Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s healthy food mission has always been the cornerstone of his cooking, but since the global obesity epidemic has flowed down from adults to children, as a dad as well as a foodie, Jamie’s become angry. And when Jamie’s angry he’s unstoppable.
In the current edition of The Australian Women’s Weekly, which is on shelves now, Jamie didn’t hold back on the need for societal change.
“School is the frontline. Feeding kids right at school is feeding their brains and part of their education. It’s not genetic that kids eat burgers and pizza, that’s brainwashing through ads,” he says, barely pausing to breathe.
“I never grew up being political or socially minded,” Jamie added. “But I’m not a very good liar and I’m not very good at keeping quiet when things really upset me.”
The Weekly asks how Jamie manages to persuade his own five kids, who range from 15-year-old Poppy, to Daisy Boo, 14, Petal Blossom, eight, Buddy Bear, six, and River Rocket, almost one – to eat healthily at home.
“I don’t want to be oversimplistic, but you only eat s—t at home if you buy it in the first place, and we don’t buy it,” he says quick as a flash.
“It really is as simple as that. My wife [Jools] is even more hardcore than me, but if my boy wanted to grab a Coke, I would let him have one as a treat, at the fair or on holiday, of course. It wouldn’t get past my missus, but I’m fine with it. Do we have any at home? Absolutely no way! Why would you? We’ve got real food. We buy food and we buy veg and we buy tins and preserves.
It’s really hard to eat badly when you’re buying the food.”
Hear, hear!
To read more of what Jamie had to say, pick up this month’s edition of The Australian Women’s Weekly, on sale now.
