Talk:Jamie Oliver

Does he have any Michelin Stars ?

How many stars, if any, does Mr Oliver have, or has previously received ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.30.193.105 (talk) 08:39, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

Threats against Jamie

Should the fact that 15 Cornwall, despite being a charitable foundation, was threatened with fire bombing by Cornish nationalist terrorists?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-461683/Jamie-Oliver-Rick-Stein-threatened-firebombs-Cornish-liberation-terrorists.html Berty Bisto (talk) 07:26, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

I can't see why it shouldn't appear in the Controversy and criticism section. I'll add it if nobody else does. Unknown Unknowns (talk) 12:39, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

On second thoughts the CNLA seem to object to English people in general, not Oliver in particular. Unknown Unknowns (talk) 12:31, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Being from Cornwall myself, I bet that was just a joke by some Cornish kids. There aren't any Cornish terrorist separatist groups, or if there are they've never done anything. The whole Cornish nationalist thing is played up more outside and most people in Cornwall know that Cornwall would be shit if it was just run by the farmers and didn't get aid from the rest of the country.

Pingpong

Is he really a competitive ping-pong player? Or is that just channel 4 being silly? 80.42.130.27 (talk) 00:27, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

It has to be the latter! If he really was, as he claimed in the scene, the best table tennis player in the world; we would know about it. The C4 sequence was obviously faked. Werdnawerdna (talk) 21:15, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Jamie Oliver curses

I miss any information on Jamie's way of cooking. --Liberatus 11:04, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

Why does my addition of Oliver calling Mark Lamarr a cock sucker keep getting deleted? It genuinely happened on Channel 4 TV - if you are offended perhaps you should complain to Oliver himself. I feel it is relevant info because the normally good-humoured Mr Oliver chose to attack Lamarr on national TV. I will be re-adding it to the description.

Regards,

User

—This unsigned comment was added by 81.99.61.55 (talk • contribs) .

I assume you mean "cocksucker". In which case, it's usually spelt as one word, not two. And we don't censor swear words here. Is it really that notable, though? I think it needs some background, i.e. why Oliver called Lamarr a cocksucker. --Bonalaw 21:29, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

A user can self-censor if they wish. Are you sure it is one word? I am unable to find it in a dictionary. If you need to know who Mark Lamarr is, look him up on the Wiki!

I have to agree. Most people outside of Britain, that including me don't know who Mark Lamarr is. But as Bonalaw said, is it really that notable? Unless Oliver had some backlash from it all then it's not worth noting. Mr. C.C. 19:00, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Mark Lamaar used to present a show called 'Nevermind the Buzzcocks' and frequently made very personal jokes about Jamie Oliver. I'm not sure it's really relevant but that is where I believe the animosity started. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.246.132.26 (talk) 15:07, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Jamie's songs

Jamie's "I Wanna Fish Stew" song is an obvious double entendre ... "I Wanna Fist You". Is this worth mentioning? 203.221.18.16 12:12, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and the links in the live show section seem to have been put in to sell mp3 downloads. The section is very flatteringly written. Is this allowable under wikipedia policies? 203.221.18.16 12:51, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Inconsistency in show chronology?

There seems to be an inconsistency in the ordering of Jamie's shows here. In the first section it suggests that Oliver's Twist was Jamies first big hit, but in the section on "TV Shows" it is suggested that 'The Naked Chef' was his first hit and that "Oliver's Twist" is his current show! Which is correct? —This unsigned comment was added by 138.77.2.130 (talk • contribs) .

"Oliver's Twist" is his new show. I believe somebody has made this more clear in the article. -- Chris 04:52, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

"Oliver's Twist" is not his newest show. "Jamie Oliver's Great Italian Escape is his newest show. I believe "Oliver's Twist" is his third, fourth, or fifth show as he has had two reality shows. Mr. C.C. 19:03, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Protect?

I've noticed that there is an abnormally high level of vandalism on this page by anon ip's. Might we consider semi-protecting it to prevent this type of vandalism? Logged in users would still be able to edit it. Let me know what you think. — Chris ( t c ) — 20:36, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

As good as semi protecting a page is, they would sign up for an account and then go back to vandlising the page. But it's always worth a try. Mr. C.C. 19:01, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Rewrite?

This is very poorly written in short sentences, almost like bullet points - suggest a major re-write

The lamb in question was not hung by its feet when Mr Oliver killed it. It was lying on the ground being gently restrained by a clearly uncomfortable Jamie, who then proceeded to cut its throat.The camera then moved away.

Hairy Tongue

There used to be (may still will be, I'm not going to check at work!) a website named "hairy tongue" which took a particular delight in criticising Jamie Oliver, which means that I associate the term "Fat-toungued Mockney Tosser" forever with him. Is there still an internet culture of gratuitous Oliver-bashing? And is this notable enough to include on the article. 195.194.167.31 13:44, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Fat suit

I saw a recent article [1] that mentioned how Oliver wore a fat suit for one of his programs, and now Americans want to know how he "lost" all of that "weight." I was curious and wanted to read up on this matter, but it isn't mentioned in his article. Can someone with knowledge of this update the article? -Seinfreak37 14:00, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Naked Chef redirect

I noticed that there is no article for The Naked Chef (the original show), and that searching that term redirects to the main Jamie Oliver article. Shouldn't there be a separate page for that? I'm not qualified to start that article myself, but it's something someone should do. Prom77 08:51, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Fair Use Image

I'm putting the not fair use image header added by Oden up for dispute. Unless someone personally knows the celebrity chef in question and can get him to stand still long enough to take a photograph, I feel this falls under fair use. It's actually common usage on Wikipedia throughout the celebrity chef genre (and other television stars) to use a screen shot for their image. To have no photo would be a detriment to the article. Agree/disagree? Jmdustin 14:47, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

That image' fair use license limits its use to describing the Jamie's School Dinners program. It can't be placed in a biographical article to illustrate the individual. --Madchester 18:15, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually, they are attempting to delete it from Wikipedia entirely. As they are with all non-free images. See the discussion on Image talk:JamieOliver-SchoolDinners.jpg. This is why I didn't agree with deleting the image on the Gordon Ramsay page either. (See your talk page for my question to you on that one.) Thx. Jmdustin 20:15, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Removed nonsense from the Criticism section

"Since the availability of only healthy meals in many schools' dinner menus is widely attributed to Oliver's campaign against unhealthy foods, some critics believe that he is guilty of promoting a nanny state."

If someone claimed that school dinners are promoting a nanny state, they might have a point, but this criticism reserved to healthy food campaign does not make sense. School dinners are voluntary and if they offer healthy food, it would be a new choice compared to junk food that is easily available to pupils. That means that new healthy food promotes free market because it gives consumers another choice. Moreover, these claims were not sourced.

"Some further point out that traditionally unhealthy foods are not necessarily harmful when consumed occasionally, rather than regularly."

This claim is again without a source and does not make sense. Unhealthy foods may not be "necessarily harmful when consumed occasionally, rather than regularly", but school dinners are meant to be regular. --Svetovid 13:05, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

A new choice? How is it a "new choice"? There is no choice at all. All of the so called "junk food" was replaced by the so called "healthy food" - so the so called "healthy food" is all that was available. And it was this type of food that the school pupils didn't want (despite the fact that they apparently "ought to want it"). How on earth is that promotion of free market? 85.210.171.208 09:48, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Obviously, they can get other kinds of food outside of school, so it's another choice.--Svetovid 15:41, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

But you said above that school meals were voluntary, in other words you don't have to eat them every day. Now you say that school dinners are meant to be regular...which is it? So called "unhealthy" foods eaten occasionally are obviously not harmful - eating a hamburger twice a week is fairly clearly less harmful than eating them twice a day. That doesn't need a source, its common sense. 85.210.171.208 09:48, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

School dinners as a whole are voluntary. You can either buy those or bring your won food (or buy it at dinner's time). If school dinners are healthy and all nearby fast foods offer junk food, you can choose which you want. If school dinners consist of junk food and all nearby fast foods offer junk food, you cannot choose. Again, "obviously not harmful" has no source.--Svetovid 15:41, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

In his opening speech to the Tory conference on Sunday, Mr Cameron said Mr Oliver had done more to improve school food than the Education Department, going on to say: "Put another way, we need more of Supernanny, less of the nanny state." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5402100.stm

I don't think the 100 worst Britons actually count as a criticism either. WIS (talk) 16:30, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

I changed the two uses of the word "scheme" in this section. That word connotes a negative opinion, so to comply with NOPV, I chose "change" and "plan" to make it sound less opinionated. Munin and hugin (talk) 08:13, 7 October 2008 (UTC)

More info about how he got on TV?

The following passage from Biography is a non sequiter:

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 and simple food which would become his signature.

The result was "The Naked Chef", a cooking programme.

I think it should be obvious that the result of a kitchen apprenticeship is not, as night follows day, a cooking program on television. What position was Jamie in when he left River Café? Executive chef? How did he come to the notice of television producers? Was he widely recognized as one of Britains best chefs before he was offered a program? Clconway 15:15, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Bit late to spot this, but Oliver was certainly not executive chef before he was famous or anything like. He wasn't long out of training and was hired for a TV show more because of his character than any cooking ability. Oliver is not considered to be one of the countries top Chefs even now - he has never won any of the major awards for his food. Gordon Ramsey, Gary Rhodes etc were proper, talented chefs first and celebrities later with accolades to their name, Oliver is a celebrity famous for his cookery programmes. --Tuzapicabit (talk) 22:51, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Serious concerns

How on earth did this article get a "B" rating? It reads like an article from the Jamie Oliver fan club magazine and is seriously short of citations. I've tried to improve it with referenced material but I've also put on refimprovesect tags as it has a long way to go before I would consider it suitable for wikipedia. I would seriously question the assessment criteria that the Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography is using if they think this article merits anything more than start class.Richerman (talk) 01:55, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Why only controversy/criticism?

I can understand their being such a section, if this is so then why isn't their any section that records some sort of positive reaction, of which there is plenty? He is a popular chef, and his 'School Dinner's' scheme was certainly more popular than unpopular. I'm not saying there shouldn't be a controversy/criticism section, but if we have one we should have the other, if only to keep to keep the article balanced and neutral. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.136.250.199 (talk) 23:20, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Don't know if there's an official WP policy on this, but I think it goes without saying that a food and television celebrity with a WP article has had his share of positive as well as negative attention. A "Compliments and Congratulations" doesn't seem warranted. That said, the mention of the school lunch program should probably be balanced by noting that the criticism came from a vocal minority (which is clear in the Sun piece used as a citation). Citations on the general reception of the program would be welcome. Clconway (talk) 23:30, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

I just took a pass at the lunch program criticism section. Note that the quote which previously appeared there was not justified by the citation from the Sun. Clconway (talk) 23:43, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

The article is generally very positive about Oliver's achievements such as his TV shows, books, work with disadvantaged youths etc. and the award of an MBE speaks for itself, so a short section on controversy and criticism to balance all that is quite justified. Richerman (talk) 00:41, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

I've added a section on the TED Prize he's won this year... perhaps this section should be expanded or separated to include awards as well? --Canned Soul (talk) 22:08, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Lamb killer

I understand the criticism from certain sectors about the live lamb slaughter. Gory, disturbing, sensitive content even—I get it.

However, does anyone think that this sentence in the criticism section should at least be elaborated on? A relatively large portion of people eat meat—which quite obviously requires the raising and slaughter of “fully conscious" animals, maybe chefs in particular.

This seems slightly POV to me. Why wouldn’t you criticize butchering practices and the people who consume the subsequent products of those practices equally? Seems the disapproval is not quite neutral here.

I think the criticism was more that it was shown on TV. It would be a little hypocritical to criticise the practice itself, since it's so widespread. If readers want more information, they can always follow the link to the reference. There's a danger that if we elaborate, we risk running into WP:NPOV issues, so perhaps it's better to be terse. --Rodhullandemu (Talk) 18:36, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

The critcism was that the lamb was fully conscious and not stunned, which would mean that the lamb died in agony.--Tuzapicabit (talk) 22:56, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

I would also argue that it is not POV, due to the fact that there was in fact criticism. It may not have been warranted, and may be considered hypocritical for people to criticise it and still have no problem with eating the fruits from the poisoned tree. However the criticism whether valid or not was real and not POV. 70.179.157.37 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 04:39, 1 April 2010 (UTC).

Photo

Is a photo of his waxwork really the best we can do?? Exxolon (talk) 02:12, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

I'm not really comfortable with it being used at the photo Million_Moments (talk) 13:28, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Personally, i think that shit is hilarious. Thanks wikipedia, lol. 152.160.58.175 (talk) 00:54, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Haha please keep it, its actually the funniest think i've seen on here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.4.240.42 (talk) 16:40, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Birth country

I seem to recall hearing that Oliver was born in New Zealand. Anyone able to verify this and add it to the article? 121.44.57.225 (talk) 06:06, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

"Eat to save your life"?

How come the show (special?) "Eat to save your life" doesn't rate a mention? --220.253.205.237 (talk) 10:11, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Jamie's Ministry of Food

The article doesn't state why he chose to concentrate on Rotherham in the series. Does anyone know? Do the town's residents have, on average, a more unhealthy diet than the rest of the country? Werdnawerdna (talk) 21:28, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

I am not sure whether it was in the first episode or whether I read it somewhere, but I remember that Rotherham has a demographic that represents the average of the UK. 122.110.118.124 (talk) 06:19, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Introduction

I am wondering whether his accent is such an important feature that it needs to be highlighted in the intro. Is his passion for food and how to convey this to the masses not a much more important feature? But then I am not a native speaker... :-) 122.110.118.124 (talk) 06:19, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Gaps

Is it just me, or is there a huge gap between him leaving school and achieving fame with The Naked Chef? There is no way one can become a major chef without an apprenticeship of some sort, and this should be documented, if only to describe his training and influences. --Rodhullandemu 01:04, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

I've changed the section title as the whole article is a biography. Meanwhile, anr reliably-sourced information on his parentage, youth and apprentice ships will be useful. I'll try to take a look myself. --Rodhullandemu 16:53, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

I came to the article looking for this information. During the Naked Chef season 1 he is still working at The River Café, he also mentions a number of times that he trained in france. Rissole (talk) 14:32, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Battery Chickens Doco

Hi There Jamies Team

I just watched the tele program (yup probably 6 mnths outta date) about battery/free range hens thing.....I'm not going to go into detail about how i agree with most of what i saw BUT...... i would love to see a follow up program to see if the supermarket? chains u highlighted in the show have made any chnges at all since the showing of your show.....awsum stuff and thank you

Regards Alexandra Bennett New Zealand :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.74.216.3 (talk) 09:22, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Currency

Why are some of the figures in dollars? It seems really bizarre considering he's an english chef, and the deals mentioned with the monetary value are all done in England anyway - can this be changed?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.33.230.34 (talk) 02:34, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Sudanese

Is this even relevant? It's not like he was was born there, we are talking 6 generations back. I'm sure if we all look into our family tree's we can find our own roots in africa too :p really don't see why this line is required here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.234.125.47 (talk) 13:15, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

It's relevant to Oliver, otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned it. Unknown Unknowns (talk) 15:21, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

Category:English people of Sudanese descent

Although he might have a Sudanese ancestor, it's inappropriate to put him into this category. Categories are not generally added for trivial, non-notable characteristics. He's probably sung a few songs in his lifetime, that doesn't mean he should be placed in the "singers" category. ... discospinster _talk 15:04, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

It's not trivial to Oliver otherwise he wouldn't keep mentioning it. Judging by his TV shows and interviews it seems to have strongly influenced his views on race and racism. Unknown Unknowns (talk) 10:42, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

Jamie's restaurants

Jamie owns, according to himself in a tv-show i just saw, restaurants all over the world. That would be interesting to know about, how many, which and where? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.227.32.32 (talk) 19:00, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

References

We are getting more material added to the article without references. I have added some reference tags.--BwB (talk) 20:11, 18 November 2010 (UTC)