JAMIE OLIVER IN THE NZ LISTENER THIS WEEK

Jamie Oliver
In conversation with Sarah Barnett

Crumpet-turned-campaigner Jamie Oliver has barely been off the box since the days of The Naked Chef. School Dinners rattled cages when he ventured into the dark heart of British school kitchens and discovered the kind of food that should only exist on Fear Factor – mystery meat and Turkey Twizzlers. But Jamie’s Kitchen had already revealed his altruistic bent: underprivileged – and, sometimes, underwhelmed – young people were given the chance of a career in his restaurant chain, Fifteen. Now, he’s cooking for the camera again, and from his own garden.

Jamie at Home is a total change of pace from your last couple of cause-driven series. Was it a deliberate decision to slow down and keep away from controversy for a while? It was pretty much a deliberate decision. I thought it was time that people saw me cooking again and not rushing about like a crazy person trying to change the world. And I got the inspiration, really, from my weekend life, which is pottering in the garden, growing stuff and then harvesting and cooking.

Were you surprised at the School Dinners controversy?

There seemed to be quite a big backlash – even down to idiot parents passing their kids McDonald’s through the school gates. The thing about the UK media is that they’re generally very supportive and they all backed the campaign when it was at its height, but because school meals is now a hot topic, whenever anyone wants to get their name in the paper they simply do a survey and reveal that X number of kids don’t want the new school meals or X number of kids are bunking off school to go down the chippy. The fact is that this is a long-term plan and it’s taking a little while to show signs of working, but already there are encouraging figures coming out of loads of schools and councils. There are good things happening now, but bad things are still happening, and I’ll be pushing and badgering the government for years to come. But on the whole, I’m proud of what we’ve achieved so far.

This year you appeared with Ricky Gervais and Bob Geldof in a Comic Relief spoof, brandishing bags of junk food and offering tips on how you make yourself cry “over the state of some fat chav”. Could it have all gone horribly wrong? (And was that a real Turkey Twizzler?)

I wasn’t worried at all. It was a great sketch, and what brilliant people to work with for such an important charity. Was it a real Twizzler? I don’t think it was, to be honest. I think the BBC had to make a pretend one.

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