Jamie Oliver Quotes

The public health of five million children should not be left to luck or chance.

Like most of the other teachers, I'd done a bit of teaching and we all think we're great at what we do, but you realize that normally you have an audience who are all onside, who all want to listen.

Imagine a world where children were fed tasty and nutritious, real food at school from the age of 4 to 18. A world where every child was educated about how amazing food is, where it comes from, how it affects the body and how it can save their lives.

Pick a destination, go there, be open-minded and talk to the locals. Eat the things they eat and go where they go. You don't need to be fluent, just as long as you've got a smile on your face- people will be jumping over themselves to show you the stuff they're proud of.

Every kid in every school no matter their background, deserves to learn the basics about food - where it comes from, how to cook it and how it affects their bodies. These life skills are as important as reading and writing, but they've been lost over the past few generations. We need to bring them back and bring up our kids to be streetwise about food.

In England, you're allowed to have an opinion - as long as it comes out of your mouth.

My life is really so much based in England.

I challenge you, to go to any school and open 50 lunchboxes, and I guarantee you there will be one or two cans of Red Bull, there'll be cold McDonald's and jam sandwiches with several cakes.

I love roasting because you can give it love, get it in the oven and go and play with the kids or whatever you've got to do, and then hours later you've got a lovely dinner.

As soon as I was old enough to peer over the worktops, I remember being fascinated by what went on in the kitchen. It just seemed such a cool place, everyone working together to make this lovely stuff and having a laugh doing it.

If you only design menus that are essentially junk or fast food, the whole infrastructure supports junk.

Young people can be disruptive and screw up classes. But even if they are being a pain in the arse it's a cry for help - they don't feel like they are being listened to.

When you are trying to move mountains, you want-and need-people on your side who want to move them with you.

I'm probably a bit romantic about it, but I think we humans miss having contact with fire. We need it.

I think there are definitely two types of student: the academic kids and the 50% who fail. It's very clear to see - it's fact. We're not doing enough for those who fail; they need a more physical, tactile approach, involving people skills, team-building, problem-solving, building things.

What we call barbecuing in this country is actually direct grilling. In many countries, it also means cooking in an enclosed box with a heat source, ideally wood, all year round.

All I ever wanted to do was to make food accessible to everyone; to show that you can make mistakes - I do all the time - but it doesn't matter.

The future is about a plant-based diet.

It's very clear that there's a lot of double standards going on. Should there be a 30mph speed limit? Of course there bloody should. And certainly with kids and school food, kids need to be nannied for sure. So give them a bloody good meal at school.

The best food I've ever eaten in my life has come from the poorest communities.

I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.

I'm better with my hands, and I always loved the slightly romantic idea of starting with bits of wood and being able to create something to sit on, to eat from, to store your clothes in.

Heads know that failing to invest in good, nutritious food is a false economy and parents won't tolerate reconstituted turkey being put back on the menu.

What I've enjoyed most, though, is meeting people who have a real interest in food and sharing ideas with them. Good food is a global thing and I find that there is always something new and amazing to learn - I love it!

I hear loads of cynics saying that I'll never be able to change anything. They say that junk food marketing and the ready availability of fast food is just too powerful. But I'd say in response, screw you. I know that most people, if they're really honest, are fed up with the same old rubbish

If Obama wanted to make radical changes to America's health long-term, all he has to do is treble the price of sugar and salt.

It's not the extremes and the treats that are the problem. It's the everyday.

I want Americans to enjoy food. I want them to celebrate food. I want them to, on occasions, to have big cakes and great things. And I want them to indulge.

But I read Catching Fire. I loved disappearing into a story.

I wouldn't say that processed food, ready meals and even takeaways aren't relevant to modern life, it's just that over the past 40 years there are three generations of people who have come out of school and gone through their home life without ever being shown how to cook properly.

I could cook from quite an early age - purely because I liked it.

Have you ever seen a really good chocolate dish & women? It affects women not like men. It's incredible.

Give your kids a bloody knife and fork and let me put some fresh food in front of them they can eat.

Many kids can tell you about drugs but do not know what celery or courgettes taste like.

When I was a schoolkid, I went to Castleton quite a few times. We'd be there studying rocks, going down these big hills. It was a great place!

God, why do I give interviews to 'the Guardian'? They always try to dissect you, and I don't really think about stuff in the way that you're asking me these questions.

Homicide is 0.8% of deaths. Diet-related disease is over 60%. But no one talks about it.

Real food doesn't have ingredients, real food is
ingredients.

The whole idea is to earn the flavor. No one gives it to you.

I left school with basically nothing, I was a special needs kid. I did feel as though my school had let me down.

My first outdoor cooking memories are full of erratic British summers, Dad swearing at a barbecue that he couldn't put together, and eventually eating charred sausages, feeling brilliant.

The kitchen oven is reliable, but it's made us lazy.

40% of what I've done was a mistake. I now call it R&D.