Irish chefs weigh in behind Oliver’s poverty comments

Irish chefs Rachel Allen and Kevin Dundon have thrown their weight behind controversial comments by British chef Jamie Oliver, who said he found it “hard to talk about modern-day poverty” after seeing families live on cheap, processed food but splurge on top-of-the-range gadgets.

Rachel Allen, from Ballymaloe House in Co Cork, said it was “a question of priorities” when families choose to eat processed foods rather than buy “food from scratch” to cook in their kitchens.

Kevin Dundon, who runs Dunbrody House in Wexford, said that, in many such families, “food was last on the list”... “because of a lack of education”.

Allen also took aim at the education system, saying it was “a complete crime” that Irish children are not being taught to cook from primary school upwards.

Dundon said he remembered doing a TV series, Take on the Takeaway, where one family ate takeaways seven nights a week, yet the kitchen was stocked with alcohol.

“I went out and bought fish, chips, peas for the show. The mum then rang the takeaway and I had a meal cooked by the time she got her food delivered. It cost a lot less than the takeaway, and in a blind taste test, she picked my food. I don’t believe that fast food is about saving money.

“It’s more that these people think of food as just a means to an end and not as nutrition. You can feed a family of four with good protein and your five-a-day fruit and vegetables for €50 [a week]. It’s all about sitting down and planning your meals before you go to the supermarket,” he said.

Both he and Rachel Allen spoke about many of today’s parents as a ‘forgotten generation’, as their parents hadn’t passed on cooking skills to them.

“I think there was a generation of people who never passed on the skills they had learnt from their parents, the ability to cook good nutritious food for very little,” he said.

“Learning to cook at school is essential. Learning how to cook and eat well should be one of the basics at school like reading and writing,” said Allen.

“These people Jamie is talking about aren’t awful because they feed their child junk food. They are not purposefully trying to harm their child. They haven’t been shown how to cook. As parents, teaching our children how to cook is one of the most important things that we can do for them,” she said.

Yesterday, Oliver found himself out of the frying pan and into the fire when he said his restaurants would close immediately if it were not for European immigrants who make far better workers than “wet behind the ears” Britons.

The 38-year old said European workers were “much stronger, much tougher” than their British contemporaries and willing to work longer hours in kitchens.

In an interview with Good Housekeeping magazine, he criticised British youths for complaining about having to work a 48-hour week.

“I have never seen anything so wet behind the ears,” he said. “I have mummies phoning up for 23-year-olds saying to me: ‘My son is too tired.’ On a 48-hour-week! Are you having a laugh?”