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On Jamie Oliver's Mouthiness Most Fowl

by Zoe Strimpel
Thu, 10 Jan 2008 at 4:20 PM

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The cute-as-pie celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has done it again. He's gone and ruffled the feathers of the people who pay him most handsomely, British supermarket giant Sainsbury's. Mr. Oliver means well — but maybe a little too well to remember about the deal with the devil and all that. (He signed on as the face of Sainsbury's in 2000.) The latest affair is endearing, but is also a cold reminder of the black-and-white relationship between endorsers and the endorsed.

Mr. Oliver's forthcoming TV show, "Fowl Dinners," takes a cold, harsh look at the realities of battery chicken farming. But in advance of its broadcast tomorrow on Britain's Channel 4, Mr. Oliver let rip to the press. He expressed outrage earlier this week that supermarkets — Sainsbury's included — hadn't shown up for a debate on chicken farming. "It is shocking that the people that I work for did not turn up on the day," he said. "I do not know why. The fact that your PR department has not even got the confidence to turn up and talk about what you do ... how dare they not? I was really upset."

Mr. Oliver has now written an open letter of apology to all 150,000 people on Sainsbury's staff, which Sainsbury's boss, Justin King, says was sent of Mr. Oliver's own accord. Mr. King went on to praise "his independence of mind and independence of spirit and preparedness to stand up and be vocal."

Sure enough, Mr. Oliver's not shy when it comes to poorly made food, and is at least as well known for his passionate indignation about the widespread acceptance of it as he is for his cheffing skills. His iconic campaign, exemplified by the TV show, "Jamie's School Dinners," was devoted to revolutionizing the rubbish that British children take to school or eat once they're there. He once used an obscenity to refer to parents who give their children chips and fizzy drinks. If that's not preparedness to stand up and be vocal, what is? Just a shame it's all those parents shopping at Sainsbury's who keep him so deeply in pocket.

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