A neo-Jacobin

Jamie Oliver: he's just an overpaid cook

Am I the only person who feels absolutely sick to the bottom of my stomach every-time that millionaire chef Jamie Oliver appears on TV or radio talking serious politics? Sainsbury'’s very own 'chav' poster boy is certainly making a big impression on the British cultural and political scene. Armed to the teeth with nothing more than an battalion of dinner-ladies and raw spinach, Oliver plans on taking the authorities to task not over the Iraq war, but over an issue that is far, far more important... the fat content in school dinners.

Were it not for the local council elections, Oliver'’s school dinner campaign would probably still be top of the political agenda. Oliver's political crusade is a good example of how strong emotions and feeling are now considered more important than hard evidence, or even a coherent argument. Oliver'’s so called 'revolution'’ has all the right ingredients, namely... children, and our political elites have been falling over themselves to get their little slice of the action. Now all of a sudden everybodys so concerned about what our school kids eat for lunch.

All in all, it'’s a very sad state of political affairs when a trumped-up, overpaid cook can rise to the top of political debate, all because school dinners, well... don't taste very nice. Even his criticism of school meals being detrimental to the education and health of our kids is way off the factual mark. There is no evidence that eating raw spinach will make kids concentrate more on their school work than if they ate a turkey twizzler. But why let cold facts like that get in the way of a rolling bandwagon?

One of the worst aspects of all of this, is that an unashamed publicity-seeking chef, with an over-blown sense of self-importance thinks he is more representative of ‘the people’ than an elected politician. Oliver and others, also seem to think that getting the government to add a few measly pence on to the cost of a school meal amounts to the ‘biggest food revolution that England has ever seen’. Well, if you ask me, this is the kind of revolution that I find near impossible to swallow.

Read on:

Jamie Oliver website.

Picture: Jamie Oliver after winning two BAFTAs (Gareth Davies/Getty Images)

posted by Courtney Hamilton @ 12:12 PM