Jamie Oliver Defends Culinary Creativity Amid Cultural Appropriation Controversy
So, Jamie Oliver has spoken out again about the whole cultural appropriation debate surrounding his recipes, and this time, he did it on Louis Theroux's podcast. If you remember, back in 2018, he faced major backlash for his "punchy jerk rice," with critics—including Labour MP Dawn Butler—calling him out for not really understanding what jerk cooking is all about. Now, Jamie is saying people need to "get over" these arguments and recognize that his goal has always been to introduce more people to different cuisines.
On the podcast, Jamie admitted that, yeah, he had a "crass misunderstanding" of jerk, but he insists that his intentions were never to offend—just to make food more accessible. He even pointed out that one of his ex-students, who comes from an Afro-Caribbean background, basically summed it up as, "It’s just a middle-class white guy trying to get more people to dig our food, get over it."
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He also talked about how the scrutiny around cultural appropriation has changed how he writes his cookbooks. Now, everything he publishes gets reviewed by "cultural appropriation specialists," which, he says, is painful but necessary because he genuinely doesn’t want to offend anyone over a "bloody cookbook."
And it’s not just jerk rice that’s caused him trouble. Jamie also recalled the time he sparked outrage in Spain for adding pancetta to paella. Apparently, "chorizo-wielding Spaniards" were furious because, traditionally, paella doesn’t include chorizo. He even got death threats online! But, as he pointed out, historically, paella has been made with everything from snails to squirrel meat, so, really, adding a bit of pork shouldn’t be such a big deal.
Louis Theroux joked that Jamie’s comments might reignite old debates, but Jamie laughed it off, saying, "I’m just a little foreigner from the outside, right?" His main argument is that food evolves, cultures influence each other, and most "traditional" dishes aren’t as purely authentic as people think. He gave examples like fish and chips—originally brought to Britain by Jewish Portuguese immigrants—and Cumberland sausage, which actually has German origins.
At the end of the day, Jamie’s stance is pretty clear: food should be about sharing and inspiration, not gatekeeping. But with the way social media reacts to these debates, it’s unlikely this will be the last time he has to defend his take on international cuisine.
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