Driving home the other night, I listened to Jamie Oliver being interviewed on BBC Radio Four. Oh yes, I thought, plug for his new TV series, Jamie's Chef. And it was. But the ex-Pukka boy won me over with his honesty and refusal to dodge tricky questions. Call me naive to believe him but I think he does put his heart and soul into projects like the school dinners campaign and Fifteen.
The thing is, I think it's difficult to fake sincerity on a sustained basis in the media: it's very obvious when someone is trotting out well-rehearsed phrases just to look good (we've all seen chefs do that on TV) - the camera or microphone will always expose you in the end.
I think Oliver deserves credit for not just resting on his laurels as a TV celebrity. Before he put himself on the line with Fifteen, for instance, no previous TV chef had bothered to put his hand in his pocket and pump it back into the industry. He showed the way for others to follow. And good luck to him if he's still got rich along the way. Do you agree or not? Let us know.
