- Jamie Oliver and I

Back from Nice (where I took a lot of pictures for my next post) I had an appointment with Jamie… In my dreams, we would have cooked together or just shared a ham sandwich with a glass of bad wine and talk about food.

Because Jamie is like a friend, someone we know well.

That was in my dreams… In reality, he gave a conference for the Olympics called ‘London on a plate, an audience with Jamie Oliver’.

I have to admit that I was very excited to see him, but seeing him so close, made me feel like being at a concert, the rock star arriving on the stage (not very rock star as he wore a bermuda shorts and beach shoes!). Excitement was at its height and to be honest I had to stop myself not to play the groupie. The fact that I was, me Marlène, in a press conference room, surrounded by real journalists from all around the world made me stay still and not run on the stage to jump on him !

It’s my sad destiny, I am perfectly aware that I will never be able to interview a chef… Being in front of a chef, so impressed that I would pass for a stupid-idiot, unable to align 3 words.

So our Jamie (let’s call him ‘our Jamie’ cause it is nearly a friend), nature, shaggy hair, talks with his hands, swears a bit and is passionate a lot.

More than 10 years now that his restaurant ‘The Fifteen’ opened. Very young, he started what he calls the biggest challenge of his life. The aim was to train young people in difficulty to rebuild, have respect for themselves and others. His restaurant became a big success and his goal reached. A lot of teenagers went from drug dealers, young without future very often having their whole lives in a bag, to chefs, restaurateurs… thanks to ‘The Fifteen’.

He shot to fame when he was 24 and talks openly about being embarrassed to have, so young, 1 million pounds on his account.

10 years, a wife and 4 children later, he is not sure that he would do it now, he has a family to look after and can’t work nights and days anymore. But no doubt, passion is still there, after the opening of a few restaurants in the world and a dozen of cookery books, he now let himself goes and helps young chefs to start their own business, lend them some money…

So no, Jamie has never had any training really, he was dyslexic, grew up and learnt on the job in his father’s pub lost in the middle of nowhere. No, he is not liked very much by most of the chefs who had a ‘classic route’ but somehow, that’s why we love him. He is real, likes everyday food, doesn’t pretend to save the planet but really cares about its health, conveys, educates…

His most beautiful words, according to me: ‘Food is that wonderful thing where there is no borders, no color, no language, no religion…’

To meditate… If only the world would think like Jamie…

 

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