Family guy

 

He may well have grown up in a pub in Essex, but Jamie Oliver is currently never far from our TV screens or the newspaper headlines. Even his books have all been bestsellers – the latest, Jamie's Great Britain, was one of the most popular Christmas presents of 2011.

If you're a fan of Jamie's recipes, it should come as no surprise to learn that his favourite cuisine is Italian. "I love the unfussiness of it," he says. "The improvisation and way of picking the right ingredients and putting them together sensibly, rather than overworking things to make them look like an architectural design on the plate, is great.

"I have been out for posh nosh and paid good money for it – and it can be nice – but it’s not where my heart is. Instead, I try to think of food more like a mother would than a chef would. That’s what cooking – and eating – should be about; just you with friends and family, cooking nice meals, not banquets or restaurant food."

Jamie is also well known for his famous school dinners campaign. Even now, years on from when the campaign started, the subject still makes Jamie's blood boil.

"There’s so much rubbish in what we eat these days and it makes me really angry, especially now I’ve had children," says Jamie, who is married to Jools and father to their four children Poppy Honey, 9, Daisy Boo, 8, Petal Blossom, 2, and Buddy Bear, 1.

"You try and feed your kids what’s good and what you want them to eat, but they just spit it out because they want snacks, like mini-burgers, that are just two bits of stale bread, processed meat and cheese that doesn’t even have any cheese in it."

Doting father

Becoming a dad naturally played a huge part in Jamie's crusade against the junk food industry. “Now I’ve had children I worry about all sorts of things, like what I feed them," explains Jamie.

“It’s really tough. I don’t want to become a preacher, or an ambassador about food but that’s what happens when you become a parent and you’re also in the spotlight, like me, because of what you do,” he sighs.

“But everything changes when you’re a parent."

Being in the public eye means long working hours, often away from home, but Jamie realises the importance of spending time with Jools and the kids. "The way it works is I’m allowed to work my arse off during the week, as long as I give my wife and kids the weekends. So, I do," he says.

"My wife deserves a medal for putting up with me. I love her to bits and couldn’t have achieved half of what I have without her. There’s that saying,  behind every good man is a good woman, and it’s true."

So does Jamie see himself working as hard as he is now in the future? “To be honest I just see myself as being happily married, with lots of kids, doing some nice food in a small place," he says. "

"And who knows? Maybe I’ll be making loads more babies too!”