The Caterer Blog

School dinner campaigner Jamie Oliver is many things to many people but a metaphor he is not.

That’s why in September we launched our tongue-in-cheek campaign called CAMOT – The Campaign for Original Thinking – on this very blog.

It came after a succession of organisations said they needed a Jamie Oliver-style campaign [or champion] for everything from promoting careers in the construction industry to improving children’s comprehension of literature.

It seems however it’s not just policy makers and associations but our colleagues in the media that are guilty of abusing poor Jamie as well.

A business round-up in the Independent last week about Enterprise Inns managed to shoe-horn in a completely unwarranted Jamie Oliver reference just, it seems, for the hell of it.

Channel 4 has had its knuckles rapped for undue product placement in Jamie Oliver’s latest cookery show Jamie At Home.

Viewers complained to Channel 4 after Jamie made several references to his Flavour Shaker and demonstrated it during the series.In one of the shows last September, he referred to it by name before spending two minutes demonstrating how to prepare an oregano oil with it. There were also a few close-up shots of the Flavour Shaker and further references to it in an episode broadcast in October.

Ofcom ruled there was "insufficient editorial justification" for how the Flavour Shaker was referred to and shown on screen, and rapped Channel 4 for failing to "ensure full editorial control over the content". Channel 4 apologised and said closer scrutiny would now be applied to acquired programming.

Nonetheless I can’t help but wonder whether Jamie plugging his own product on his own TV show should be considered “undue”.

 A juicy headline if ever you've heard one. Alas, gossip fans, it's not that kind of dogging.

All round altruist Jamie Oliver was spotted cooking up hotdogs for hungry gig-goers at a recent charity gig held by Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows in aid of children's hospice charity Jack's Little Stars Appeal.

Oliver, a fellow drummer of course, enlisted the help of his apprentices from Fifteen London, serving up sausages in buns with rocket and onion chutney, to the likes of Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman and and Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell.

Burrows, who put the gig in Islington as part of the launch of his new solo album The Colour of My Dreams, invited a whole host of guest musicians from bands such as Guillemots and The Bluetones, to serenade the audience, who were treated in the last half hour to an acoustic set from Razorlight.

Oliver, a self confessed Razorlight fan, also donated signed cookbooks to the raffle, and enjoyed the concert from an upstairs pew in the chapel.

It's a dog's life!

By Rosie Birkett

It seems that there's never a dull moment in the life of a celebrity chef... and never a day that they're out of the news...

Marco Pierre White spoke in Monday's Times about cruising, sandals and democracy whilst Tuesday's Mirror reported that (in between filming his latest TV series in the US) the "explosive chef and the highly-volatile Nancy Dell'Olio are now an item." Well, with Sven Goran Eriksson now off to to manage the Mexico national team, the coast is clear for MPW. Just imagine the rows over shampoo though.

Meanwhile Gordon Ramsay got a dose of his own medicine as Liam Gallagher had a few F-Words for the ubiquitious chef, and finds himself in more competition with his wife Tana, who, not content with outselling her husband's last cookbook with her own Family Kitchen, decided it's now time to take on her fiery-husband on-screen, declaring herself ready to do a cooking show with Gordon according to Tuesday's Daily Record.

Several papers also reported on Monday on how Gordon gets his kids to eat greens... a model for parents everywhere.

Jamie Oliver had a busy Monday as the debut single from his protégé Tim Kay (on which Jamie plays drums) was released on the same day he opened his new Italian restaurant in Oxford.

The delightful Marco Pierre White has been at it again, lashing out at chef campaigners Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver ahead of his new TV show, Marco's Great British Feast.

White claimed Fearnley-Whittingstall's campaign against intensively farmed chickens was merely an attempt to "get a few column inches".

"I really object when I see certain individuals protesting against certain types of farming to get a few column inches," he said. "Certain people should get a life."

Having had time to draw breath after the LACA school dinners conference earlier this month I thought I'd share the results of the delegate voting with you.

Given the disappointing news that school meal uptake in secondaries has slipped futher, it's hardly surprising that there's a fair bit or worry and consternation amongst school dinner caterers.

While no one has an issue with Jamie Oliver's ultimate vision for healthy, better school meals, there is a growing difference of opinion about how best to move the service on without threatening it's future.

The poll results of the electronic voting at the LACA conference by its 500-plus delegates were as follows:

Do you believe we have halted the decline in secondary school meal take up?

Yes: 10% No: 68% Maybe: 22%

Please rank these barriers to raising the take-up of school meals, starting with your biggest barrier

Price: 11%

Food on offer: 12%

Environment: 18%

Length of lunch break: 20%

Rebellious attitude: 7%

Teachers: 8%

Parents: 5%

On-site opportunties: 19%