It’s been 25 years since British chef Jamie Oliver first burst onto television screens as “The Naked Chef,” gaining fans with his casual approach to home cooking. Over time, he didn’t just build a brand, he became the brand with multiple TV shows, restaurants around the world, more than two dozen cookbooks — 28, to be exact — and forays into writing children’s books. (His most recent one was pulled from shelves in the fall after accusations of being offensive to First Nations in Australia; he declined to discuss the matter during the interview.)
But in his latest release, ”Simply Jamie: Fast & Simple Food” out now ($45, Appetite by Random House), he pares his recipes down to the basics to get readers back into the kitchen. In a world where ordering takeout has never been easier, Oliver says it comes at the cost of eroding basic kitchen cooking skills and nutrition. While in town promoting the book as well as two new shows — ”Jamie’s Money Saving Meals” and ”Jamie: Fast & Simple” both streaming on CTV’s site and app (“Money Saving Meals” is also airing on CTV Life Channel) — Oliver talks to the Star about publishing anxieties, the internet’s effect on home cooking, and the politics of grocery shopping.
How does one come up with enough recipes for 28 books? Surely you have thousands by now.
I’ve written, like, 7,000 recipes over 25 years. In some respects, it’s like what music you listen to on a Wednesday versus Sunday, or on a happy day or a sad day. The gears change and you have an ebb and flow of the seasons and ingredients, as well as how much cash you have, who’s coming around to eat, if you want something health-focused or indulgent.
At the same time, the world is changing a lot. This book was written because the data says we’ve never cooked less than now. Cooking skills are dying but never have we had more choices in food, and never has the world been a smaller place. The “Uber-ization” of food and delivery in the modern day world is really interesting.
Countries don’t see value in teaching cooking in school, and they know kids are not getting taught at home because everyone’s at work now. If you look at a 200-year-old cookbook they presume a lot because everyone cooked back then. (“Simply Jamie”) is a solution book. I’m trying to make the steps really clear, cap the ingredients at 10, and you can buy them from a regular supermarket.
Anything I should make first?
The poached chicken is the simplest thing on earth, along with the 10 recipes that fall off of it. I do that every Saturday morning.
The interesting thing is that how to cook rice, how to cook a chicken breast that’s not dry, these are still questions people have 25 years on. I remember when (British TV cooking host) Delia (Smith) (showed) how to cook a boiled egg and everyone was taking a piss out of her — like everyone knows how to boil an egg. But a lot of people really don’t.
I know the biggest fish protein is salmon, and you’re bored of it, so I’m giving really simple ways to make it not boring. The same with chicken. Whether it’s a midweek meal that takes 15 to 20 minutes, a weekend wonder that’s more slow-cook and batch cooking, or tray-bakes (or what you call sheet-pan meals), in a way this is a letter to say, “Please cook and keep cooking alive.”
I vividly remember you making a tomato and spaghetti dish on “Oprah” in the early 2000s — it was actually one of the first things I learned to make. I noticed you have a similar recipe in the new book, but there’s the addition of garlic, olives and capers for that hit of salty-brine.
Good man. The dishes are like cousins. That’s cooking, really. In some respects it’s like chords in music. It’s not what you play but how you play it.
Do you ever look at your old books and wish you could change a recipe or two?
I still wouldn’t change it. It’s like saying, “Mom, what’s up with that haircut in the ‘80s with the flares and the perm?” If I were to tweak it, it will be nuanced around health and nutrition, but it’s there and I wouldn’t lose sleep over it. There’s an innocence in the looseness.
People ask how I sell all these cookbooks and it’s really hard. It’s nerve-wracking and it’s every year. You have to fight for every element of the book but there’s no presumption you’re going to smash it every time. The thing that gives you a good chance is that someone bought the book, got a handful of recipes, gone out and spent the money on ingredients and didn’t waste their money. If you have your mother-in-law coming over and the recipe doesn’t work because of silly mistakes like missing out on an ingredient or getting the timing wrong … in some of my earlier jobs I worked for published authors and I used to receive calls from very angry people every day, they were pissed off so that paranoia burned a hole in my psyche.
You rose to prominence at a time when the Food Network was king. Now with social media being a major source of where people learn to cook, has that changed how you work?
I’m going to be 50 this year and I’ve been doing this for 25 years, half of my life I’ve been publishing and broadcasting. The audience is changing and the way the audience gets access to the information and the shows and the food has changed.
The old way had some bureaucracy but it also had checks and balances. In my point of view, if you have a declining skillset of cooks on the planet, having a billion free s —- recipes is not a gift. TikTok and Instagram are great because you get all kinds of ideas and nudges, but TikTok is riddled with ideas and concepts that don’t work. As Instagram and Facebook once were, there will be newer things that come along, so it’s a funny thing.
How about the way cooking shows are filmed?
When I started there was a standard and protocol to making a studio-based cookery show. “The Naked Chef” was anti that because it was in a house with friends and family, I’m wearing my clothes and cooking the food I cooked at home, but there was still a classic way of making shows. Now these phones are so good. In some respects it’s more democratic and it’s good more people can shoot stuff. Good, reliable and easy stuff will always surface over the dramatic chocolate, burgers and supersized cupcakes that trend.
Food continues to be fun and it continues to be political: where you spend your dollars, which industries you support. If you look through the book it’s mostly raw ingredients, we’re not relying on companies that do the hard work for you and give you a chemistry lesson.
You talked about the book’s mission, but does it also reflect where you are in life right now?
Hopefully it tells you I like a bit of everything and open to all cultural accents of food. Maybe (Jamie’s) quite busy and a family man that’s trying to get more veggies into a sauce for his kids. Just cause I’m Jamie Oliver doesn’t mean I’m not time-poor and haven’t got back late from work famished. I want something that will make me feel alive and vigorous cause I have to get up at 4:30 a.m. the next day to perform and be optimistic, a good parent and boss again.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
