"..these guys think there's essentially no more to it than putting all your flavours in a sack and giving it a shake. "

To which I have only this to say: thank you, Jamie Oliver, thank you very much....!

Not sure I quite get your point, Julia.

Well, it's that Jamie Oliver is the chief proponent of the 'put all your flavours in a sack and give it a shake' blokey style of tv cookery.

Whereas at least Nigella knows where her condiments are, and knows how to use them!

Er, no. Jamie Oliver is a proponent of the "put all your flavours in a pot and apply heat" style of cookery. I realise that lots of people object to his jumped-up temerity in not having an accent they approve of, but award-winning chefs were not exactly what I had in mind when I complained about people who know nothing about cooking.

"I realise that lots of people object to his jumped-up temerity in not having an accent they approve of..."

I could hardly object to his accent, it being not too dissimilar to my own :)

You said:"We have people making government policy about what can go in our food who know nothing about food." and then "these guys think there's essentially no more to it than putting all your flavours in a sack and giving it a shake. "

Do you not think the popularity of 'blokey style' cooking tv has helped to promote this disconnect? I have to admit, I don't think it has helped...

> Do you not think the popularity of 'blokey style' cooking tv has helped to promote this disconnect?

No, not in the slightest. I can't even conceive of how someone could watch Jamie Oliver's show and come away with the impression that cooking ingredients makes no difference to them. Ignorance of cooking has existed for centuries, and I don't blame television. There's even an old Jewish fable about a man who foolishly didn't realise that salt was important in cooking (and who therefore disowned his daughter — it's a really stupid fable, actually).

I suspect you're reading my comment insufficiently literally. When I refer to putting all your flavours in a sack and giving it a shake, I'm not complaining that they think that cooking's easy or that you can be vague with measurements — it is and you can. I'm complaining that they don't realise that the taste of a finished dish is not merely a mixture of the tastes of the ingredients. That's why I said "flavours", not "ingredients". The sack was allegorical.

Glad to hear you're not one of the accent snobs, though, Julia. They really piss me off.

"The sack was allegorical."

Ah, I get you now!

But, why do you think the taste of a finished dish will even be of interest to them? That has no more interest to them than the true definition of the word 'libertarian'.

This is what is decreed to be good for us, this is what we should eat.

Except, of course, in the House of Commons canteen. There, they will no doubt have an exemption.

> why do you think the taste of a finished dish will even be of interest to them?

What appears to be of interest to Le Grand is being able to claim that he's not taking away anyone's choice. So it's important to counter this by pointing out that the two things that he thinks are exactly the same and can therefore be trivially subsituted for each other are in fact utterly different.

Now, if only he read this blog.

>>Jamie Oliver is the chief proponent of the 'put all your flavours in a sack and give it a shake' blokey style of tv cookery

That may be partly true but at least he gives some thought into what flavours he's putting in.

Jamie Oliver's cooking ability is somewhat obscured by his obsession to be seen as some sort of cool person, or "Geezer". He can cook but he's still an arse.

On the health thing - I've been off the fags for 18 months now. I'm currently on a diet where I want to lose 4 stone over the next 6 months. I'm doing this for my own reasons. However, reading this dickhead's opinion really make me want to go to the garage and buy a pack of B&H on the way to McDonalds. I'm starting to worry that the complete incompetency of the NHS's accountants is leading to a ban on everything that could possibly result in hospital treatment. Government completely forget the billions paid by smokers to the NHS (surplus cash after smoking-related treatment is taken off). I have no idea how much comes from alchol duty, but I expect that it is a lot more than it costs the NHS. They've been talking for years about refusing treatment for smokers on the NHS. Now there is mention of the same for drinkers or fat people. Fine. Give everyone a card to show that they agree to no NHS treatment. Present the card at tobacconist/pub/KFC and pay no tax. Put the savings towards private health care.

> reading this dickhead's opinion really make me want to go to the garage and buy a pack of B&H on the way to McDonalds.

A few years ago, there was an anti-smoking poster campaign on Glasgow's buses. It went for the "That smells bloody awful" approach rather than the traditional "Those things will kill you" approach. Each poster had a picture of someone wrinkling up their nose in distaste at a slight whiff of smoke.

Now, I hate cigarette smoke. Stale, it's a migraine trigger; fresh, it's just plain foul. And the looks on the faces of the smug supercillious bastards in those posters are the only thing ever to have made me want to smoke.

Good God, I'd never even thought of it that way before. But it's unequivocally true. Yet another arrow in my quiver of god-how-I-hate-bloody-interfering-quacks. I salt scrambled eggs twice, once at the start to inhibit premature protein coagulation, and then at the table to make them, well, salty.

I've never been a particularly big fan of the idea that doctors should be regarded as being substantially more worthy of being listened to than plumbers.

> to inhibit premature protein coagulation

That reminds me. I've noticed lately that the bastards want to lower the salt content of bread as well. It's fair enough that they don't know that salt inhibits the action of yeast and so controls how much the bread rises — lots of people don't know that — but it's unforgivable that they feel qualified to tell bakers how to bake without first researching the subject.

I put a splash of teriyaki in my scrambled eggs. Doesn't do a lot for the colour, mind, but it tastes superb.

Julia

Re Nigella; Looks like she's been at the condiments and more judging by the latest series.

With regards the whole "we're getting fatter and should do more exercise" tosh from the govt.

I have visions of ZanuLab fitness tsars marshalling us all out into the town square for morning calisthenics with a huge banner featuring the grinning fizzog of the one-eyed goon flutters gently in the background.

S2, quite agree on the cooking thing.

If the food police have their way, all we'll be allowed to eat in the future is soylent green.