Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has launched an extraordinary attack on the British - portraying them as uncivilised materialists obsessed with a "culture of alcohol".
Jamie Oliver's joke was met with an uncomfortable silence by the 300-strong audience at the Edinburgh Television Festival, among them several Germans Photo: AP
The 33-year-old describes his fellow countrymen's materialistic attraction to widescreen TVs, cars, mobile phones, and - above all else - beer as being symptomatic of "the new poverty" blighting the UK.
Oliver's latest attack follows a joke he made about the Holocaust last week, when dozens of Germans complained that he was insulting them.
This time the cook, who made his name as The Naked Chef in the late 90s, has turned his fire on everything from the paucity of British cooking to binge drinking.
In an interview in the latest edition of Paris Match magazine published in French, Oliver contrasts the country with France, where old fashioned cutoms are still observed.
Oliver even claims that he had found a better range of food in African slums than in his home country, where people were more interested in getting "drunk in pubs" than eating well.
Commenting on the fact that 80 per of the British do not even bother sitting round a table for dinner any more, Oliver says: "It's true in the centre of London and in the big northern cities. 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.
"I found the cooking of the inhabitants of the slum in Soweto in South Africa a lot more diverse than ours. It's true! I'm going to be harsh, but I think a lot of English people's food lacks heart. It's bland." When it was suggested that the English can't savour food because they drink too much, Oliver says: "It's true. Historically we've never produced wine. We have a culture of alcohol and we're more beer orientated: the only people who drink more than us are the Irish and the Scottish."
Asked by French interviewer Mariana Grepinet how British cuisine compared with French cuisine, Oliver says: "In the past British cuisine was similar to Italian cuisine nowadays, without the pasta and risotto. 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.
"It's not a judgement, it's an observation. In terms of grand restaurants, it seems to me that only one country competes with France, and that's Japan."
Significantly Oliver is planning a TV show in France. Asked what his links were with France, he says: "I don't have many. But I would like to shoot a TV programme soon.
"The French-English relationship amuses me. As neighbours, we criticise each other. We mock each other, but behind all this, we appreciate each other and we respect each other.
"I'd like to watch French women and observe them behind their ovens in their kitchens. "I'm sure that the rest of the world would love a series on French cuisine directed by an English chef! It would be crazy!" Oliver was born in Clavering, Essex, and learning to cook in his father's local pub. He is now said to be worth an estimated £25 million.
Despite his views on British culture, Olivier has always set himself up as a people's champion.
In 2005 he launched a school dinners campaign to improve the quality of food fed to pupils.
Last week Oliver told a live audience how his Jamie's Fowl Dinners show, about the treatment of intensively farmed chickens, was shown around the world.
In an apparent reference to the Holocaust, the presenter quipped that only German viewers had complained about the controversial scene in which a group of chicks was gassed in an example of cruel industry practices.
Do you agree with Jamie Oliver?
Read more here: The Telegraph uk
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