Jamie Oliver is a well-known chef and restaurant owner. He is a chef on many of his own television shows and also has twenty-three cookbooks, including his most recent one from 2019, titled Veg. As he has promoted plant-based diets in his cookbooks and restaurants, many people have been wondering if he is a vegan himself.
Though Jamie Oliver does try to eat a plant-based diet, he is not vegan. Jamie Oliver has said that he sees the value in a plant-based diet, so he tries to eat vegan or vegetarian food as often as he can. As he still does eat meat and animal byproducts sometimes, Jamie Oliver is not a vegan.
Continue reading to find out more about plant-based diets and why Jamie Oliver is trying to stick to one.
Semi-Vegetarianism
Most people have heard of being vegetarian, which is when people don’t eat meat or seafood, and being vegan, which is when people don’t eat anything produced by animals like dairy and eggs in addition to not eating meat or seafood.
There is, however, another type of diet that many people are not familiar with. It is being a semi-vegetarian or a flexitarian.
A semi-vegetarian diet predominantly contains plants, but will occasionally have meat. A study has shown that 91 percent of the population is a semi-vegetarian.
This diet is seen as more ethical and environmentally friendly than a normal, meat-centric diet. This is the diet that Jamie Oliver follows.
Jamie Oliver’s Diet
Jamie Oliver has been quite adamant about the value of being vegetarian or plant-based. He even recently published a book in 2019 called Veg.
The book is a cookbook containing only vegetarian meals. Jamie says about the recipes, “The recipes are everything I would deliver flavor-wise in any other cookbook. They’re dishes that make me feel energized, comforted, complete, and full up.”
Oliver believes that recipes and meals don’t need to lack anything just because they don’t have meat.
In the same year, Jamie Oliver also started a vegetarian cooking show titled Jamie’s Meat Free Meals. The show currently has eight, thirty-minute episodes featuring Jamie cooking various vegetarian meals.
He did not only create the cookbook and television show for his vegetarian fan base, he does also use the recipes in his personal life as he tries to eat more vegetarian food.
Previously in 2018, Jamie Oliver said that about 70 percent of his content and diet is meat-free, but he still eats meat and fish which is what makes him a semi-vegetarian.
He says he wants to focus on eating and making plant-based food because: “we all know that eating more vegetables is good for us and the environment.”
Vegan Backlash
Surprisingly, Jamie Oliver has received backlash from vegans. In an interview, he said, “Vegans do annoy me, but I also do care for them.”
He is annoyed by them because on several occasions, animal rights activists have protested at his various restaurants. Activists were showing pictures of animals being slaughtered for consumption to customers.
This had many fans of Jamie Oliver and his restaurant chains confused because his Jamie Oliver Italian restaurants do have many vegan-friendly choices on the menu.
Oliver also advocates for the consumption of high welfare meat in his restaurants if you are consuming meat. He buys from farmers that raise their animals to be organic and free-range.
He also buys ingredients locally as he says British and Irish meat will not have growth hormones.
Due to this, Oliver was upset that some vegans decided to protest at his restaurant in order to push their vegan agenda. He says there is a better way to promote a plant-based diet.
He further says he chooses a “stepping-stone” approach where he discusses both the health and environmental benefits of a plant-based diet, but will not try to force anyone into the lifestyle.
So, Jamie Oliver may not be completely vegan, but he does try to follow a plant-based diet.