Jamie Oliver

Speaker 30:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in two thousand and one, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:31

My castaway this Christmas is a chef. Still only twenty-six, but already four years into a highly successful television career, he's made the kitchen a trendy place to be. His image is laddish, but his mission is serious. He's passionate about food, and it's his passion, just as much as his winning T V manner, that's brought him fame. He's won cooking awards, of course, and a BAFTA Award, the W. H. Smith Book Award, and the Most Stylish T V Mail Award, too. But food comes first. Of his admiring fans, he asks, How can I make their lives taste a bit better? He is the naked chef, Jamie Oliver. It does seem to be a kind of crusade you have, Jamie, to enthuse people about food as much as it enthuses you.

Jamie Oliver1:14

Yeah, I think so. I mean, there was one stage when I thought about four years ago when I was being asked to do telly, let's try and make something of this slightly more selfish, let's get out of being skin but um very, very soon after it started it was much more back to how I used to feel when I was a kid and and even though I was like thirteen or fourteen, I'd be responsible for training up the the fresh comic chefs in from college or twenty one, twenty two year olds.

Presenter1:38

This is in your dad's pub.

Jamie Oliver1:39

Yeah, in Dad's Pub. And twenty one, twenty two year olds look quite swarthy and kind of grown up when you're sort of thirteen. And I had to teach them in a way that I wouldn't get my head kicked in and and upset them. So I ha developed this way of enthusing and being quite bossy on a passion stake, you know.

Presenter1:55

But but why is food so important to you? What is it? Can you describe why it excites you?

Jamie Oliver1:59

Food's about as important to me as my music is, or having a best friend. I think your mouth and your nose are really underrated senses, and I just think eating good food is really important to me. And quite frankly, I think, God, when's lunch? I can't wait. What should I have? Alright, I'm going to go and get a sandwich. Or make sure it's a crusty bap and I'll have some nice cheddar cheese and some nice bread. You know, it can be as simple as a cheese sandwich.

Presenter2:23

But that's been the trick, hasn't it? That you've taken the fear out of it, if you like. You've said to people, you don't have to make a fuss, but but whatever it is you put on the table, and it is a very social activity, it's got to be good, it's got to be tasty, but you can stick the knives and forks in a jar in the middle.

Jamie Oliver2:36

I always thought, one, I wasn't experienced enough and qualified enough, and quite frankly, old enough and kind of wrinkled enough to sort of say, you know, Michelin style food and da da da'cause I didn't want to scare people and cooking is very scary. Straight away the whites came off, you know, me at home. I thought that was a really valid thing. Me at home with real friends and family on real occasions, going shopping from the people that I've got had seven-year relationships, and the whole way that they give me a couple of extra sausages, and the next time I go back and I might even buy them'cause they were so good, you know, that whole relationship thing.

Presenter3:08

Sure. I'm sure that's absolutely right. But you do make it look very easy as you kind of rip the mozzarella and kind of squeeze the lemon about and spray it everywhere. But it is not that careless, is it? Because you really know what you're doing. That's the point. It it's the great problem that I think some people think oh, all I got to do is get in the kitchen and kind of throw a few things about

Jamie Oliver3:12

The Mots are rare later on.

Jamie Oliver3:18

Because you really know what you're doing.

Jamie Oliver3:22

Yeah.

Jamie Oliver3:25

I think that there's ways of looking at it. I mean, a lot of people will actually say, sort of, think I slap things together. Methodically, if you actually look at the stages of how I do it, say like just ripping up mozzarella, it's much nicer to rip it than to cut it. I think it actually tastes better from ripping it.

Presenter3:34

Doing

Presenter3:40

It gives it that texture, doesn't it?

Jamie Oliver3:41

Yeah, texture, you know, maybe more surface area to put some dressing over. It just looks more sumptuous. So I choose recipes which are kind of around that sort of Italian Spanish Mediterranean vibe that allow me to pick something that is start to finish very simple and damn tasty.

Presenter3:56

Damn.

Presenter3:57

But the truth is that a lot of thought has gone into it and a lot of passion.

Jamie Oliver4:01

Absolutely, absolutely. And I just really want people to cook it, you see, and I and I and I think I normally do that eight out of ten times, you know.

Presenter4:08

Tell me about your first record for this is a time.

Jamie Oliver4:10

First record is a guy called Ian Brown and it's a single called F E A R. He was the lead singer of the Stone Roses, never really made much money. Seven, eight years later, he's come back, he's got a wife and kids now, a bit more responsible. And I just really wanted this album to be fantastic and it was.

Speaker 44:27

For each and all For every man I really

Speaker 44:35

Find everybody and leave it

Speaker 44:41

Everything I want, boy I love

Speaker 44:47

Forget everything, remember

Speaker 44:50

Every better

Presenter4:54

Iain Brown and F. E. A. R. So you're a really traditional Christmas man, Jamie.

Jamie Oliver4:59

I am. I love me Christmas.

Jamie Oliver5:01

I think it was growing up in the pub because it was like proper business, we lived above the business. Dad, from about the age of about seven, like said right, I've had enough even it was even though it was a good time to earn some money, you know, he's like, This is like three days' clothes for the kids. Look, the pub became quite a magical place at Christmas because we had the whole thing just for us.

Presenter5:18

But always a turkey.

Jamie Oliver5:20

All the way to Turkey.

Presenter5:21

So all these recipes you've written about the alternative Christmas

Jamie Oliver5:22

Uh

Jamie Oliver5:23

Christian.

Jamie Oliver5:25

I've got to the point now where I'm just going, listen, it's a really stressful time of year. Why don't you just stick to what you know best, not make any mistakes, just do it properly. And I'm a turkey boy.

Presenter5:34

How big should the turkey be, do you think?

Jamie Oliver5:36

My mother used to do like massive great six kilo bird, basically fills up an oven.

Presenter5:41

Sort of fifteen pounder or something.

Jamie Oliver5:41

Um

Jamie Oliver5:43

Yeah, I mean that's a big old boy. It's like a portable telly. I mean it's massive. And just the kind of physics of cooking that that piece of meat doesn't actually work all way up. I mean

Presenter5:45

Yeah.

Presenter5:52

Well, you've got to get up at dawn and put the put the oven on.

Jamie Oliver5:54

It's it's more time consuming and by the time the inside's cooked the outside is ruined. So I would stick to getting like what would you call a big chicken two and a half three kilo turkey.

Presenter6:03

But it may not be enough to feed the family.

Jamie Oliver6:04

Defend the family.

Presenter6:06

Ah.

Jamie Oliver6:06

So I get two or three of them instead of getting one huge one.

Jamie Oliver6:09

And you'll find that that will cook much more easily and it'll give you beautiful, tender, juicy meat. And the other thing you can do is is just take the legs off and get them in forty minutes before you put the breast in. Again, because that's the only working part of the turkey really. It should be soft, juicy breast meat and sort of really sticky, tender, fall off the bone sort of

Presenter6:27

Not very good for presentation, for taking your legs off.

Jamie Oliver6:28

Not very good.

Jamie Oliver6:30

But it's quite good for carving because it's kind of a bit easier.

Presenter6:32

Pudding, are you a Christmas pudding or are you into retro trifon?

Jamie Oliver6:33

I think

Jamie Oliver6:35

Yes, retro trifle.

Presenter6:36

Yeah.

Jamie Oliver6:37

Mark we have um Christmas pudding, which I never have'cause it just it's after the full Montney turkey, it's too much for me. And my mum does retro trifle, which she does over two days. Many layers of like jelly, blanmange, custard, sponge.

Presenter6:42

Too heavy.

Presenter6:50

But real custards, you've made it.

Jamie Oliver6:51

No, no, no, this is tacky, tacky city, but done beautifully. So she puts some like pre-bought sponge, right? Dreadful stuff. Some good uh sh um bristle cream over it. And then listen to this one,'cause all the fruit's rubbish at the moment. Tinned mandarins. Dreadful, right? Drain it, scatter that in top.

Presenter7:08

Don't put any Carnation milk in the middle.

Jamie Oliver7:09

Oh no, no, no. Then you've got, we're coming to that. Then you have some strawberry jelly on top of that, and then you start going your blancanges, two or three of them, pink, yellow, whatever you want to do flavour-wise. And then you do your custard, again, pack it. And then some chantelli cream, which is vanilla sweetened cream, beaten, and some grated chocolate. Now I know it's tacky, and I know I'm a chef, but I think it's important that I admit that I'm tacky, and it's a beautiful thing, and that's what makes it work.

Presenter7:12

Yeah.

Presenter7:34

And as a young husband with a pregnant wife, you'll be doing all this cooking this Christmas week.

Jamie Oliver7:37

Um I'll be no, my mother will be doing most of it, but I do give her a hand. It's my day off.

Presenter7:42

Tell me about record number two.

Jamie Oliver7:43

Record number two is Roachford.

Jamie Oliver7:46

And it's a song called Only to Be With You and as far as getting soppy and lovey dovey, this was mine and Jules's song probably about eight years ago when we first started going out. It's probably I I loved the tune then and obviously I played it in the car when I was taking it to Cambridge for a drink and when we would be in the bars it would be playing'cause it was like number one at the time and stuff like that. So uh nice feelings, bit soppy, but uh yeah it's good tune.

Speaker 48:09

Ready?

Speaker 48:13

It's the way I'm doing

Speaker 48:15

I am just a freaky young

Speaker 48:19

Oh yeah, I say you.

Speaker 48:23

I will be with you.

Speaker 48:30

Girl, how much?

Presenter8:37

Roachfed singing only to be with you. Your success is phenomenal, Jamie. Only surpassed by Harry Potter, really, I think, in the last four years. Has it been a natural evolution? I mean, it has in that you've insisted, as you said, on things being all to do with you. You haven't tried to be created in any way. But I mean, I wonder if it's been bumpy along the way. Has it brought you some bumpy?

Jamie Oliver8:53

Try to be

Jamie Oliver8:59

I look at my life and it's all been happy and the last four years have been amazing, but you know, I've probably spent less time with my wife and my family and my friends and all the people that truly matter. But I daren't complain because everyone is saying, well you complain about it.

Presenter9:14

No, no, I'm not asking you to complain, but I'm just you cannot be, I suppose is what I'm saying, as happy-go-lucky as you have to appear. And I I just wondered if what's made you unhappy.

Jamie Oliver9:19

Yeah.

Jamie Oliver9:22

I've had to no, I'm what's made me unhappy um learning the do's and don'ts of the press, which I'm still learning. I've learnt many mistakes, but

Jamie Oliver9:31

It's been bumpy in the fact that it it's been relentless. You know, of the last two years I've worked seven days a week, minimum sixteen hours a day. All right, so you know, the catering industry was already l like that, so I was pretty honed for it and I grew up around that. But I mean, I've had to kind of get in contact with a lot of emotions and and talents that I never knew I had. Like what?

Presenter9:50

I quote.

Jamie Oliver9:51

Dealing with people. I was always quite good at dealing with people because I grew up in a pub and and you know um my my playground, my house was my pub. So you had OAPs on their Guinness and their Sherry. So business boys straight from the city, you know, cigars and like loads of money, you know. And and I would sit down and talk to all of those characters.

Presenter10:08

And now, of course, you walk on stage and do that because you're doing live audiences, you are cooking.

Jamie Oliver10:10

Yeah, I mean

Jamie Oliver10:12

Do you say that?

Presenter10:14

Seems to me a very dangerous thing to take on, you know, walking into kind of the Apollo Hammersmith or great venues across the world.

Jamie Oliver10:17

Yeah.

Presenter10:21

Exactly.

Jamie Oliver10:22

Yeah, it was hard and to control that and those people, because I interacted with a lot of people and they came up on stage. You never had children.

Presenter10:27

When I came up on

Presenter10:28

She even had children on stage, which is, you know, one of the great don'ts of show people.

Jamie Oliver10:29

Nonsense.

Jamie Oliver10:32

Yeah, children children yeah, and cooking as well, and get kids in the kitchen.

Presenter10:32

Children, children, yeah, and

Presenter10:34

So don't get kids in the kitchen. But are you nervous on those occasions? What does it take?

Jamie Oliver10:38

Vanishes.

Jamie Oliver10:39

I found out now that I'm never nervous if I know what I'm doing. So I was nervous for the first couple of shows because I wasn't really sure. I hadn't got it down to what was coming on next. And there was effects, there was VTs, there were set moves and stuff like that, lighting. And I had to be aware of all of that and be able to feel I had the license to tell him to turn the lights down or turn the music off or do you know what I mean? Just sort of kind of be boss really. That was pretty tough, but great fun. And I actually found out that that medium of stage and cooking can work, it does work, it has worked, and everyone that said it wouldn't work and you wouldn't sell out 3,500 tickets was wrong, which is great. But for me, just getting the public, the public are so fantastic, you know, and they're so funny.

Presenter10:47

Uh

Presenter10:59

Tenami

Presenter11:01

So if

Presenter11:05

An anna

Presenter11:21

You should go and talk to Bruce Forsyth.

Jamie Oliver11:23

Who's told you?

Presenter11:25

Record number three.

Jamie Oliver11:25

The next record is my earliest memory of music. It's not necessarily my best tune, but it was I was about eight years old. I was at primary school and we were on a kind of youth hostel trip sailing and stuff like that in Bradwell in Essex. There's a little youth hostel down there and we were really excited by the fact we had a games room with a snooker table and a jukebox. And this tune was on there all the time and I just see the whole room and the people and remember the whole feeling of being like pathetically young at eight years old. So it's Tears for Fears, Everyone Wants to Rule the World.

Speaker 412:03

That's why the walls come tolerate down. When they do I'll be right behind you. So glad we've almost made it. So sad they had to bet it. Everybody

Presenter12:26

Tears for fears and everybody wants to rule the world. So, Jamie Oliver, you began as the the sousist of sous chefs, really. Well, the comie chef. What's the

Jamie Oliver12:34

Um the lowest in the kitchen is a commie chef.

Presenter12:37

Yeah. But you were a pot washer.

Jamie Oliver12:37

But you were a pot washer. No, I was much later than that. Old gold basically I first started I I grew up in a in a pub from one so

Presenter12:45

This is in the village in SS.

Jamie Oliver12:46

In a kind of out in the middle of nowhere village in Essex called Clavering. There was nothing potentially great about putting a restaurant there, but dad had a feeling, and he's always quite good at that sort of thing.

Presenter12:55

But it was a proper. It wasn't kind of jack-you're potato in the micro, was it? Oh, God, no.

Jamie Oliver12:58

Oh god no, he was a chef. He worked in France and he was, you know, he was quite accomplished actually for he's a classic kind of demiglass and bechamel boy, French style. Unlike his son. Yes, slightly unlike his son. And he was kind of like 27 years ago, one of these sort of and I do respect him much more now than I did then, as a kind of food guru that wanted to put good food in a pub. And 27 years ago it was not heard of. And he then employed a chef that he paid more than he did himself and my mum just to get it going. He was a really posh chef from London.

Presenter13:08

Unlike his son.

Presenter13:30

Is that right?

Presenter13:33

So you as a little boy saw all this going on around the world.

Jamie Oliver13:34

I was eight and there would be seven chefs in, there'll be a pastry chef. I grew up around that and then I suppose when kids started getting materialistic, it's about sort of eight and they want to buy f Star Wars figures and and my old man is and still is completely not materialistic. And he's like, if you want pocket money, boy, you can earn it. So I was on something like one twenty five an hour.

Speaker 413:54

And what did you do for it?

Jamie Oliver13:54

What did you do for that? My first job, which was a beautiful job, in the summer the people would be outside a lot and they would throw their dog ends on the floor. So I was the chief dog end picker-upper. And then my next job, I think dad was trying to shock me into the business, was you know the big commercial bins you get? Well, after about a month of like having stuff in there and getting it chucked in the back of the lorry, there like a big layer of horrible hard sludge would be about half a foot deep in the bottom. Gunge, yeah, you name it, and maggots the lot. He wanted something to clean it out, so I was small, agile, and I'd do anything for a couple of quid. You know what I mean? So he had me digging it out, and I had to shovel it out and then like rinse it down and scrub it all so they all smell like roses, you know. Then I got fed up with that after a while. So yeah, well it was disgusting. I just had stunk for the day then, didn't I? And um

Speaker 414:19

Gun gun.

Speaker 414:36

Uh

Presenter14:36

Really?

Presenter14:40

Yeah.

Jamie Oliver14:42

Dad was so proud of me doing that. That's my boy.

Presenter14:44

When did you get to do the cooking?

Jamie Oliver14:46

Well, then I went to the wash up and then you kind of get into more vegetable prep and stuff like that as well.

Presenter14:50

So you're into the Julian strips, chop, chop, chop.

Jamie Oliver14:52

No, more more basic preparation, washing herbs, peeling uh all the veg you can imagine, pulling all the uh the the the widgets and grommets and and giblets out of um ducks. So it was quite good little training actually. And by the time I was about ten, I got fed up and I wanted to work with the men telling the dirty jokes and and and having a laugh and pulling the waitresses and I thought, Well, this looks good, you know what I mean? So I kind of got in there.

Presenter15:14

But when was the first time you cooked something and somebody ate it and said mm?

Jamie Oliver15:19

About ten, and Dad taught me how to make the perfect omelette and how to make bread. And we made bread, and I just could not get over the doubling in size bit. I thought, you know, I came back to it, and I woke, but Dad, what's making it do that? It's alive. And he goes, Well, it is alive, son, it's yeast, blah, blah, blah. Sugar, air, and all that sort of thing. He would shape it, he would colour it, and really make it his own. He would take a bit of dough, which is now what I love about cooking, whether it's pasta or bread or crumbles or anything, you know. Take a recipe and you make it your own.

Presenter15:49

Record number four.

Jamie Oliver15:51

Record number four is is kind of a classic band. We thought they were going to be the next Beatles, didn't quite deliver, but they were great. They're a band called The Lars and it's a song called There She Goes.

Speaker 416:08

Where's she going?

Speaker 416:11

Cool my face, goes one day.

Speaker 416:15

No skirt no more

Speaker 416:19

But I just can't detain it.

Speaker 416:23

Please

Presenter16:31

The laws, and there she goes. So you went to Westminster Catering College, Jamie, and you went to France and you learned to cook

Jamie Oliver16:35

Yeah.

Presenter16:38

Bread and pasta and all this hands-on. You've said somewhere you'd really like to have been a carpenter if you hadn't.

Jamie Oliver16:42

Yeah, I would have loved to I mean, I think, you know, working I'd love to be a carpenter. Just touching, feeling, being able to create something, you know, working with wood is like working with bread or pasta. It's a kind of living, moving thing that you have to kind of it's great. And

Presenter16:44

I think, you know, worse

Jamie Oliver16:56

I didn't have a great start at school. I mean, I wasn't a horrible kid, and I'd like to think that a lot of my teachers thought I was all right, a nice kid, you know. But I couldn't I don't now now I'm doing more academic stuff at a higher level because it's my business and I have to. I've found out I can do it, but I'm slightly dyslexic and I was frustrated with school. I couldn't touch and feel and smell enough things, you know, and actually the things I got an ANSC in was art and geology and they were the only things when I actually touched something and made it or created something or went out on a field trip and got you know soil samples and faults and all those sorts of things. College was good for me because it actually finally said you're not thick and I got all distinctions and honours because I was interested. And I was doing science and growing bacteria and doing all sorts of really interesting things to a much higher level than school, but because it was adapted to food.

Speaker 417:35

Hmm.

Presenter17:35

Uh

Presenter17:44

Because it had an application. Yeah, yeah.

Jamie Oliver17:45

Yeah, I could see, God, I can see the point of this. And it's not just black and white on a page. I can, you know, cook it and smell it and.

Presenter17:48

Dana

Presenter17:51

You talk about going on field trips. Um I I gather that you learned a lot about truffles and mushrooms when you were working at uh Carluccio's restaurant, Italian restaurant in the centre of London. We do have them here, do we?

Jamie Oliver17:58

Yeah.

Jamie Oliver18:00

The central London

Jamie Oliver18:03

Yeah, absolutely. Well, there's um when I was at college, on the last day they said, Where do you want to be in a year?

Presenter18:03

Yeah.

Jamie Oliver18:09

They went round the kitchen and said Le Memoir, Le Ritz, this and the other and I just said, I just want to learn how to make great pasta and they all laughed at me and my Italian mate felt sorry for me and said, Go and work for this chap called um Gennaro Contaldo. I went and worked for him and he's a great bread and pasta man, but he's the top, top mushroom boy.

Presenter18:27

And truffles.

Jamie Oliver18:28

So what happened, right, is this bird phone up and said, I found this funny little black thing, it looks like a truffle. So I was like, Oh, my darling, I'll come down, I'll see you So I went down there, found one, and he can sniff him out. He's like a blimmin' dog himself, he's got a big hooter and he's like

Speaker 418:39

Uh

Jamie Oliver18:42

And like he dug up her whole garden.

Jamie Oliver18:46

And um never heard from her ever again. I think she had it. There were holes all over her garden, the poor lady. But she got thirteen hundred quids worth of truffles.

Presenter18:53

And then on to the River Cafe, just to sort of get you through your your your kind of m professional training, as it were.

Presenter19:00

Was it purely by chance that you were spotted there? You were on seen on this television documentary. I I think you weren't even supposed to be in the kitchen that day or something.

Jamie Oliver19:08

No, it's funny because they were filming over a couple of weeks and I think the bit that did it was a night when I wasn't supposed to be working and because I'd grown up in the business I know how frustrating and stressful it is to run a big service and you're one down. And they were filming that night and it was a good time of year when there was quick cooking, beautiful mushrooms. I was doing the hardest section really was Hots One which was like risotto's pasta. Very fast, quick cooking, busy, busy. I had lots of food on there, four dishes I had on that section. And basically they were in the way and I was quite arrogant to them and I was passionate about the food but I'll kind of push the camera out in the way and say look sorry mate you know I've kind of and I'll be really doing service and the next day there were loads of phone calls but um

Presenter19:09

Serendipotent.

Presenter19:46

The Naked Chef was discovered. Tell me about record number five.

Jamie Oliver19:48

Tell me about

Jamie Oliver19:50

Record number five, it was quite a revelation for me actually because I was in a band from the age of 11 and it was pretty special to me. The band, best friends, second family, honing your instrument and writing songs together was a beautiful thing. And at the time there was a fantastic band called The Happy Mondays and they had a lead singer that couldn't sing, but actually he sounded quite good within the music and it was kind of inspirational to us because it actually meant you don't have to be an opera singer to be able to sing a good tune. So this is a Happy Mondays Kinky Afro.

Speaker 420:17

Oh, it's mine, you might as well have it You take ten feet back and then style it Spray it on and tack it

Speaker 420:29

So psycho meeting, I can't stand in need

Speaker 420:34

Get around here and you ask who you feel Yippee Yippee I had to crucify somebody to

Jamie Oliver20:39

Yeah.

Presenter20:44

Happy Mondays and kinky afro. Olive oil has to be something you couldn't do without on a desert island, I have a thought, Jamie. But you're very particular about what kind of olive oil, aren't you? Tell me.

Jamie Oliver20:50

Yeah, and I just thought it was a little bit more.

Jamie Oliver20:56

Yeah, no, I think um the the first time I really thought about food integrity, and I know it's quite a boring word was when I worked at the River Cafe and uh Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, who are unbelievable women actually. I still haven't quite got my head round them.

Presenter21:10

We should explain this is a restaurant, not a cafe.

Jamie Oliver21:12

It's called the River Cafe, yeah, really parsh Italian restaurant, um kind of like kind of California meets Florence really. But they cook the most amazing food, and they were so strict on their ingredients. You know, I think in men there's a lot of get on with it, sort it out and get it, you know. But these ladies would um source everything. And every single ingredient from a crayfish to a scallop to an olive oil to an almond would have to be compared to all its counterparts in quality, price, depth of flavour and freshness and stuff like that. Olive oil, for instance, I go every November to Italy. I'll go and buy about twenty thousand bottles of olive oil for the restaurant which we get through.

Presenter21:48

But you can taste the difference in them.

Jamie Oliver21:49

My god, it sounds amazing. Yeah, I mean like you go to Tuscany where you pick early, so you get low yield of oil, but f in in exchange for that you get a really robust, peppery grassiness that only tastes like Tuscan food, which basically by me buying that, I can cook very, very authentic Tuscan food. And that's great for sort of papa dellis with like, you know, sort of like a hair or a kind of rabbit sauce or big robust ribollita or minestrone, you know, just a little bit of that right at the end and Tuscany.

Presenter22:18

But what about I mean presumably you would never really cook a a um a factory farm chicken or or um

Jamie Oliver22:20

You would

Jamie Oliver22:25

No, I mean I I'm a bit of an organic and free-range boy and

Presenter22:27

Do you think it tastes better or gets it?

Jamie Oliver22:29

Definitely. I mean, I still think you can make bad organic produce. I just think that, you know, going back to the integrity thing, I think meat and vegetables, organically done well, fantastic. They will be a lot more tasty and better for you, more importantly. I mean, I I feel quite contradicting. I mean a bit of a hypocrite talking like this, but I mean, there are two Jamie Olivers, me and The Naked Chef. I touch on the subjects very lightly and not politically at all. And I'll say, you know, all right, in the week you probably won't want to buy an organic chicken, but if this is a special occasion or if your mother-in-law's coming round, get yourself a nice organic bird and do this, that and the other. You know, the Naked Chef books and programme are highly tuned for the punter.

Presenter22:43

More important

Jamie Oliver23:06

not to scare'em and not for me to sound preachy. But deep down I'm quite deep about it and quite political about it and and I'm trying to push things along. I mean like y when I talk about ingredients, this if you're a Barry boy from Essex, this is your straight through exhaust pipe and your and and your and your nice tires and your stereo, do you know what I mean, in your car? So I mean I do get quite excited about it.

Presenter23:23

The

Presenter23:26

Echo number six.

Jamie Oliver23:27

Next record is by a band who said they were the best rock band in the world. That is certainly debatable with people like the Beatles and stuff like that along. But I think of their time and of their era, I think Oasis is a fantastic band and they've had a bit of bad press on the last couple of albums. But quite frankly, I listened to seven of their best tunes the other day and I couldn't believe it. I thought, what a genius band. And this is a tune that's probably slightly underrated, but one of my favourites called Live Forever.

Speaker 424:05

Maybe I will never be All the things you I wanna be Now is not the time to cry Now's the time to find out why I think you're the same as me These are things I'll never see You and I don't know

Presenter24:23

Oasis and live forever. So no more naked chef television cookery programme.

Jamie Oliver24:28

No, Nike Jeff has gone to bed now.

Presenter24:30

Oh dear. Naked chef has put his clothes on. Yes.

Jamie Oliver24:32

Yes, put his clothes on and gone to bed.

Presenter24:33

You're a consultant chef at a restaurant in Knightsbridge where your mate is is the chef, Ben is the chef. When are you going to open your own restaurant?

Jamie Oliver24:38

When you

Jamie Oliver24:40

Next year actually. It's not going to be my own personal restaurant, but it's going to be where I'm based five days a week.

Presenter24:41

Yeah.

Jamie Oliver24:47

It's a bit of an odd one actually. It wasn't so much about giving a little bit back because that's too deep and soppy, but I've always worked with kids very well and I've done a lot more of it this year. And having been a kid when I learnt probably 50% of my technical knowledge, they are amazing and they're very adaptable. Basically we're doing a programme which is a lot more sort of documentary and sort of still, you know, six recipes a programme, but it's half documentary, half programme, and it's for an hour a programme. And it's basically about setting up this restaurant with these 16 kids that have come from slightly dodgy backgrounds. It's not about looking at that or violins or anything. It's much more about, right kids, this is where we are now. This is where we look forward.

Presenter25:27

But they're untrained, but they're like you, they just like food.

Jamie Oliver25:28

Like you

Jamie Oliver25:29

Yeah, do they cook? That's it. If they can't chop, I don't care. And it's basically about these sixteen kids, not about me, chaining them up, getting up to a standard and and seeing what we can do in a year.

Presenter25:32

Hmm.

Presenter25:41

I'm running a restaurant. They're going to cook in a restaurant.

Jamie Oliver25:42

They're going to cook in the restaurant and they're going to run the restaurant with me.

Presenter25:45

Have you chosen them already, these kids?

Jamie Oliver25:46

No, we start in January. It's about choosing some characters with just inspiration, a little twinkle in the eye.

Presenter25:52

So but so that's all having that's the next project. But ultimately, ultimately, you must open your own restaurant, mustn't you? I mean that's what all of us do. I mean will you go chasing the Michelin stars like everybody does?

Jamie Oliver25:59

Oh god, yeah.

Jamie Oliver26:03

Oh, I'll get a Michelin style. I probably won't get more than one because it's not my style. I'm not that bothered about'em. I might be controversial and be the first person to give'em back and say no, thanks, mate, but God bless you. Uh, I respect them highly, but um I I've never been one for bells and whistles and and things on your breast, you know, sort of like uh boasting what you've done and where you've been.

Presenter26:20

And do you think you've got you know, can you last through all this stardom thing?'Cause it's a it's a as you've been implying, really it's a bitchy old world, isn't it? Personality cheffery especially. I mean, the more you get into them

Jamie Oliver26:29

Actually, I mean

Jamie Oliver26:31

Well, I feel I've got a lot to give. I feel I lot I've got a lot to give and and I think I probably want to do it seriously, what I do, for the next three years. And then I'd like to think that I can fi you know, I think that there'll be more people coming through the ranks.

Presenter26:44

So what do you do after three is open a nice little pub in Essex?

Jamie Oliver26:46

Yeah, absolutely. I'd like to go to Cambridge and do something, which is my home city, which has got basically not much. They they need a bit of sorting out there. I don't think people truly understand in this country what a restaurant can do to an area. When they're developing all their little cafes in the market square, which is beautiful but is lacking. I could do wonders with that in a year. You know, really create a vibe, a buzz, a place to wanna go. And and restaurants are really important like that.

Presenter26:47

Yeah.

Presenter27:12

Record number seven.

Jamie Oliver27:13

Record number seven, it's a tune that I've just always loved. It's sort of one of those chill-out tunes. It's called Unfinished Sympathy and it's by Massive Attack.

Speaker 427:34

I see without a night

Speaker 427:37

You're the point that I can't open

Speaker 427:42

And now I've got to know

Presenter27:48

Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack. Okay, Jamie, you're on this desert island. You're fading fast. Nobody's coming to rescue you. You're probably looking at your last day on the planet. What one dish would you want to eat before you go?

Jamie Oliver28:03

I would have to say what probably every other chef in the whole world would say, which is dead,'cause we're all mummies' boys really. And I I'd probably just want my mum's full Monty roast chicken with all the veggies out in the garden. That would do me proud.

Presenter28:16

And your pudding?

Jamie Oliver28:17

It custard.

Presenter28:18

Egg custard.

Jamie Oliver28:19

I'm a real custard lover, I tell you. I could just have a bowl of custard, I'd be so happy. I think, what's my f I'd have to have a retro Christmas trifle.

Presenter28:26

Of course.

Jamie Oliver28:26

'Cause I can I can finish a whole bowl of that.

Presenter28:28

And here's a tough one, then. If it weren't your mum cooking it, and you weren't allowed to cook, what one chef would you want to have?

Jamie Oliver28:35

Cogni Bennett.

Presenter28:35

Only runner ten

Jamie Oliver28:36

I'd probably be in an emotional mood, so I'd want comfort food. So I think I'll probably go to Gennaro, my my mentor and my sort of main man. He cooks Italian food like when your mum cooks a great meal. It's that kind of comforting, sort of homely it's not flashy and and over exhilarating, it's quite hearty and sort of you know what you're expecting. I think there's a lot of people underestimate predictable food. Do you know what I mean? It's alright being unpredictable and surprising people, but good, consistent, predictable food is quite nice. And I think I'll get Gennaro to do that.

Presenter29:08

Last record.

Jamie Oliver29:09

Right, the last record is by a good old um I think they're an Oxford band, Radio Head, who I loved from day one. And yes, it's a nice little ballad called High and Dry. It makes me feel good, and this song was playing when things started kicking off a little bit more for me in the restaurant trade.

Speaker 429:27

Don't believe me.

Speaker 429:32

Don't leave me drunk

Speaker 429:36

Don't leave me high.

Speaker 429:41

Don't leave me dry.

Presenter29:56

Radio Head and High and Dry. So if you could only take one of those eight records with you on this desert island, Jamie, which one would you take?

Jamie Oliver30:03

I'd go for Rochford because it'll remind me of my lovely wife.

Presenter30:07

Roachford singing only to be

Jamie Oliver30:07

Yeah, because, you know, that's probably the most important memory o out of the lot, really.

Presenter30:13

Okay. What about your book?

Jamie Oliver30:15

I don't actually read books, which makes me sound pig ignorant, but I fall asleep.

Jamie Oliver30:21

So it'd have to be a picture book.

Jamie Oliver30:24

Yeah.

Jamie Oliver30:25

And I'll write them, yeah, but that's that's recipes, that's a different thing. I think I'll just have a notepad and a pencil, because before I kick the bucket on the island I'm pretty good at fishing and uh I think I'll probably get some interesting fish going, citrus fruit and stuff like that, and uh maybe I'll get five or six good recipes out of the old boy before I kick the bucket and I'll just I'll bury it in a chest so some old boy can dig it up and think he g got a bit of gold bullion and um he'll come up with five genius recipes.

Presenter30:50

And you are luxury.

Jamie Oliver30:51

I thought it was I needed to to do a bit of um I'm quite practical, I'd want to make my last days quite comfortable, beds, stuff like that, uh fishing, filleting, gutting, stuff like that. So I just requested um top of the range leather man, if that's all right. Do you know what a leather man is? Oh, it's one of those it's like a Swiss Army knife, but it kind of a bit more uh substantial, you know, and you've got like pliers, uh clippers, um nail clippers, knives, saws, everything.

Presenter31:05

That was one of those

Presenter31:16

Bit practical, and I shouldn't be able to do it. No, I wasn't. I was wondering whether to allow it actually, because it's practical, but it sounds really nice. And well, you're not going to escape with it, are you? Just going to do things.

Jamie Oliver31:17

You were wondering what I was talking about then? No, I wasn't. I was wondering.

Jamie Oliver31:23

But it's not a good thing.

Jamie Oliver31:26

Um well I probably would escape with it so maybe you shouldn't let me

Presenter31:28

Oh yeah, yeah.

Presenter31:30

It's Christmas. Jamie Oliver, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your destiny. Thank you for having me. And happy Christmas.

Jamie Oliver31:34

Thank you for having me.

Jamie Oliver31:35

Happy Christmas to you.

Speaker 331:44

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk/slash radio four.