{"id":27645,"date":"2014-10-02T13:35:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T05:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=27645"},"modified":"2014-10-02T10:37:14","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T02:37:14","slug":"jamie-oliver-touts-joys-of-healthy-cooking-and-comfort-food-during-toronto-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/10\/02\/jamie-oliver-touts-joys-of-healthy-cooking-and-comfort-food-during-toronto-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamie Oliver touts joys of healthy cooking and comfort food during Toronto visit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jamie<\/a>
Jamie Oliver. Scandic Hotels<\/a> \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO\u2014Jamie Oliver has been a vocal proponent for\u00a0food\u00a0education and healthier meals\u2014particularly for kids\u2014but the genial British chef still enjoys both cooking and curling up with more indulgent fare on occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think perfection doesn\u2019t really exist and, actually, perfection is kind of unhealthy because it will send people crazy. Getting it right most of the time is the kind of spirit,\u201d a laidback Oliver said during an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to have a burger, God bless, there\u2019s nothing wrong with a burger if it\u2019s made out of good stuff. The thing is, when you give people the information to understand\u00a0food, they just start consuming it in a totally different way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love pizzas, we love cakes, we love burgers, but we also love a whole load of other stuff. And I think when you\u2019ve got that mixture, that\u2019s a much better place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The culinary star launched a partnership with grocery store chain Sobeys last fall aimed at encouraging Canadians to eat healthier, anchored by sales of Oliver-branded\u00a0food\u00a0items as well as recipes and cooking tips posted online. Oliver was in Toronto on Wednesday for the unveiling of the grocer\u2019s Better\u00a0Food\u00a0Fund, which sees Sobeys co-developing Home Cook Heroes, a national\u00a0food\u00a0skills program for Canadian teens, in partnership with Free The Children.<\/p>\n

The energetic Oliver led a cooking demonstration for local students who showcased their culinary skills with guidance and encouragement from the star chef.<\/p>\n

Oliver said he makes growing, gathering and preparing\u00a0food\u00a0a routine with his own four children. As he\u2019s worked on both sides of the Atlantic to help improve school lunches and expand\u00a0food\u00a0knowledge, he said he\u2019s encouraged by the progress made by people embracing healthier fare. He is optimistic youngsters can not only learn but also be leaders when it comes to better\u00a0food\u00a0habits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe that this is the first generation of kids who have the capacity to teach parents and make change,\u201d Oliver said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started cooking when I was eight. And like kids are with dancing or BMX riding or anything else they\u2019re doing, kids are really able. They really can cook if you just encourage them. And we shouldn\u2019t wrap them up in cotton wool and overprotect them. We should get them involved, get their hands dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he continues to trumpet healthier eats, Oliver\u2019s newest cookbook focuses on guiltier pleasures.<\/p>\n

\u201cJamie\u2019s Comfort\u00a0Food\u201d (HarperCollins) is a collection of nostalgic, nurturing dishes aimed at warming both the soul and the belly, most of which, he writes, aren\u2019t \u201csuper-fast\u201d nor for everyday cooking.<\/p>\n

Oliver said the book features foods he\u2019s loved throughout his life, and that he also reached out via social media to ask others about their favourite comfort dishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted the book to be like the greatest hits, and I gave more space to every recipe. And it allowed me to be much more geeky and eccentric about: \u2018How do you achieve perfection? How do you get that home run? How do you get that Sunday lunch that just knocks everyone\u2019s socks off?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAs cocky as it sounds, I think this is the best book I\u2019ve ever written. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever write anything as good as it again,\u201d he added. \u201cI think it really speaks to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oliver said when he\u2019s in need of having his spirits raised, the arrabbiata dish featured in \u201cJamie\u2019s Comfort\u00a0Food\u201d\u2014which he described as a \u201csimple, cheap pasta\u201d\u2014is his go-to.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ritual of making the chili sauce is like no other. And you kind of braise off these whole chilies, so it\u2019s a really rounded, gentle heat … it uplifts you. That\u2019s the kind of dish that I kind of curl up in the corner of a sofa and just have on my own\u2014and no distraction.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then of course, sometimes, it\u2019s ritualistic. Some of this\u00a0food\u00a0you spend time making and serving and it\u2019s very ritualistic. Sometimes it\u2019s indulgent, like cakes and desserts. So I quite like that with comfortfood\u00a0there\u2019s these different gears that can play, and I think that\u2019s what makes it kind of special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadians will be seeing even more of the Oliver brand with the opening of the first North American location of Jamie\u2019s Italian slated for next spring at Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Oliver teamed with Toronto\u2019s King Street\u00a0Food\u00a0Company, owners of Buca and Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse, to bring Jamie\u2019s Italian across the pond.<\/p>\n

Despite having more than 40 Jamie\u2019s Italian locations, mostly in the United Kingdom, and several other restaurants to his credit, Oliver admitted opening a restaurant is \u201ca very vulnerable and scary thing.\u201d He had high praise for chef Rob Gentile who will be helping spearhead the Canadian launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that I\u2019m doing it with Rob just makes it super exciting. I trust him 100 per cent. I know he\u2019s going to look after my baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to open in February hopefully\u2014fingers crossed\u2014and the nice thing is pretty much anyone can afford to come. It\u2019s a really accessible, lovely place to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO\u2014Jamie Oliver has been a vocal proponent for\u00a0food\u00a0education and healthier meals\u2014particularly for kids\u2014but the genial British chef still enjoys both …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":27646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-food","mauthors-lauren-la-rose","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}