English Certification Paper

JAmiE OLiveR,aN Icon,a CheF……

yOu fill in tHe bLaNk

MAY 2008

English Certification Paper

 JAmiE OLiveR,aN Icon,a CheF……
yOu fill in tHe bLaNk

MAY 2008

TaBle oF cOnTeNt

• Argument-page 4
• Summary-page 5

• Short biography: Jamie Oliver-page 6

• TV career-page 10

• The show that made him famous: “The

Naked Chef”-page 10
• Other shows-page 12

2
• Lobby for healthier diets in schools-page 14
• ”Jamie’s school dinners”-page 15

• Family life-page 19

• Personal developments-page 20

• Jamie, a cartoon character?-page 22

• Criticism-page 23

• Conclusion-page 24

• Bibliography-page 25

Argument

I remember the first time I saw Jamie Oliver. It was a

Sunday afternoon and I had just turned on the television set,
when I came upon a nice cooking show. Because I consider myself
the kind of person that enjoys cooking, I decided not to change
the channel. Not before long I was hooked and watching the show
became a routine.
Jamie Oliver is the name that most people associate with
cooking, but he has now become an icon of energy and spontaneity.
His desire to improve and help, make him an example worthy of
following. That is why I am now one of those that consider
themselves part of the phenomenon called “Jamie Oliver”.
Jaime’s ability to prepare the most complicated recipes as
if he was making an omelet shows his native talent to present
things in simplified way. He applies this principle in all the

3
projects he becomes involved in, whether he is presenting his
recipes or promoting a healthier food diet in schools, he lets us
believe that nothing is impossible. That is why Jamie Oliver’s
presence in our lives, through his shows, recipes and daring
developments, encourages us to follow our dreams, by succeeding
in the fields that we enjoy.
I don’t know what Jaime’s recipe for success was, but by
looking at the story of his life I can say that the most important
thing is never to give up, put on a smiling face and know that the
best is to come.

Summary

This paper tries to outline the phenomenon of Jamie Oliver.

He ended up becoming an icon of the British culture by reminding
us that cooking is meant to be fun and the food that we eat
healthy.
In the first part of my certification paper I will present
Jamie Oliver’s short biography, outlining the moments in his
childhood spent with his parents in their pub “The Cricketers”
and the way they influenced him in choosing this career, in the
cooking industry. His television career started by chance, when
he was spotted by a producer and offered the role of “The Naked
Chef”. This was the beginning of what Jamie Oliver would become,
a world remounted chef, with strong philanthropic projects. The
conclusion would be that it was his destiny to be discovered and
introduced to the public.
The second part focuses on Jamie Oliver’s private life and
his career developments, especially on his fight against unhealthy
food in schools. The actions that he had decided to take,

4
concerning the diets of school children, are the ones that have
transformed him into a symbol of the British culture.
In the final chapters I will present the criticism that
Jamie Oliver has received, and will try to determine whether they
have made him less of a symbol for Great Britain.

-Short biography: Jamie Oliver-

James Trevor "Jamie" Oliver, was born on the 27 May 1975,

and grew up in Clavering, Essex, where his parents, ran the "The
Cricketers" pub. The use of quality fresh produce at the pub gave
Jamie a love of good ingredients. From an early age Oliver helped in the
pub kitchen; by the time he was 11, he was adept at vegetable
preparation and could chop "like a demon".

Recipe for success: Schoolboy Jamie Oliver with

his father Trevor

5
 For without the help of his parents - and their stringent views on
how family life should be - Jamie Oliver's extraordinary rise to fame
simply wouldn't have happened. Jamie himself has always attributed his
success to their influence. They did, after all, run a country pub and
restaurant, and he was helping out in the kitchen almost as soon as he
could walk.

“The Cricketers”-the pub&restaurant owned by Trevor&Sally Oliver

Jamie says:” I remember being fascinated by what went on in

the kitchen. It just seemed such a cool place, everyone working
together to make this lovely stuff and having a laugh doing it.When I
was about seven or eight, they let me peel the potatoes and pod peas,
that kind of thing. A lot of the boys at school thought that cooking was
a girlie thing. I didn't really care, especially as I could buy the coolest
trainers with what I'd earned from working at the weekend.”

6
 In 1989, Oliver formed the band Scarlet Division with friend
Leigh Haggerwood, in which he was the drummer.
Scarlet Division was a band formed by Jamie Oliver (at age 13)
and his friend Leigh Haggerwood in 1989. The two friends joined
forces with vocalist Louise Brannan, bassist James Bejon and a
guitarist. They played many gigs in the United Kingdom throughout the
1990s.
In 1996, Jamie was spotted by television producer Patricia
Llewellyn and was offered his own TV show called The Naked Chef and
the band (who were already playing the London gig circuit) were asked
to perform in an episode.

Soon after, Sony Music offshoot "S2" signed them for a two single
deal after hearing the band's latest song, "Sundial". In October 2000,
"Sundial" was released as a single and made position number 42 in the
UK pop charts. The song was written by Leigh Haggerwood.
Unfortunately, lack of radio play meant that relatively few people
heard "Sundial" and chart position 42 was perceived as a disappointing
result, considering Jamie's fame as a television chef. However this
result could have been due to the record company's attempts to cash-
in on Jamie's fame. British TV and radio stations would not take the
band seriously because they assumed Jamie was jumping on the pop
band wagon - not realising that the band had actually been together for
ten years.

7
 Sony soon discontinued their promotional efforts, and Jamie's
agents decided he should quit the band. The rest of Scarlet Division
went their own ways.
The driving force behind Scarlet Division had always been Leigh
Haggerwood, a talented composer in his own right. He was already
working on music for TV and film and in 2002 Jamie asked him to
compose the theme music for his new television show, Oliver's
Twist.The song was called "Just The Start" and it proved to be very
popular all over Dagenham. This prompted the band to get back
together and perform it in the second episode of the first season of
Oliver's Twist (the episode being entitled "Scarlet Division"). There
was also a later appearance in a series 2 episode called "The Session"
where they performed the song "The Kiss Of Summer".

Studies and apprenticeship

Between the ages of 11 and 16 he attended Newport Free
Grammar School in Essex. At the age of 16, Jamie knew that he wanted
to be a chef. So he went on to study at Westminster Catering College
and then to study in France, before returning to London to work as
head pastry chef for Antonio Carluccio at The Neal Street Restaurant.
After The Neal Street Restaurant, Oliver worked for Rose Gray and
Ruth Rogers at the River Café for three and a half years; Oliver
credits Gray and Rogers with teaching him to create the fresh and
simple food which would become his signature.

“The Neal Street Restaurant”- the place

that launched Jamie Oliver

8
 -TV career-

When the producer Patricia Llewellyn arrived to film "An Italian

Christmas" at the River Cafe, she spotted Oliver. Jamie Oliver says:”
It was there that I first got in front of a TV camera. A documentary
about the restaurant was being filmed and the editors decided to show
a lot of this cheeky kid who was so into the cooking that he'd answer
back to the crew. The day after the programme was shown, I got calls
from five production companies all wanting to talk about a possible
show. I couldn't believe it and thought it was my mates winding me up!”.

The River Café-the place where Jamie was discovered

Patricia Llewellyn put Oliver in front of a camera and told him to

stay natural, the result of which was the cookery programme, The
Naked Chef.

The show that made him famous: “The naked chef”

The Naked Chef (1998-1999) was Oliver's first series. Oliver has
frequently admitted that he wasn't entirely happy with the title, which
was devised by producer Patricia Llewellyn. The success of the
programme led to the books Return of the Naked Chef and Happy Days
with the Naked Chef.The idea behind The Naked Chef was to strip

9
 food down to its bare
essentials - to prove
that you didn't need to
dress up ingredients or
buy a load of fancy
gadgets to make
something really tasty.
Jamie states: ”Despite
my Nan's worries, it
definitely didn't mean
that I was cooking in
the nude!”. The
popularity of the show
grew with every
episode and the newly
acclaimed “nacked
chef” was on the road to success.
Fast on the heels of the first series came the Return of
the Naked Chef. Again, it was packed full of the same stylish
food and London partygoers, but we also saw more of Jamie's
domestic side, at home with girlfriend Jools and cooking on a
smaller scale. The second time around, viewers loved the show and
the book, forcing Jamie into a whirlwind schedule of travelling
around the world to promote it.

After taking some time off, Jamie worked on his third

series, Happy Days with the Naked Chef,followed by a book with
the same name.

- Other TV shows -

10
 -Jamie’s Kitchen-
By 2001, Jamie felt that it
was time to leave The Naked
Chef behind, so in 2002 he
started “Jamie's Kitchen”.
It followed chef Jamie Oliver
as he attempted to train a group
of disadvantaged youth, who
would - if they completed the
course - be offered jobs at
Oliver's new restaurant
Fifteen:” I had always wanted to
pass on my passion for food and
to help disadvantaged
youngsters.”

Jamie admitted that:”I took a huge risk, and regardless of

whether the trainees could handle it, I wasn’t sure if I could!
But the risk was worth it. The restaurant is still up and running,.
I'm really proud of them all and I'm so glad that it all worked out
as I thought it was going to fall flat and break the bank at any
minute!”
This was followed by -Return to Jamie's Kitchen- in
2003.
-Jamie's Kitchen Australia- began in September
2006 in Australia on Network Ten. Oliver visited Australia briefly
to launch the series, and then returned to London, retaining
overall control, but delegating management of the project in
Melbourne to old friend, Melburnian chef Tobie Puttock. The
series followed the training of a group of 16-24 year old

11
Australians to become chefs in the new Melbourne Fifteen
restaurant.
In 2007 -Jamie's Chef- continues where Jamie's Kitchen
left off. Five years and fifty trainees later, Oliver's most recent
series aims to help the winning trainee establish their own
restaurant at The Cock, a pub near Braintree in Essex. The
charitable Fifteen Foundation retains ownership of the property
and has provided a £125,000 loan for the winner, Aaron Craze, to
refurbish the establishment. The series consists of three, sixty
minute, installments. Prior to airing, this was announced in the
press as "Cutting the Apron Strings".

-Oliver’s Twist-
In his all-new series,
Jamie Oliver does what
he loves most: cook for
his mates. From
musicians to fashion
models to magicians,
everyone is invited back
to the Oliver flat for a
meal they'll never
forget. Follow Jamie on
shopping expeditions to
his favorite stores and
get tips and insight on
his selections. We see
Jamie out and about in
his favourite stores
where he tells us what to look out for when shopping for our
favourite foods. Jamie in his unique style then rustles up some
tukka for his mates, and the party begins!

12
 -Lobby for healthier diets in schools-
Surely the man had done enough, but instead he plunged
deeper and deeper into the fundamentals of food and national
nutrition. Jamie looked at what English children were being fed
for their school dinners: the menus featured items such as
burgers, chips, pizza, fish sticks, potato smilies, turkey twizzlers
and chicken nuggets. The closer he looked the worse it got, the
cost of each meal could not exceed 37p , the dinner ladies were
low paid and under trained, all the food seemed to be
reconstituted, fried and reheated and, perhaps worst of all, the
kids liked it. The problem that faced Jamie Oliver was nothing
more or less than re-educating the taste buds of a nation. The
dominant multi-national companies know that taste buds respond
to food that is salty, fat and sweet so that's what they sell.
Children brought up on this food lose their ability to enjoy real
food, they can't handle the flavors and textures of many
vegetables, fruits and spices and refuse to eat the nutrients that
may save their lives.
He felt children deserved better and with all his
enthusiasm, energy, naivety and street smarts set out to do it
himself. He started with one school in Greenwich; it was a
comprehensive school with about 1500 students with a good mix
of ethnicity and socio-economic groups.
He faced many problems, from the personal, the school
administration, and government authorities and especially the
children, that loved the “junk food” and refused to try something
new.
In the end succeed in achieving his goals: introducing
healthy food in schools.

13
 -”Jamie’s school dinners”-on Channel 4-
Jamie's School
Dinners was a
landmark four-
episode documentary
series that featured
TV chef Jamie
Oliver attempting to
improve the quality
and nutritional value of school dinners at a typical British school,
Kidbrooke School in the London Borough of Greenwich — a goal
which ultimately lead to a broader campaign (called Feed Me
Better) to improve school dinners throughout Britain.
At Kidbrooke, Oliver first encountered the school's
seemingly fearsome head dinner lady, Nora Sands. Although the
two clashed frequently over matters from kitchen technique to
workload, Nora eventually became Jamie's most ardent supporter
throughout the series and the campaign. Oliver had his work
cut out for him: firstly, the daily
budget for school dinners was a
mere 37 pence per child. Secondly,
the students at the school were so
used to eating processed junk
food that Oliver faced a student
revolution when he banned junk
food.
Thirdly, Oliver's unconventional ingredients and meal ideas
startled the dinner ladies, increased their workload dramatically,
and exceeded the allocated budget.
After a disastrous start at Kidbrooke, with students refusing
to eat and dinner ladies threatening to resign due to overwork,
Oliver organised a "boot camp" for dinner ladies in the borough,

14
roping in the catering division of the British Army to demonstrate
how to cook large amounts of food quickly and efficiently.
Realising that part of the problem with getting kids to eat
healthier food was the food they were eating at home. He visited
a young boy's family and convinced them to try a healthier home-
cooked menu for a week. Returning to Greenwich, Oliver faced a
student boycott of his new menu. He produced an education kit,
and recruited children to work in the kitchen, demonstrating to
them exactly what went into chicken nuggets, and teaching them
to identify vegetables. As the campaign gathered momentum,
gaining increasing public support, Oliver approached members of
the government, to barrack for increased funding for ingredients
and staff wages in school canteens.
Results of the show and campaign:
The British Government, and Prime
Minister Tony Blair promised to take
steps to improve school dinners
shortly after the program aired.
271,677 people signed an online
petition on the Feed Me Better
website, which was delivered to 10
Downing Street on 30 March 2005.
Certain junk foods (such as the
notorious Bernard Matthews "Turkey
Twizzlers" much derided on the
show) were banned from schools by their local borough or county
council. The Department for Education and Skills created the
School Food Trust to provide support and advice to improve the
standard of school meals.

-Jamie's Return to School Dinners-

15
 Starting in February 2006, Oliver returned to his crusade
to see how his flagship Greenwich school, Kidbrooke, was
progressing. Overworked and under pressure, Nora reveals that
she is losing money due to the decision to close the school tuck
shop (which sold junk food and snacks), that she wasn't being paid
for the extra hours, and that she hadn't seen any of the
promised money. The end-of-year deficit is between £12000 and
£15000 (the school management declined to be precise, on the
advice of the local council), the children are slipping back into
their old habits, and Jamie's new menu is losing popularity.
In response, Jamie organises a 'Junk Amnesty' wherein the
children exchange their snacks and unhealthy food for tokens
which can then be redeemed for healthier meals at a kiosk Jamie
sets up in their playground.
Jamie then travels to Lincolnshire, where most of the
schools have decommissioned their kitchens to save money. He
pioneers a project that connects the schools to local pubs,
restaurants, and hotels, and to local farmers. Produce would be
sourced locally, cooked, and then taken to nearby schools by taxi
or volunteer drivers. In order to make the project viable, he has
to convince 90% of the local parents to participate.
A pilot scheme is started to provide Theddlethorpe and
Saltfleetby primary schools in Lincolnshire with hot meals, with
the help of a local pub. However, there are problems. Nora has
hygiene concerns regarding the pub kitchen, and the pub cook has
been altering the recipes in an attempt to save money, which
Jamie remedies by introducing him to a local supplier.

16
 Initial take-up is good, following a demonstration to parents
of a terms'-worth of junk food that their children eat (a plastic
mat with a pile of chips, saturated fat, Coke, burgers, with a
garnish of crisps and sweets), and a brief speech at the school's
Easter service.
To spread the word, Jamie organises a fête for local
schools, suppliers and caterers in Lincoln Castle. There he
encourages connections between parents, schools, and food
industry representatives. The event ('Hot Dinners For Imps') is a
resounding and overwhelming success, and garners support from
the local council.

Results

In London, meeting first with Alan Johnson, the Secretary of

State for Education and Skills, and Prime Minister Tony Blair,
Jamie secures promises of an additional £240M for 3 years, a
trust to allow schools without kitchens to build, a pledge to
consider a series of training kitchens across the country, and
creation of a voluntary code of conduct concerning advertising of
junk food to children. Unfortunately there is widely visible
backlash towards Jamie Oliver’s changes to the system, with very
visible pages on social networking sites campaigning against him.

-Family life-

17
 Jamie Oliver and former model
Juliette 'Jools' Norton his
childhood sweetheart, were
married in June 2000 and have
two children - Poppy Honey and
Daisy Boo.
“I met Jools when I was about
16 years old and thought she
was quite tasty. I fancied her
for quite a while and ended up

pulling her (obviously because of the cooking, what else?).

I don't think I could have done it all without a really sturdy
relationship and home and family and friends.”
“Jools is quite easy-going and level-headed. Nothing really
impresses her, which is quite frustrating as a bloke! It's a good
grounding for me and she's been there from day one. I think
when you're going from place to place it's quite easy to have
people latch onto you and love you, saying you're great when in
fact they just think you're famous. Jools thinks it's quite
important to keep it real.”
Instead the father-to-be said: 'We haven't got to names
yet, but the ones I've come up with have all been food-based. I
really love the name Honey for a girl.' In fact their little girl was
called Poppy Honey, with another flower name, Daisy for their
second daughter. The Olivers' spokesperson revealed that
Daisy's unusual middle name, Boo, is Jools' nickname.
What about dad?
'I can't wait to have a family and neither can Jools,’ announced
Jamie not long after their wedding. 'I think it would be the right
time soon because we're both young and I think that because I'm
young I'll be a wicked dad.' He'll be glad to have age on his side
with those sleepless nights … 'I sleep with my arm around her

18
tummy,' he said during Jools' first pregnancy, 'and the other
night the bambino moved and woke me. I've made a few nice
dishes in my time, but this has got to be the best one I've ever
made.'
“I’ve made a few nice dishes in my time, but this must be
the best I’ve ever made.”,Jamie Oliver referring to his
daughters.

-Personal developments-
*Books
Jamie wrote a total of ten books: “Something for the
Weekend”, “The Naked Chef”, “The Return of the Naked Chef”,
“Happy Days with the Naked Chef”, “The Naked Chef Takes Off”,
“Jamie's Kitchen”, “Jamie's Dinners”, “Jamie's Italy”, “Cook With
Jamie”, “Jamie at Home” . His latest book is ”Jamie at home” that
is accompanied by a TV series. ”I'm so into the whole growing
thing these days that it now seems strange that, having been a
chef for 16 years, I didn't get into it sooner. If I'd known how
easy it was I would have started ages ago. I always had a few
pots of herbs and salad leaves on my windowsill, but to have a
whole load of beautiful things ready and waiting to be pulled out
of the ground, or picked from a plant, just outside my kitchen
door is heaven!” says Jaime.

*Travels
Jamie's Great Italian Escape, was first broadcast on Channel 4 in
the UK in October 2007. It follows Jamie as he travels around
Italy in a blue VW van (plus a trailer for cooking). Jamie’s trip
was his personal adventure to rediscover his love of cooking.

19
*Giving back: Fifteen Foundation
In 2002, Jamie Oliver combined two ambitions: to open a top
class restaurant and to give disadvantaged youngsters the chance
to gain professional training that would set them up for an
independent, inspired and productive life. Five years on, Fifteen is
still achieving both, improving and expanding all the time. Fifteen
is the name of the restaurants and the supporting charitable
foundation. The foundation's mission is to inspire disadvantaged
youth, including those with
drug or alcohol problems, the
unemployed and the homeless,
to believe in themselves and the
possibility of becoming chefs.
The foundation aims to
turn Fifteen into a global social
enterprise brand. December
2004 saw the opening of a
second restaurant in
Amsterdam, with others
following in Cornwall (May
2006) and Melbourne, Australia
(September 2006).

This year he is starring as one of the judges in the series

“The Big Give” hosted by Oprah Winfrey on ABC

- Jamie Oliver, a cartoon character?-

20
 So Jamie Oliver is to be turned into a cartoon chef. Each
of the 52 episodes made by Aardman Animations will be 11
minutes long and will be aimed at seven to 11-year-olds.
Little J follows the
adventures of ten-
year-old Oliver as
he seeks the
secrets of becoming
a great chef. He is
helped by a
depressed ham-a
character that may
fail to entice our
sympathy; E.coli is bad enough, but surely meat with mental
health issues needs to be put out of its misery. There's also a
scientist called Eggs Benedict, who wears a chicken as a hat.
Oliver said: "I really want to pass on a little knowledge in
a fun way, to really connect to the younger kids." "I can't tell you
how passionate I am about kids and food," Oliver added.
Miles Bullough from Aardman Animations said: "We were
thrilled when Jamie approached us to collaborate on an animated
project... We quickly agreed that we needed to make a show that
was first and foremost a comedy, which would hopefully inspire
kids to think positively about good food, even brussel sprouts."

-Criticism-

In 2003, Oliver was ranked number 28 in Channel 4's poll of

"100 Worst Britons". The poll was inspired by the BBC series 100

21
Greatest Britons. The poll specified that the nominees had to be
British, alive, and not currently in prison or pending trial.
In 2005, Oliver was widely criticised for killing a fully conscious
lamb on his TV show.
In 2005, Jamie Oliver embarked upon his school dinners
campaign to improve the quality of food fed to pupils. Whilst the
campaign proved to be ultimately successful, at the time was a highly
controversial shake-up for students and parents, some of whom were
vocally and actively against the scheme. In September 2006,
Rawmarsh Community School, South Yorkshire, UK, made headlines
after a handful of parents revolted against Oliver's lunch scheme, in
which all 1,100 pupils on site were fed two portions of fruit and three
vegetables every day, by delivering food from local shops to the
pupils through the school fence. One parent dismissed Oliver's food
as "disgusting rubbish" and declared, "Food is cheaper and better at
the local takeaways”.

Conclusion

Jamie Oliver is certainly a famous personality in Great

Britain. He has the right amount of what the British nation needs,
although some have regarded him in a skeptical way, following
certain accusations.
But it was Jamie Oliver who successfully battled for
better meals in schools. In his television series "Jamie's School

22
Dinners" the TV chef highlighted the shocking state of children's
school meals. He thus raised the public awareness and due to his
efforts the UK Government promised to spend more money on
school dinners and even passed new laws. Since 2006 junk food
has been kicked out of British school meals and at least two
portions of fruit and vegetable must be served per meal. Because
of his commitment Jamie Oliver was named most "inspiring
political figure of 2005." Moreover Jamie Oliver established the
restaurant-chain: "Fifteen". The celebrity chef employed fifteen
underprivileged youngsters and turned the majority of them into
professional cooks. The restaurant and its accompanying TV
series have both been immensely successful. Altogether there
are four "Fifteen"-restaurants: in London, Melbourne, Cornwall
and Amsterdam.
Jamie shows us that all you need, in order to succeed is a
real passion for what you are doing. And Jamie's passion has
always been food and.
All in all Jamie Oliver is one of the celebrities that we are
not going to forget easily.

Bibliography

• www.en.wikipedia.org
• www.jamieoliver.com
• www.bbc.co.uk
• blogs.guardian.co.uk
• www.jamieskitchen.net
• www.speakwell.com
• www.channel4.com

23
• www.penguin.co.uk

24