got the cold sweats,” Mr. Oliver recalled. “And then I thought: That image, of big old birds handing these charging kids that greasy sh**, with all the hands poking out. I almost sat back slightly – not in a cocky way, but kind of in a thankful way – and said, ‘You know what? In 30 seconds of visual, you’ve said everything that I’ve worked for for two years. That is the f***ing problem.’ ”

These are the salty words of Jamie Oliver, Activist Chef, not to be confused with Jamie Oliver the Naked Chef, the Travelling Chef, or, most recently, the Social Worker Chef.

Each of these personae, with their various causes and passions, were on display this week in New York, where Mr. Oliver made a brief stopover to promote his seventh book, Cook with Jamie, and provide a plug for his sixth television series, Jamie at Home, now airing on the Food Network.

On lobbying for better food in British schools: ‘I’ve got to put up with sloppy politicians and bureaucracy and red tape … but we’ll get there.’ (Neville Elder for The Globe and Mail)
The Globe and Mail

At just 32, Mr. Oliver is already a greybeard in the swelling cult of celebrity chefs, and on this afternoon, slumped into a leather-backed chair at a Soho club and swilling a bottle of beer, he feels it. He is outfitted in typically casual attire – a blue-striped hooded sweatshirt, jeans and black running shoes – and he has that rumpled comportment that will be familiar to anyone who has watched one of his recent shows: bleary of eye, tousled of hair, and, more often than not, foul of mouth.

“I was feeling a bit sh** about 12 o’clock, because the third day of jet lag sort of kicked in a bit,” he confessed. “But I just did Martha, which was good.”

Continue reading the article at The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

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This entry was posted at 2:02 pm on 11/17/07 | tagged: Ponderings.
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