I was invited to join in on the fun for Jamie Oliver’s latest live Food Tube show on monday. After the first taxi stood me up I arrived at location fashionably late.
The back alley of the newly launched Fifteen restaurant – which is amazing, give it a try – was dressed up like a street fair with bales of hay, colorful bunting and artwork on the walls by Barnaby Purdy
And if you are wondering, there was no real rehearsal before, it’s just a bunch of people doing what they do best, play with food – or if you’re Camden Brewery – with beer!
online persona – because as Jamie pointed out as well, we all feel we
know each other from our Instagram feeds and so meeting the first time
never feels like a first encounter at all.
I won’t lie, meeting Jamie and having a chat with him was a special moment. I would be playing it cool if I didn’t admit to it. But not because of his fame, but because of the amount of respect I have for him. Like so many others from my generation and beyond I took my first steps in the kitchen with the scribbles and notes I made while watching The Naked Chef.
My
mom wasn’t interested in cooking at all but I had a weird need to cook.
My first creation were rice waffles smeared with Nutella and butter,
layered into a cake. It was a sunday morning in the
spring of my sixt year and had woken up before the crack of dawn to
surprise my mom and dad with this “delicious” treat – they kindly refused to eat it though 🙂 The
kitchen was a mess, the rice waffle cake mysteriously disappeared
during the day and I forgot about cooking until the next time I made the
kitchen explode with burnt baked beans.
The Naked Chef came to our screens I saw a teacher, someone who told
me, relax, have fun and just cook it! So I did and I made some weird
looking food, I never been one to follow a recipe so all I did was use
my hands, feel the ingredients, smell them, taste them and chuck
together what I thought would be fabulous.
When
the plea for better school meals and the first Food Revolution Day
came, so awoke the Food activist me. I made better food choices and
tried to inform the people around me to do so as well.
healthy food choices and animal welfare are subjects close to my heart.
I always hope to inspire people to think about their food choices, even
if I just reach one person I will have made a difference.I’m still pinching myself because Jamie named me as his favourite food blogger in The Sunday Times last month!The live show is gone from the Food Tube Channel on Youtube but there are some other fun bits to watch, especially the chilli challenge I mentioned before.
Don’t miss the next show, it’s great fun to watch, and to be involved in!
Thanks for inviting me!
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| Lookin smokin hot – DJ-BBQ |
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| Red Hot Gennaro |
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| Cooking Puttanesca |
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| The boys having fun |
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| This is what pain looks like – chilli challenge |
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| beautiful food |
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| pulled pork |
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| Camden beer |
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| Behind the scenes |
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Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. 
Oh, lucky you! That must have been fun. Thanks for sharing your impressions with us.
Jamie Oliver will always remind me of my grandmother. She was a big fan of him and his cooking… Just like her, I admire his work and his efforts to promote healthy eating.
Cheers,
Rosa
How great that your grandma was a fan of JO! That's just sweet 🙂
Ah i so would of loved to of been there, looked so much fun when i watched it live…. Also, donal is a huge hero of mine.
Glad you enjoyed the show, I was so nervous and taking pictures I forgot to eat!
What a wonderful article. It sounds grand!
I also have a huge amount of respect for JO for the same reasons you outline. He didn't teach me to cook but I followed his 'breath of fresh air' recipes a lot as a newly wed in Saudi. He gets a lot of flack but I believe he is driven by really good principles. What fun it all looks. Hope to visit Fifteen soon.
You must visit Fifteen, it's really good!
Oh wow, that looks like an awesome event to have gone to and the food looks so delish!
It was a lot of fun and great to see you again. I echo your thoughts about Jamie, he is a great guy and has inspired many people, myself included. Lovely photo of the two of you at the end.
It was a lovely evening, and great seeing you again too. And indeed he is a top guy, and deserves respect.
What a great event, and lovely to hear your story as well as your meeting with Jamie. Great pictures , it looked a lot of fun.
What a lovely post. I love the JO recipes too – an approach that is unintimidating and inspires us all to eat real food. Great pictures of what looked like a super event. Great to chat (briefly) at FBC5 as well
would loved to have been there met Jamie recently what a lovely guy
definitely inspired me with cooking.
looks like an amazing time was had by all
and I bet all the amazing food went quick