Oliver sticks the knife into English 'poverty'

Reuters

'BLAND': Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has blasted his English homeland, saying it is a country full of people only interested in binge drinking and eating 'bland' food.

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Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has blasted his English homeland, saying it is a country full of people only interested in binge drinking and eating "bland" food.

In an interview with a French magazine, Oliver says he could find a tastier range of food in African slums compared to what is served up in England.

He argues the English have become too obsessed with big TVs, mobile phones and fast cars as well as getting drunk in pubs, all of which he says are symptoms of the "new poverty" emerging in Britain.

"I found the cooking of the inhabitants of the slum in Soweto in South Africa a lot more diverse than ours," he told Paris Match magazine.

"It's true! I'm going to be harsh, but I think a lot of English people's food lacks heart. It's bland."

Oliver, who wants to shoot a TV show in France, also noted that 80 per cent of Britons no longer bother to sit down at the dinner table for a meal.

"It's true in the centre of London and in the big northern cities," he said.

"It's linked to the new poverty.

"It's nothing to do with famine or war – quite the opposite. England is one of the richest countries in the world.

"The people I'm telling you about have huge TV sets – a lot bigger than mine! They have state-of-the-art mobile phones, cars, and they go and get drunk in pubs at the weekend – their poverty shows in the way they feed themselves."

When asked to compare British and French cuisine, Oliver said Britons had lost their gastronomic traditions.

"In the past, British cuisine was similar to Italian cuisine nowadays, without the pasta and risotto," he said.

"Steam cooking, grilled meat, herbs, spices – we used to cook fabulous dishes. It's all in the past!

"Unlike French people, and I regret it, we lost our traditions. In gastronomy, the world evolves and changes. And right in front of us, isolated from everything, you have France where nothing changes."

- AAP