I
decided to dedicate this post to my favourite chef that is Jamie Oliver, by celebrating his success. Ohh and it's his birthday today sooo Happy Birthday chef! For those who are not that familiar with Jamie’s early
work as a foodie, Jamie has begun his career at a very young age. His passion
for food started to grow when he was found helping at his parent’s pub, The
Cricketers in Clavering. At the age of 16, he left school and completed his
training at Westminster Catering College and had a lot of experience in
different restaurants such as the River Café. Just like Jamie, I have always
been interested in the world of food from a young age. In my 18 years of
existence, I have experienced different flavours and dishes from around the
world and I tend to continue this hobby for a long time. I have a great passion
for food, but not to the point where I want it to be a career. I also enjoy
watching food shows, but out of all the food shows I’ve watched, I’ve always
been keen on Jamie’s shows because of his blasé attitude towards cooking.
Today,
we see Jamie Oliver as one of the most famous celebrity chefs worldwide. He is
well-known in the media as he not only appears in his own food shows, but I have also seen him appear as a celebrity guest in talk shows such as The Jonathan Ross Show
and Chris Moyle’s Quiz Night. Furthermore, Jamie Oliver has evolved his brand
image from being a laid-back chef to an international chef tackling different
aspects in other parts of the world. Although Jamie is known as one of the
most controversial chefs in Europe, Jamie has introduced a healthy way of
eating which is attested from his food shows and his brand restaurants across
the world. This is also one of the reasons why I adore his recipes because of
his healthy approach to cooking by using fresh ingredients.
Jamie’s different approach to cooking with his laid-back attitude inspired a lot of people, including myself, to cook and enjoy food. It was Jamie’s honest unique selling
point from his relaxed style towards cooking that made him known to be one the
world’s best-loved television personalities. Not only he inspired everyone, but
he also won a BAFTA Award for the best television series in the Features
Category in 2000. In addition, his company, Sweet
As Candy, has made Oliver successful making it to the list of richest
Britons under 30 on The Sunday Times.
Jamie
still continues to delve deeper with food and he expresses his research and own
knowledge of food through a range of promotional materials. He had huge success
with a variety of different television shows. One
of Jamie’s first successful TV programmes is ‘Jamie’s Kitchen’ which was aired
in 2002, broadcasted by Channel 4. It’s a five part documentary series, targeted
to young people, especially those who
doesn’t have any motivation with school work, or those who didn’t finish GCSEs
and doesn’t have enough qualifications. In the show, Jamie attempted to train
disadvantaged youths, and once the course is completed, they will be offered
jobs at Oliver’s new restaurant “Fifteen”. I think that this is inspiring and that it follows the need for social and
self-identity because audience of young people will find reinforcement for
personal values as well as finding role models from the show. This is due to Jamie
being a good role model by giving second chances to disadvantaged youths as he
experienced the same situation in a young age. Youths in the show are also seen
as good role models as they try their hard to succeed. Moreover, ‘Jamie’s
Kitchen’ will give the ideology to young people like me as well as older people, that there are other choices in
life as long as you don’t give up. The show also creates an ideology of
moral authority as he can inspire those who think lowly of themselves. In addition, ‘Jamie’s
Kitchen’ became a huge success as the achievement of the restaurant won Tatler
Best Restaurant Award and the Academy Award of Excellence at the TioPepe
Carlton London Restaurant Awards in 2003. After the show, Jamie also won an MBE
award in 2003 for his generosity contribution within his work.
Jamie’s shows also illustrate problems in
the food industry such as not using organic food, increase of obesity,
unhealthy eating habits, and unhealthy food in school diners. I think that the way Jamie tackles these problems is helpful for everyone to be aware of. I also love the way that Jamie’s shows are also
relaxing as it includes comedic scenes which are very entertaining.
Jamie
Oliver was also known for his controversial work, which made him even more
successful worldwide. One of the most polemic shows that he had was ‘Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution’, which represents
America negatively as it the show illustrate scenes of how America produces
their food, and how they deliver these unhealthy produce to the society.
Unhealthy habits that are shown in his campaign represent that society are not
aware of what they are eating and this increases the number and cases of
obesity.
‘Jamie’s Food Revolution’ was one of Jamie’s
controversial works but he ensured that nothing obscene should be represented
in the media. It was seen as offensive from
America’s point of view because they are being stereotyped as obese and
unhealthy. Unfortunately, this lowered the ratings in the second season and it
was announced that the show will not return for a third season. But for me, the show was a good starting point for people to see that eating healthily is important. In addition, Jamie
also initiated a campaign called ‘Feed me Better’, which inspired a lot of
adults to encourage school children towards eating healthy food. As a result,
the British government perceived his work and promised to address this issue.
This shows that Jamie’s work has a big impact towards the society. Due to his
inspiring work, Jamie was voted the ‘Most Inspiring Political Figure of 2005’.
To finish this post, we all know that we have our own favourite
cooks, but for me, Jamie Oliver will always be my ol’ time favourite. He’s exceedingly
successful at promoting himself as a media brand as he now owns his own magazine
and books as well as a website that focus on his shows and successful work (which
I am a subscriber CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!). Recently, Jamie is working in new series of 'Jamie’s
Great Britain', which I found educational as it gave me an insight that original ‘British recipes’ like
Fish and Chips are originated from different countries and origin. This
represents how Britain has changed and had become more diverse and global. He
introduced healthy eating by setting up his own restaurants in different
countries and it was reported in 2009 that he raised US$22 million to fund
thirty of his Italian restaurants in Asia. Oliver also has many campaigns which
include teaching different parts of the world how to eat and maintain healthy
by buying organic food and teaching them healthy, quick recipes that we will
enjoy. I believe that Jamie will continue to delve deeper with food as well as
teach the society about healthy lifestyle, and I’m looking forward to it! Best
wishes to Jamie and his family! Happy Birthday!
