Jamie oliver

Tuesday

Olivia Potts

The myth of authentic English food

There were two butcher’s pork pies in my bag that also contained a copy of Lewis Bassett’s The Full English. As I began reading this investigation into the story of English food, having those pies on my person felt particularly in keeping with the English culinary tradition. By the time I’d finished the book, I was not so sure. Bassett sets out on well-trodden ground to ask: what is English food? He focuses on a clutch of dishes or products which have long been seen as important to, or turning points within, English food culture: bread, haute cuisine, curry, fish and chips, roast beef, sausage rolls, olive oil. So far so conventional – but that’s rather the point. His contention is that much of our received wisdom about English food is reductive or simply wrong.

Thursday

Philip Womack

The frustrating rise of celebrities ‘writing’ children’s books

From our US edition

When you are next visiting a bookstore, and find your way to the children’s section, you might be forgiven for thinking that there is no longer such a thing as a children’s author. Instead, you will be ambushed by piles of books blazoned with the names of actors, singers, comedians, DJs and people who generously exhibit themselves on social media. “Writing” a children’s book has become another string to the celebrity bow. Imagine the scene. You’ve married a prince, and opened a shop that sells vaginal eggs. What more is there to do? A-ha, thinks the celebrity, perhaps while she is sitting on a bench. All those untutored minds, eager for moi! My personal brand will bring them such joy, such self-worth! They will all feel seen!

chidren's

Tuesday

Christopher Snowdon

Why does Jamie Oliver always get an easy ride?

There are many annoying things about the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, but none of them grates my gears as much as the media’s obsequiousness towards him. I suspect that his political campaigning is largely a self-serving gimmick to keep the Jamie Oliver brand in the public eye, but that is besides the point. The point is that he would be the first to describe himself an activist and yet he is never asked the questions that activists, let alone politicians, are asked. He gets the celebrity interview when he should be getting the political interview. He has never been hauled up on the facts. He has never been given a grilling. Hardened journalists become starstruck in the presence of a man who, in media circles if not in the country at large, is regarded as a national treasure.

Monday

Steerpike

Four of Jamie Oliver’s worst moments

The policemen who guard the Downing Street guards are used to rag-tag protesters rocking up and chanting in their faces. But Friday afternoon brought with it a more well-heeled crowd than usual, as a myriad collection of 200 kids and campaigners rocked up in Whitehall to protest the government's U-turn on the obesity strategy.  And at the centre of this bourgeois brouhaha was of course, the familiar face of Jamie Oliver, holding aloft an 'Eton mess' in true twee fashion. Oliver was incandescent at Johnson's decision, as he told the crowd beneath his own Union Jack umbrella, leading them in a chant of 'Eton!' to which they replied 'mess!' Subtlety never was his strong suit...