Jamie Oliver Q&A and an extract from his book!
He’s marrying the classics with trendy superfoods, but even Jamie admits not everyone is a fan of his cooking
Once synonymous with all things indulgent, chef Jamie Oliver is continuing his crusade for a healthier lifestyle.
But while his latest book, Super Food Family Classics, is serving up some seriously tasty fare, when Jamie sits down with Woman’s Day he reveals his children – Poppy, 13, Daisy, 12, Petal, six, and son Buddy, five – aren’t always so easy to impress.
What’s the average weeknight dinner in the Oliver household? There is no average night in our house, to be honest. I normally ly text my wife Jools and see what at she wants. We generally have an open shop at the start of the week, then on the day I’ll just ask what she fancies. It could be something oldschool, or dynamic Asian, or maybe even Italian – who knows? And now with Jools being pregnant [she’s due next month] it’s even more up in the air.
Do the kids get involved? They ey do. I think it’s really nice for them. They’ll go through pageses in recipe books and help build d the shopping list. It’s good to get the ownership of dinners splitt across the family.
Are they hard to please? All off my kids have been a pain in the arse regularly, throughout the whole of their childhood and they continue to do so – it’s the nature of being a parent. You have good days and bad days. Out of 10 dinners or lunches, I’d say three go according to plan.
So mealtime doesn’t always run smoothly then? There’s often carnage. In the moment when the sun is shining, the food is good, no one is crying and the kids are eating everything, I’ll look at Jools and she’ll look at me and I’ll give her a wink, but deep down, amongst that moment of perfection – which is rare – you know you’re only 30 seconds away from havoc. And that is the reality of any parent at mealtime. So I take the good when I can. Do they serve up some of your harshest criticism? Oh yeah, for sure. Kids are creatures of habit, so if they don’t get the same dish served the same way, their immediate reaction is, “Well,
‘Out of 10 dinners or lunches, I’d say three go according to plan’
what’s wrong with it? What are those little black bits in it?” Yesterday I tried to get them to eat broad beans; they’ve had them loads before. But at dinner the little ones refused to eat them. Later on they’d had a bath, got in their jimjams and came down so I could read them a story, and I’ve got a plate of cheese and broad beans for myself and suddenly what do they want? Bloody broad beans!
How much has your cooking changed over the past 10 years? I think if you opened up Super Food and The Naked Chef, it’s the same genetics, the same vibe and approach. Day one, 20 years ago, we were doing the same stuff; now all the nutritional information is much more clear and we’re striving for goodness. In the early days it was more about fun and deliciousness and that’s still important, but after 20 years that’s default, so now the intention has just shifted a bit. This book is more about holding the public’s hand and saying, “This food is good for you and it’s tasty, I promise.”