Jamie Oliver
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| Born | May 27, 1975 (age 31) Clavering, Essex, England, UK |
|---|---|
| Cooking style | Fresh and occasionally Organic |
| Education | Westminster Catering College |
| Restaurants | Fifteen (London) |
| TV Show(s) | Oliver's Twist, Jamie's School Dinners, Jamie's Great Italian Escape, Naked Chef, Jamie's Kitchen, Jamie's Chef |
James Trevor Oliver MBE (May 27, 1975), better known as Jamie Oliver and The Naked Chef, is a British celebrity chef. He is well known for his use of organic food and for his recent work in changing eating habits in British schools. Since his early years, his Essex accent has become infamous - particularly the use of the hindi word "pukka" (colloquially meaning "brilliant" or "solid", originally "cooked" or "ripe").
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[edit] Biography
Jamie Oliver was born in May 1975, and grew up in Clavering, Essex, where his parents owned a pub-restaurant, The Cricketers. From an early age, Oliver helped in the pub kitchen; by the time he was 11, he was adept at vegetable prep and could chop "like a demon". In 1989, Oliver formed the band Scarlet Division with best friend Leigh Haggerwood, and dreamed of pop stardom. However, by age 16, Oliver knew he wanted to be a chef, so he attended Westminster Catering College and then studied in France, learning as much as he could, before returning to London to work as head pastry chef for Antonio Carluccio at The Neal Street Restaurant. After The Neal Street Restaurant, Oliver worked for Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers at the River Café for three and a half years; Oliver credits Gray and Rogers with teaching him to create the fresh, simple, delicious food which would become his signature.
The result was "The Naked Chef", a cooking programme. Two highly successful seasons of "The Naked Chef" were filmed in 1998 and 1999. The popular series brought Oliver worldwide fame, and more television programmes and book deals followed. As of 2006, Oliver had six additional television series and eight books to his name.
On June 24, 2000, Oliver married 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 in April 2003).
After a brief appearance on "The Naked Chef", Oliver's band, Scarlet Division, was offered a record deal by Sony. Its debut single "Sundial" reached 42 in the UK charts, but, in spite of having been together for ten years, the band had trouble being taken seriously due to Oliver's fame as a chef, and was dropped by Sony. Soon after, Oliver asked Haggerwood to write the music for his new show, "Oliver's Twist". The series, a massive worldwide success, featured Haggerwood's popular theme song "Just The Start".
Wanting to create something positive using his wealth and fame, Oliver conceived and established the Fifteen charity restaurant where he trains 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 kids 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.
In June, 2003, Oliver was appointed an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. Reputedly a multimillionaire, he has also written columns for The Times. A great proponent of fresh organic foods, in May, 2005, Oliver was named the most influential person in the UK hospitality industry when he topped the inaugural CatererSearch 100. The list saw Oliver beating out 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.
[edit] Advertising
From 2000, Jamie 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.[1] By 2004, the company had made 65 adverts with Jamie.
[edit] 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 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 School Dinners (2005) was a 4-episode 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.
Jamie's Great Escape (also known as Jamie's Great Italian Escape), a travelogue series, was first broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK in October 2005.
Jamie's Return To School Dinners
Jamie's Chef (2007) continues 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.
Oliver's programmes are shown in over 40 countries, including the USA's Food Network, where he is the second most popular presenter. Oliver's Twist and "Pukka Tukka" picked up where "The Naked Chef" left off.
Other appearances have included guest hosting Channel 4's The Friday Night Project in January of 2006 and he will become the first guest host to present a second episode of the show in January 2007
[edit] 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 Haggerwod 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.
[edit] Controversy and Criticism
While Oliver is extremely outspoken on his campaign on school dinners, some journalists and mothers have criticised Oliver for openly swearing at mothers (using words such as "arseholes"[1]) for putting unhealthy meals in their children's lunchboxes, while he fails to criticise supermarkets.
Indeed, in September, 2006, Jamie Oliver and Rawmarsh Community School, South Yorkshire, UK, made front page headlines after a group of parents revolted against Oliver's lunch scheme, in which all 1100 pupils on site were fed two portions of fruit and three vegetables every day. The parents, declaring, "Our kids have the right to eat what they like," took orders over the school fence for nearby sandwich and fast-food outlets. The food was then delivered over the fence to the waiting pupils.[1]
[edit] Books
Cookbooks
- The Naked Chef, ISBN 0-7868-6617-9
- The Return of the Naked Chef, ISBN 0-7181-4439-2
- Happy Days with the Naked Chef, ISBN 0-7868-6852
- The Naked Chef Takes Off, ISBN 0-7868-6755-8
- Jamie's Kitchen, ISBN 1-4013-0022-7
- Jamie's Dinners, ISBN 1-4013-0194-0
- Jamie's Italy, ISBN 0-7181-4770-7
- Cook With Jamie, ISBN 0-7181-4771-5
Biographies
- Stafford Hildred, Jamie Oliver: The Biography (2001) ISBN 1-903402-55-7
- Gilly Smith, Jamie Oliver: Turning Up the Heat (2006) ISBN 0-233-00168-9
[edit] Trivia
- Oliver is reportedly a friend of Brad Pitt who, when married to Jennifer Aniston, asked Oliver and his wife Jools to their Los Angeles home to cook for them. Pitt, in particular, has watched Oliver's cooking programmes for a number of years. The two have often been pictured together at film premieres.[2]
- During the school dinners program, 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. [3]
- Oliver is reported to be worth an estimated £30 million.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Sinner ladies sell kids junk food", The Sun, 2006-09-16. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
- ^ "Brad Pitt flies Jamie Oliver to LA to cook dinner". Ananova.com. Retrieved on 12 February 2007.
- ^ "Enough Rope with Andrew Denton episode 121 18 September, 2006". ABC Australia. Retrieved on 12 February 2007.
- ^ "TV helps Ramsay cook up a £60m fortune". The Daily Mail. Retrieved on 12 February 2007.
[edit] External links
- Jamie Oliver's official website
- Fifteen To You and Rouge Partnership - Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Foundation Corporate Catering Site
- Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall Blog
- Jamie Oliver's - Home Cooking Day
- Oliver's Twist website from Food Network
- Canadian Jamie Oliver fan site
- BBC News - Parents Feed Pupils Through Gates - Jamie Oliver Revolt
- BBC Jamie Oliver biography
- Return to Jamie's Kitchen web page
- Scarlet Division (Jamie's Band)
- Jamie's School Dinners
- Fifteen Cornwall restaurant reviews
- Jamie Oliver at the Internet Movie Database
