JamieOliver.com

jamie's ministry of food

Jamie's Ministry of Food is an ongoing project that began in Rotherham in 2008. Jamie wanted to inspire people to get back in to their kitchens and make simple, delicious food from scratch. The series aired in Autumn 2008 on Channel 4 and saw Jamie teach a small group of recruits ten simple meals that they could pass on to others who, in turn, would also spread the word. The idea was to get the whole town cooking and kick-off a nationwide campaign. Some of the recruits were die-hard fast food fans so the challenge was a tough one. After the success of the local council-funded Ministry of Food in Rotherham, November 2009 saw the opening of the government and council supported Ministry of Food in Bradford. Both food centres offer hands-on lessons in how to cook simple, nutritious and delicious Jamie recipes.

Although there are loads of great things to say about the state of cooking and food in this country, there are also quite a few negatives. We Brits have one of the highest obesity rates in Europe; we love our ready meals and takeaways and seem to be eating more of them then ever. We really seem to have lost the plot a bit when it comes to passing on our cooking skills from generation to generation - so much so, that some of the people I met in my cooking classes while filming the TV show didn't know how to mash a potato.

Pass it on!