People who cook are very special, and Jamie Oliver is one of them for sure, since he’s a famous chef.
How many things do we know about him though? Well, if not so much, then let’s find out more about him!
- His full name is Jamie Trevor Oliver.
- He was born on the 27th of May in 1975 in a village near Essex.
- He is a British chef and restaurateur.
- His parents, Trevor and Sally Oliver ran a pub/restaurant.
- The family pub’s name was The Cricketers.
- The Cricketers was the first place where he practiced cooking in the kitchen with his parents.
- He has one sibling, sister Anne-Marie.
- Jamie Oliver was educated at Newport Free Grammar School.
- He left school at the age of sixteen with two GCSE qualifications in Art and Geology
- He took the bold decision to attend Westminster Technical College now Westminster Kingsway College.
- He then earned a City & Guilds National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in home economics.
- He is known for his approachable cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants.
- Oliver’s first job was a pastry chef at Antonio Carluccio’s Neal Street restaurant, where he first gained experience at preparing Italian cuisine.
- It was there where he developed a relationship with his mentor Gennaro Contaldo.
- Later in his career, Oliver employed Contaldo to help run his collection of high street restaurants, Jamie’s Italian.
- Oliver moved to The River Café, Fulham as a sous-chef.
- He was noticed there by the BBC in 1997, after making an unscripted appearance in a documentary about the restaurant, Christmas at the River Cafe.
- He was noted by Patricia Llewellyn of Optomen.
- So in 1999, the BBC aired his television show The Naked Chef.
- This was followed by a first cookbook, which became a No. 1 UK bestseller.
- His television work included a documentary, Jamie’s Kitchen, which gained him an invitation from Prime Minister Tony Blair to visit 11 Downing Street.
- From June 2000, Oliver became the public face of the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain in the UK.
- He criticized Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King when Oliver slammed the “junk” sold by supermarkets that ends up in the lunchboxes of millions of children.
- In 2005, he opened a campaign, Feed Me Better, to introduce schoolchildren to healthier foods.
- It was later backed by the government.
- He was the owner of a restaurant chain, Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, which opened its first restaurant, Jamie’s Italian, in Oxford in 2008.
- he chain went into administration in May 2019.
- He is also a TED Speaker- and one of the best!
- His TED Talk won him the 2010 TED Prize.
- In August 2013, Oliver and Canadian supermarket chain Sobeys announced a partnership in improving nationwide nutrition and advertising campaigns.
- In October 2013, he began a partnership with the Australian chain Woolworths Supermarkets on a series of better nutrition initiatives and advertising campaigns.
- In January 2016, Oliver and HelloFresh, an international meal kit subscription service, announced a partnership to incorporate his recipes to the weekly subscription deliveries.
- Customers receive one recipe written by Jamie Oliver with all the exact ingredients and steps for the dish.
- HelloFresh also agreed to the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation per Meal Box in addition to supporting other Foundation activities.
- In September 2018, Oliver created a series of recipes and tips for Tesco and participated in the promotion of the company’s food products
- In June 2003, Oliver was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
- In July 2000, Oliver married former model and writer Juliette Norton.
- They have five children.
- Oliver has severe dyslexia, and read his first novel (Catching Fire) in 2013, at the age of 38.
- In 2015, Oliver told The Times magazine that he had lost 2 stone in three months by changing his diet and getting enough sleep.
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