Jamie's America

The incredible diversity in American cooking was a real revelation to me. So although I went looking for "quintessential American food," my conclusion is that there is no such thing; instead there's a huge wealth of seriously exciting dishes.

Many of us outside of America may think we already know all there is to know about it from movies or the occasional holiday, but the truth is that this doesn't even scratch the surface. In many ways, the country is still a bit of a mystery to us. This trip was my chance to explore the ingredients, food culture, and traditions within this incredible country.

I felt that I knew cities like New York and Los Angeles pretty well, but this time I ventured beyond the neighborhoods I was familiar with and into areas better known for their immigrant communities. I was rewarded with some of the most incredible food I've ever tasted.

The story was the same when I moved beyond the big cities. Whether it was Creole cooking in Louisiana or soul food in Georgia, the Mexican influences in Arizona or the hearty cowboy cuisine of Big Sky Country, every place I went had its unique treasures.

I came back with more recipes than I knew what to do with, and although it was tough, I managed to narrow this book down to 120 of my absolute favorites. These are my takes on some of the best food I came across, as well as a few things I made up along the way. I hope you enjoy them, and maybe even discover new and inspiring sides to America you've never seen before. Enjoy!

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Jamie Oliver's Salty Truth

The recent headlines covered news on our very own celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who is known for tackling bad British diets in schools. However, it came as no surprise to many nutritionists and dietitians that due to commercial aspects led to the production of one of the potentially saltiest pasta sauces in Great Britain.

The spokes person for Jamie Oliver claimed that although the team was working hard to create a recipe with lower salt levels it seemed difficult to find a tasty but less salty alternative hence the businessman Jamie Oliver has agreed to stick to the production of the salty version for the time being to avoid income losses. It's a pity that even someone like Jamie Oliver puts his brand onto sauces which have such high levels of salt that even eating 10 packets of Walkers crisps does not total up to the same amount of salt. A particular type of the pasta sauces branded Jamie Oliver sold at Sainsbury's contains as much as 5.3g salt per jar.

The current recommendation by the Food Standards Agency is 6g salt per day for adults. The recommended portion on the label (of 175g of olive and garlic sauce) would contain 5.3g salt and would contribute nearly to an adult's daily salt intake, without even adding pasta which surely contains some more salt. Although a new recipe for Jamie's sauces is about to get into Sainsbury's stores by December or January the high salt content was pointed out to the producers already about a year ago. Despite knowing, the product will still go on sale which could be very bad for people with high blood pressure and this act can only be understood as a commercial decision.

The Food Standards Agency estimates that about 75% of our daily salt intake comes from processed food such as bread, cereals, sauces, pickles, sausages and meat, snack foods such as nuts, crisps and crackers and foods eaten out. Therefore checking and comparing the label can truly make a difference to a person's salt intake.

The very high salt content in Jamie's sauces are especially appalling to everyone who knows that high salt diets are associated with high blood pressure and can lead to heart disease and stroke. The Food Standards Agency estimated lowering average salt intake from 10g per day (in 2006) to 6g per day could save around 17, 500 lives in the UK yearly.

After years of campaigning by the Foods Standards Agency the average salt intake in the UK has already dropped to 8.3g per day, this is mainly due to large scale reformulation of processed foods such as cereals, breads, sauces etc. but potentially also to awareness campaigns, reducing the amount of salt added into cooking at home and on the table. However there is still a long way to go and many people are still consuming large amounts of salt.

5 tips - how to prevent high salt intakes?

* Check the labels of bread, cereals, sauces (e.g. soy sauce, pesto), pickles, tinned vegetables such as baked beans that contain less salt than others, and try to choose the low salt option.

* Swap salty snacks like crisps, popcorn, crackers to healthier versions such as vegetable sticks, ryvita or oat crackers, rice cakes etc.

* Aim not to eat smoked foods such as smoked bacon, ham and cheese too often as they contain high amounts of salt.

* Avoid adding salt on foods on the table and while cooking try to use fresh or dried herbs and other seasoning such as garlic, ginger, lime juice and chilli as many of these ingredients consist of health promoting effects and add flavour to most dishes.

* When eating out choose tomato based sauce above creamy sauces which are often high in salt. Avoid soy based dishes and stir fried rice as they are commonly higher in salt. If possible ask for olive oil or salt free butter with your bread.

Andrea Zick, Esteem Fitness Nutritionist London - http://www.esteemfitness.com

Jamie Oliver in Oliver's Twist 2

JAMIE OLIVER - OLIVER'S TWIST 2

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Obesity in Children - What Are We Doing To Our Kids?

The distressing rise in obesity in children is an indictment on the way in which we live in modern times. Children are dependents, reliant upon the adult world to develop them into healthy grown up human beings, both physically and mentally.

I have written so many articles about children, the welfare of children, the health of children, the emotions of children, and the generalities of making kids happy, not scared of life and unable to cope with the way they themselves must live in our adult world.

Sometimes I want to get hold of errant parents by the scruff of their necks and shake them until their teeth rattle, when I see nice, balanced and receptive kids being damaged by moronic men and women who should be taken out and shot when it comes to child care.

Many of the problems of diet in our children arise from the parents inabilities in the kitchen, it is true. Admittedly modern life makes few allowances for spending several hours in the kitchen in the evenings and over weekends, especially if both parents are working.

Unfortunately, school meals are not always up to standard in terms of efficient nourishment as TV Chef Jamie Oliver recently proved. However, school dinners in the United Kingdom have recently undergone a change following Jamie Oliver's crusade for healthy menus for children and well done to him.

It is widely accepted nowadays that children who eat healthily find it easier to concentrate during lessons retain information throughout the school day. It is important, then, that this climate of healthy eating is continued at home.

The problem is that so many parents cannot cook for themselves, let alone for a hungry family. The result is that very few fresh ingredients find their way into our children's digestive systems, and very few proper nutrients. Well, sorry folks, but you are just going to have to learn some new skills if you want to raise healthy kids.

Processed foods are more popular now than ever before for obvious reasons, but there is no reason why our children should suffer as a result of their parent's busy lifestyles. Any fool can boil broccoli and other fresh vegetables, so try it. Also, try serving your child nice tasty salads with their burgers and fries, and then gently ease off on the fries if your kid is already a grease addict.

Children need carbohydrates and fats to grow healthily. There is no need to cut out bread, potatoes etc for a child, just encourage them to eat fresh vegetables along with the stodge. A little exercise each day is imperative for kids who are eating high calorie menus, so get them out walking the dog if they have a dislike for sport at school. In fact, go with them if you can.

Try learning to make simple one pot meals. Some of the recipes widely available on the web nowadays are free to download and easy to do. Kids love to get involved, so try to recruit their interest in the kitchen and lessen their access to potato chips and sweet stuff like chocolate gradually.

Above all, do it all cheerfully, and never introduce new foods with even a hint of criticism like a punishment, because no child likes to be pushed onto new food and certainly not because they are overweight. Take it all lightly but in a determined way and you will find the child responds favourably.

Jan Gamm writes reflections on life with an emphasis on world travel. She has lived in many countries and traveled extensively in the Far East, the Middle East, America, South America and throughout the South Pacific. She writes for fun and for money whenever she can manage it.

Jamie Does Stockholm - Swedish Chef Or Real Muppet?

Jamie Does Stockholm is a bit of a break away from the rest of the Jamie Does television series as all the other places visited are in or near the Mediterranean. (Athens, Morocco, France, Italy and Spain). This shows in the change in cooking style and approach compared with the other programmes. Jamie does Stockholm is just as good as the rest of the Jamie series though. I do know that some people do not like Jamie's style but the Muppet bit is to my mind not justified.

The long hard winters in Sweden mean that they are some of the best preservers in the world with a wonderful array of pickles, delicate preserved fish such as gravadlax (and not so delicate such as the stinky herring) and, smoked meat and fish. All this is nicely reflected in the TV programme. Once again Jamie's enthusiasm for food and cooking comes through in abundance.

I was particularly interested in the gravadlax salmon. i have done this dish myself on several occasions but the addition of beetroot and horseradish was an interesting twist. The vibrant colour certainly added to the overall affect of the dish and I will certainly give this a try, particularly as we grow our own beetroot and horseradish. This is just one of the fish recipes featured because like Venice (Stockholm is sometimes called the Venice of the North) the proximity of the sea means an abundance of fresh seafood is available.

Simple dishes such as creamy mushrooms also feature, a quick to prepare and delicious snack, and of course there has to be a recipe for Swedish meatballs.

The accompanying book of course features all the recipes in the television programme and like the pro grammes gives a fascinating travelogue of the region and its cuisine. As a photographer myself I loved the images captured in the book as in all of Jamie Oliver's books they are beautifully done.

I can thoroughly recommend the book Jamie Does as a great read for anyone interested in cookery and travel and as a source of some great recipes.

A further Jamie Does Review of the book is Here

Jamie's Italy

Bestselling author Jamie Oliver finally devotes an entire book to America's favorite cuisine -- Italian!

Italy and its wonderful flavors have always had a major influence on Jamie Oliver?s food and cooking. In Jamie?s Italy, he travels this famously gastronomic country paying homage to the classic dishes of each region and searching for new ideas to bring home. The result is a sensational collection of Italian recipes, old and new, that will ensure that Italy?s influence reaches us all.

Italy has inspired Jamie Oliver throughout his career. His ambition has always been to travel across the country on a quest to capture the very essence of Italian cooking -- and to produce the best and simplest Italian cookbook for everybody anywhere to enjoy.

Jamie?s Italy is the result of that journey -- and it?s a land of plenty. As well as providing more than 120 brand-new recipes for everything from risotto to roasts and spaghetti to stews, structured as traditional trattoria menus, Jamie takes you all over Italy to cook with and learn from the real masters of Italian cuisine: the locals. Far from the standard "lemons and olives" version of Italian cooking, Jamie?s Italy is a cookbook by the people for the people. From Sicily to Tuscany, it?s about the local fishermen, family bakers, and, of course, the "Mamas," sharing their recipes and the tips that have gone into their cooking for generations. But it?s not only mouthwatering food that Jamie brings back home: it?s also the spirit that makes cooking and eating absolutely central to family life, whichever part of Italy you?re in.

Bursting with the warmth and hospitality of real family life, this is both a superbly accessible cookbook and a unique travelogue and diary, in which you?ll find the authentic flavor of Italy and the people who live there. If you love quality food prepared with genuine passion -- you?ll never want to leave Jamie?s Italy.

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Jamie's Kitchen

Naked? Its not himits the food! Jamie Oliver, a.k.a. the Naked Chefis Englands #1 bestselling food sensation, a charismatic, streetwise culinary wonder boy whose personality is as fresh and unpretentious as his cooking. In this extraordinary cookbook, Jamie takes all of the trade secrets he has accumulated since he started cooking at age eight and distills them into a refreshingly simple style that really works for people who are passionate about food, but dont always have a lot of time, money, or space. Jamie has applied his strip it bare then make it work principle to all his mealsfrom salads to roasts, desserts to pastasand has created a foolproof repertoire of simple, feisty, and delicious recipes that combine bold flavours with fresh ingredients. With more than 120 fuss-free recipes, The Naked Chef, a sumptuous feast for the eyes as well as the stomach, is modern cooking at its best.

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