Why is it that so many people react to the name Jamie Oliver with dislike? How long will it be before he is forgiven for abolishing the Turkey Twizzlers? Jessica Duncan shares a bit of Jamie’s story, and suggests that it might be time for a cease-fire, or even a change in attitude towards ‘The Naked Chef.’

Jamie Oliver. For most, the name brings back memories of school, more specifically school dinners and the highlight of the school day: Turkey Twizzlers. Gracing our television screens since 1999 in his first show The Naked Chef, referring to the simplicity of his recipes, Oliver has constantly been in a food fight, taking on unhealthy eating and the waste of food.

As part of Jamie’s School Dinners, Jamie, through his online petition, successfully got the British Government to invest more money into schools in order for them to cook healthier and decrease the rate of childhood obesity. Throughout the show Jamie was against the sale of fried food, with much of the attention placed upon Bernard Matthews Turkey Twizzlers, no longer served in schools due to his programme. His work on the programme resulted in the creation of the ‘School Food Trust’, which aims to protect every child’s right to eat healthily.

Jamie also does the impossible, cooking a meal in 15 minutes, the perfect solution to modern day life in which people have less time to cook a gourmet meal from scratch but want to know what’s going into their food and eat healthily.

He is known for his not so accurate measurements, with no one other than himself generally knowing how much a ‘slosh’ or a ‘glug’ is unless you have measuring spoons with the accurate measures which are now available, the perfect novelty gift for Jamie Oliver fans!

Along with his childhood friend, Jimmy, Jamie is leading the UK in a food fight in his Friday Night Feast in which they aim to raise awareness of the waste of certain types of meat, for example goat, and get these into restaurants and butchers to reduce the waste of produce. He was also part of the Food Fight with other chefs such as Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, highlighting how to fish sustainably and reduce our waste as a country.

So, as we join the army in this battle against waste and our expanding waists, Jamie can be forgiven for taking away our favourite lunchtime treat (as long as he doesn’t ban curly fries from Origins).