Monday, August 25, 2008

Dislike him or loathe him, Jamie Oliver said this on Sunday about the people of Britain:

"People have huge TV sets - a lot bigger than mine - state-of-the-art mobile phones, cars and they get drunk in pubs at the weekend... their poverty shows in the way they feed themselves.

"I found the cooking of the inhabitants of the slums in Soweto a lot more diverse than ours... I think a lot of English people's food lacks heart. It's bland."

"We have a culture of alcohol and we're more beer-orientated ... the only people who drink more than us are the Irish and the Scottish."

"We used to cook fabulous dishes. It's all in the past. Unlike French people... we have lost our traditions."

One of the British newspapers which reported this story criticised Oliver in its comments column for these remarks.

But they did not stop to think whether Oliver was actually right? Another example of the British tabloid press criticising someone for making a common sense statement because it is not what they think the public wants to hear.

For every family in Britain who sits down and has a home cooked meal together, I'll show you 10 who eat crap on their laps in their living rooms.

For every family who sit and talk to each other in the evening, I'll give you 50 who sit in silence beneath a TV so huge it takes up half of the living room.

I can't claim to know what's being fried in the kitchen's of Soweto - though Oliver does and I'll take his word for it - but in Britain the food being cooked appalling (we are an island rich in land and sea food for Christ's sake).

And I'd go as far as to say that half the people eating ready meals have only rudimentary knowledge of the microwave, never mind a cooker.

A well-travelled Danish friend who recently visited said he was surprised at how obese this nation has become. He was being polite. The truth us, we're so fat we should be ashamed.

No comments: