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Jamie Oliver - The Naked Chef

Jamie Oliver’s magpie approach to global cooking

Jamie Oliver is no stranger to criticism – though he’s usually the one dishing it out. The renowned U.K. chef has transformed into somewhat of an activist in recent years, with his television show Jamie’s School Dinners lifting the veil on a generation unable to distinguish a cucumber from a tomato, and vowing to do something about it (though not before suffering the wrath of a few indignant parents and teachers). But despite his crusade to save the youth of today through good food and proper nutrition, Oliver says he’s optimistic about the state of culinary affairs – specifically in his native Britain.

“I’m a huge fan of British food I don’t think I’ve ever lambasted it,” he says. “What’s really interesting and special about Britain is that we love to learn from other cultures and adopt their food as our own. … What the British are very good at is taking the best bits of other nations’ foods – we’re a magpie nation in that respect. If you go down the high street in many British cities, you’ll get Italian restaurants, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, French, Spanish, Greek, Turkish. On the other hand, if you go down a street in Italy, you’ll probably just get Italian restaurants. So Britain is a thriving, cosmopolitan, foodie heaven.”

And Oliver would know from foodie havens: The one-time Naked Chef will be appearing in Toronto Nov. 16 to discuss, among other things, Jamie‘s Food Escapes, his most recent series, which has the chef travelling the world to learn the culinary tricks and trades of various global regions – specifically Europe and North Africa.

“I came back from all the visits with a renewed energy, full of inspiration and ideas,” Jamie Oliver says of the series. “With Food Escapes, the original idea was to see which wonderful places you could get to within a couple of hours of the U.K., and for not much money, places where you could really just hop off the plane and dive straight into the local food culture.”

Oliver is a recent public advocate on the palatable benefits of hopping a plane for some distant land. Named a Member of the British Empire in 2003, the chef began his culinary training in the kitchen of his parents’ Essex pub. In 1999, he springboarded from a pastry chef gig to host of The Naked Chef, a position that saw him gain fame for his approachable cooking style. Since then, Oliver’s made-for-TV mug and no-nonsense cookery have launched innumerable TV series and specials, the emphasis of which in recent years has been global food and culture.

“My recipes are inspired by all kinds of things but the travelling definitely plays a big role because the more exposed I become to other flavours, influences and techniques, the more the ideas flow,” he says.

Of course, Oliver is no Anthony Bourdain – he’s a great travel chef, sure, but most gourmands will know him best as the man who tried to revolutionize the British (and subsequently, American) food system with Jamie’s School Dinners, Jamie’s Food Revolution, Jamie’s Ministry of Food … the list goes on. It’s common-sense stuff that he preaches – the idea of cooking with your family, of eating whole foods – and, according to Oliver, it’s catching on.

“I think it’s a slow process and it’s going to take many years to get to a point where the obesity epidemic is taken seriously and reversed,” he says. “In the U.K., we’ve always got TV documentaries about this sort of subject and various campaigns – some of which make a huge difference. In the U.S., there’s been nothing like that until Food Revolution, and it’s fantastic to see the reaction i’s had from the public. It shows there’s a need for people to speak up and ask for change.”

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