Jamie Oliver is one of the most well-known celebrity chefs on television. He has been on television since 1999 when he got his first show, The Naked Chef. Since then, Jamie Oliver has hosted fifty-one different shows and specials. This has left many fans curious about his background. More specifically, fans have wondered if Jamie Oliver is British.
Jamie Oliver is British. He was born and currently resides in the United Kingdom. Though he has traveled around the world for his various books and television shows, he always returns to the United Kingdom.
Continue reading to find out more about Jamie Oliver’s upbringing and what he has done for the United Kingdom.
Jamie Oliver’s Upbringing
Jamie Oliver was born in 1975 in Clavering, Essex, a village in Southeast England. His parents, Trevor and Sally Oliver are also British. They currently run an English country Inn in Essex called The Cricketers.
This is where Jamie started his career in cooking after begging the chefs at the Inn to let him help.
He went on to attend Westminster Catering College in London, England. Then, he landed his first job at a restaurant in London as the head pastry chef.
It was at this restaurant, The Neal Restaurant, that Jamie realized his love of being on television. The restaurant was being filmed for a documentary and the producers realized Jamie was a natural in front of the camera.
They contacted him and offered him the position to host his first television series, The Naked Chef. Since then, Oliver has hosted fifty-one television cooking shows.
Jamie Oliver is married to his childhood sweetheart, Jools Oliver. The two met in England when they were only teenagers.
They have been together since Jools was eighteen and got married in 2000. They now have five children Poppy, Daisy, Petal, Buddy, and River.
All of their children are in school in the United Kingdom which Jools has said can be hard for them sometimes due to their father’s fame.
Jools said: “I think they find it quite hard at school. It can be a bit awkward if the other kids say, ‘Can I get your dad’s autograph?’ My eldest [Poppy] doesn’t like it. If Jamie comes to pick her up, it’s just too embarrassing for her. So I do all that.”
While the fame can be hard for the family sometimes, Jamie and Jools try to raise their children as “normally” as they can. The couple has also said that despite having five children already, they still want to have more.
Feed Me Better Campaign
As Jamie Oliver has children in the United Kingdom school system, he wanted to improve it in the best way he knew how, changing the food.
This is why he started the Feed Me Better Campaign. It started at Kidbrooke School in Greenwich.
The campaign was meant to show parents that the government was not spending the proper amount of money on students’ lunches.
Jamie Oliver wanted to rectify this by making student lunches healthier, but still sticking to an affordable budget.
To do this, Oliver wanted all processed junk food to be replaced with cooked, real food. All parents and teachers were on board as they agreed that the school lunches were not good for their children.
The campaign was a success and new school food standards were put into place. Some of the new standards included making fruits and vegetables free for the students.
Oliver has said that changing school lunches to be healthier will save the government money in the long run as people will need to go to the doctor or hospitals less.
So, not only was Jamie Oliver born and raised in England, he still currently resides there and is passionate about making his country healthier.