JAMIE'S GREAT BRITAIN

by Jamie Oliver

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New hardcover book, 408 pages. Published 2011. Superb colour photos of food, people and places throughout.

Over 130 reasons to love British food

This book is really special to me. It has been a long time coming, but sometimes it takes a few decades of looking at other countries to realise how wonderful your own really is. I grew up in one of the first true British 'gastropubs', which my Mum and Dad still run today. For me, the heart and soul of real British cooking is food that makes you happy and puts a smile on your face. And that's what I want to share with you: the real essence of British food, done properly.

Over the years, British food culture has embraced loads of different flavours and influences from all the people who have settled here and made Great Britain their home. I hope the food in this book reflects the open-mindedness of our culture as well as the beauty of Great Britain. There are over 100 of my favourite recipes here: some are indisputable classics, some are my versions of the classics, some should be classics but just haven't been made famous yet and others I've made up by picking from the great bounty of British produce.

Writing this book has been a real labour of love and wherever you're from, if you love food, I think it will offer you a little taste of happiness.

Contents include :

• Breakfasts
• Soups
• Salads
• Pub Grub
• New British classics
• Afternoon tea
• Seaside
• Pies and puddings
• Sunday lunch
• Wild food
• Vegetables
• Puddings
• Condiments

Jamie's Great Britain is a UK publication. Measurements are in metric and metric cup & spoon

About the author

Jamie Oliver was born in May 1975, and grew up in Clavering, Essex, where his parents owned a pub-restaurant, The Cricketers. From an early age, Oliver helped in the pub kitchen; by the time he was 11, he was adept at vegetable prep and could chop "like a demon". In 1989, Oliver formed the band Scarlet Division with best friend Leigh Haggerwood, and dreamed of pop stardom. He was the drummer of the band. However, by age 16, Oliver knew he wanted to be a chef, so he attended Westminster Catering College and then studied in France, learning as much as he could, before returning to London to work as head pastry chef for Antonio Carluccio at The Neal Street Restaurant. After The Neal Street Restaurant, Oliver worked for Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers at the River Cafe for three and a half years; Oliver credits Gray and Rogers with teaching him to create the fresh and simple food which would become his signature.

The result was "The Naked Chef", a cooking programme. Two highly successful seasons of "The Naked Chef" were filmed in 1998 and 1999. The popular series brought Oliver worldwide fame, and more television programmes and book deals followed. As of 2006, Oliver had six additional television series and eight books to his name. In 2007, he has a new TV show called "Jamie at Home," which shows people how easy it is to grow fresh produce from scratch and make good meals. He also has a book out with the same name.

In 2005 Jamie Oliver received the prestigious Beacon Fellowship Prize for his contribution to disadvantaged young people, offering training and practical experience in the catering industry.

Oliver is married to former model Juliette Norton, also known as "Jools". The couple have 4 children. They live in Hampstead, London.

After a brief appearance on "The Naked Chef", Oliver's band, Scarlet Division, was offered a record deal by Sony. Its debut single "Sundial" reached 42 in the UK charts, but, in spite of having been together for ten years, the band had trouble being taken seriously due to Oliver's fame as a chef, and was dropped by Sony. Soon after, Oliver asked Haggerwood to write the music for his new show, "Oliver's Twist". The series, a massive worldwide success, featured Haggerwood's popular theme song "Just The Start". Wanting to create something positive' using his wealth and fame, Oliver conceived and established the Fifteen charity restaurant where he trains 15 disadvantaged young people to work in the hospitality industry. Following the success of the original restaurant in London, more Fifteens have opened around the globe: Fifteen Amsterdam opened in December, 2004, Fifteen Cornwall in Newquay opened in May, 2006, and Fifteen Melbourne opened in September, 2006, with Australian friend and fellow chef, Tobie Puttock. The process of creating and opening the original Fifteen was documented in the series "Jamie's Kitchen".

Next, Oliver began a formal campaign to ban unhealthy food in British schools and get kids eating fresh, tasty, nutritious food instead. Oliver's efforts to bring radical change to the school meals system, chronicled in the series "Jamie's School Dinners", challenged the junk food culture by showing schools they could serve healthy, cost-efficient meals that kids enjoyed eating.

In June, 2003, Oliver was appointed an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. Reputedly a multimillionaire, he has also written columns for The Times. A great proponent of fresh organic foods, in May, 2005, Oliver was named the most influential person in the UK hospitality industry when he topped the inaugural CatererSearch 100. The list saw Oliver beating off Sir Francis Mackay, the then-chairman of the contract catering giant, Compass Group, which Oliver had soundly criticised in "Jamie's School Dinners".

Jamie has written for The Times, as well as for GQ and Marie Claire magazines. He currently writes for Delicious magazine in the UK and Australia and his own Jamie Magazine.

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Jamie's Great Britain by Jamie Oliver