Jamies Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals by Jamie Oliver

Jamies Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals Reviews

• 
  Jonathan

  This is not a beginners cookery book, more intermediate. It is full of some good recipes (6 out of 8 good, 2 bad so far), but they are chef recipes in that they do the following:
  
  1) They suddenly at the end say, add boiled potatoes (or any other items that will take 20 mins) without ever mentioning it previously in the recipe.
  2) They contain lots and lots of herbs, different sorts of oil etc etc. Which is fine and adds complexity to the flavour, but just puts off beginners. When JO was in Italy the locals gave him a hard time for over complicating food and not allowing the simple underlying flavours to come through, and he does do this.
  3) You can double most of the timings, unless you are a good cook, or you have made the items 2 or 3 times before, or you too have an assistant to chop and peel for you.
  
  I know the 40s/50s photographic style is deliberate; it does look weird sometimes :)
  
  Summary: Home cooking tastes nice, chefs can cook. Cookery books over-complicate simple dishes.
• 
  Gabrielle

  I got this book after deciding I wanted to improve my cooking skills, almost seven years ago, now. It looked complete, diverse and versatile, so I picked it up. And honestly, it changed the way I looked at the process of cooking entirely. I discovered a new set of skills and a passion for cooking because of that book, and I owe Mr. Oliver for that.
  
  The conversational style he writes the instructions in is great, because it simplifies the process, making the recipes less intimidating. Many recipes also have easily frozen or re-heated leftovers, so no waste! He also gives variants on many recipes, to encourage people to be creative once they mastered the basic, and create their own delicious twists! Oliver wanted to make the readers appreciate the work that goes into preparing a good meal, and as far as I am concerned, the end result was that I just wanted to cook more, and became more and more passionate about it! He also encourages habits like buying fresh ingredients and organic or free-range meat and eggs, which I just love.
  
  That being said, with a bit more experience under my belt, I can see flaws in some of the recipes (his paella has way too much liquid in it, for instance), his excessive use of oil and his shyness about strong spices, but given how much I got out of the book in the first place, I can't dock a star off for that. Besides, you learn to cook the same way you learn everything else: by occasionally fucking up. The recipes are still very reliable and fun to make.
  
  It's a perfect book for starter cooks, as it makes you see cooking as fun, and not as a chore. I would particularly recommend it to people with limited cooking experience, or who work a lot and don't have time to spend a whole day preparing a Julia Child-style feast, but who care about making their food from scratch and eating healthy. For my part, I can tell you it changed the way I looked at my kitchen and turned cooking into a passion. Everyone who likes cooking ought to have a copy on their shelves.
  
  It's not a vegetarian-friendly book, however. Certain recipes containing meat can be substituted with veggies, but others really can't. I would also recommend getting a copy of the hardcover edition, and it's easier to keep propped open on the counter while you cook.
• 
  Cathy

  Great salad ideas & easy curry paste recipes!
• 
  Belinda

  5 stars - English hardcover - present from Jop - great recipes from Oliver to make with not to mutch to spent. Loving it! 😀😍🦋💜
  
• 
  Veronika Can

  ...ruošiant patiekalus laikysiu jus už rankos ir stengsiuosi padėti pasigaminti kai kuriuos iš geriausių... 🌞🙏💯🍽️
  Labai puiki knyga! Viskas pateikta labai aiškiai ir lengvai, su daug paveiksliukų. Ypač tinka pradedantiesiems. Pateikti visi baziniai receptai, nuo A iki Z, skirtingos patiekalų variacijos. Taip pat daugybė padažų, kad kuo mažiau pirkti jau paruošto maisto, viską galima pasigaminti pačiam ir sveikai. Kiekvienas skyrius pradedamas įžanga, Jamie Oliver įkvepia, taip draugiškai kreipiasi į skaitytoją ir labai puiki jo skelbiama idėja. Rekomenduoju!
• 
  Ugnė

  Man atrodo, kad pernai aš šitą knygą pasiėmiau iš draugės, kuri vis tiek pagal ją negamino. Linkėjimai draugei - nenaudota buvo be reikalo. Dauguma receptų net man, kuriai kuo trumpiau laiko praleista gaminant, tuo patiekalas geresnis, yra labai paprasti, o pagamintas maistas ne tik valgomas, bet ir skanus :)
• 
  Mara

  First off, I want to commend the art team on this book: great text layout, gorgeous pictures, and excellent paper. But beyond the visual appeal, I'm at a loss for praise.
  
  Granted, as an intermediate level cook, it doesn't look like I'm the target audience for his Food Revolution campaign, but I was bewildered to find recipes for things like plain oatmeal, boiled eggs, smoothies, and white rice. I know he's assuming only a passing familiarity with the stove, but many of these "recipes" can be found on the sides of packages. And the vast majority of the other recipes are lackluster -- salads, various grilled/roasted meats, omelets, vegetables with herbs & butter, sauces for ice-cream. The only interesting dishes were in the curries section, and for that I'd be better served by a
  Madhur Jaffrey cookbook.
  
  I was also surprised to find many recipes required fairly premium items like filet mignon, sun-dried tomatoes, jarred roasted red peppers, and crème fraiche. By no means were ALL the recipes so posh, but for a book that touts "simple, affordable meals", they seemed fairly out of place.
  
  Overall, the cookbook delivers basic variations on basic themes which, frankly, left me bored and uninspired. Beginner cooks might find some value in the visuals, but for comprehensive lessons in technique (and excellent recipes to boot) I would steer them towards Mark Bittman's
  How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food.
• 
  Chara

  I bought this cookbook after watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution documentary series. I'm from West Virginia and it was filmed about 3 hours away from me in Huntington, WV. I loved the tv series and everything he had to say about nutrition, so I couldn't resist supporting Jamie and attempting to make my life more healthy.
  
  I easily found all of the ingredients from the recipes I've cooked at my local Kroger. It seemed a little expensive when I went shopping, but each recipe seems to last for days. I actually started cutting them in half since I only feed my boyfriend and myself.
  
  Jamie added a lot of pictures of the cooking process for every recipe. That was extremely helpful. I hadn't cooked with a lot of the vegetables he uses, so they often looked very strange (almost disgusting). But his photographs showed me I was doing everything correctly and that his looked just as strange. It was also nice to see the sizes he would "chop" "slice" and "cut" things into.
  
  There were so many great recipes, and I haven't even cooked everything in it yet. My favorite: Pot-Roast Meatloaf. I've made it many times. First for myself, then for family dinners and potlucks.
  
  I also loved the chapter on Indian food. My favorite type of food is Indian. Jamie made the recipes so easy and still filled with all those Indian flavors.
• 
  Laura

  Absolutely outstanding. This is now my favorite cookbook, and I'll be buying it if I don't receive it for Christmas. So far I've made the meatballs, banana oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and chickan tikka masala curry. The one time I tried to make meatballs before this recipe, I overcooked them and they fell apart in the pasta. Following the directions from this book, my meatballs became fragrant with rosemary and held together well. My husband loved them. The oatmeal was delicious, and the scrambled eggs recipe yielded perfect scrambled eggs. Actually, I've always always overcooked my eggs and my husband never really liked them, so he was thrilled with the results this time around. I was hesitant to try making curry, because I doubted I could make it as good as the kind we get as take-out, but it was also perfect. I think the cilantro/yogurt/almond toppings really helped to make it so yummy. There are colorful photos for EVERY recipe, usually at least several of the process, which I appreciated so much. The recipes do rely heavily on fresh herbs, but I was able to find a lot of things out of the book that I could make on a tight grocery budget, with some small substitutions (plain eggs instead of cage-free/organic, etc).
• 
  Rosanne Lortz

  I started reading several books last week, most of them novels, but the book that got me the most excited was–of all things–a cookbook. I decided to order this book from the library after watching a couple episodes of “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” a show where the British chef comes to the American South and tries to reform the disgusting eating habits of the unhealthiest town in the world. Jamie Oliver reveals and rebukes the greasy, processed food that Americans eat, trying to turn over a new leaf in the school lunch program at a public elementary school.
  
  After waiting more than two months for my hold request to be fulfilled (as the 24th person in line at the library), I finally picked up my copy of the cookbook, Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals. Cookbooks aren’t generally a “read-it-from-cover-to-cover” item, but I found that this was one cookbook I couldn’t put down. Jamie begins by telling the novice chef what tools every good kitchen should contain and what ingredients every pantry should be stocked with. (I made some notes on the latter for my next trip to Winco.) Then he launches into the recipes.
  
  The first section listed off a handful of twenty minute meals for people who are short on time. With names like “Shrimp and Avacado with an Old-School Marie Rose Sauce,” I found that they did indeed look simple and delicious, though maybe not quite as affordable as our usual fare. The next section of the book was even more intriguing: “Quick Pasta.” The pasta dishes I usually make are a last-ditch resort born of empty cupboards and small imagination. Jamie offers exciting dishes like “Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle,” containing only a handful of ingredients but looking mouthwateringly delicious in the full color pictures.
  
  The book proceeded with “Tasty Stir-Fries” and “Easy Curries.” I resolved then and there that I was going to make a curry that week, something I had never before attempted. A few days later I produced a passable “Chicken Tikka Masala,” with a lovely sauce and decent chicken (that would probably have been more tender if my stovetop had a more even heat).
  
  The next section contained recipes for salads. This exemplified what I love about Jamie Oliver’s book–versatility. In the salad section, he tries to teach you general rules so that you can whip up your own salad creation. The full-color chart on page 119 has six rows of “kinds” of ingredients: soft, crunchy, herby, veggies, cheese, and toppings. Each of the rows contains four items; for instance, the “herby” row has mint, basil, italian parsley, and arugula. All you need to do is pick one ingredient from each row to come up with an awesome salad! There are literally hundreds of combinations to choose from.
  
  The second recipe that I cooked from this book was the “Beef and Ale Stew,” and I must say that it turned out divine! The portions for most of the main dishes are for 4-6 servings, so we have half of the stew in the freezer waiting for another day. Yesterday, I was sorely tempted to take it out and heat it up for lunch, but I resisted–knowing, that someday soon, I would want to put a delicious dinner on the table without doing any work.
  
  I highly recommend this cookbook to beginner and expert chefs alike. I like it so much that I ordered my own copy from Amazon.com. It should get here later this week.
• 
  Hadley

  I have been watching his TV show as well as downloading his podcast from the Minestry of Food and it has been so fun to get into the ease of these recipies. I am an experienced home cook but this book put a lot of great and really easy ideas into play for me. Philip, who never cooks much has taken to making dinners on Sat night and made the Chicken Chow Mein and it was seriously one of the best stir-frys I have eaten! Even our kids chowed down without complaint.(and there was "green stuff" it it. I think Jamie Oliver is a serious pioneer of food reform in the UK and I respect him highly for the work he does getting school kids, the government and the common person to *think* about what they are eating and where it came from.
• 
  Loren

  Oh look, I'm British and my Mommy and Daddy let me cook in their restaurant and now I write books with a sprinkle of this and a handful of that.
  
  Listen Jamie Oliver, don't call it a Food Revolution if you require alfalfa flour and ketchup in the same recipe or worse yet, call for canned goods as main ingredients. He should be ashamed of himself.
• 
  Justin Walshaw

  As the cover suggests, 'Revolution' finds our hero behind the Iron Curtain attempting to introduce his own brand of music to the Soviets, called Wok n Roll.
  Will he succeed? Or will he plummet headfirst into some borscht? What will his children think of his terrible taste in shirts? This and many more questions left unanswered.
  
• 
  Victoria

  I have tried several recipes from this book now and overall I have been pleased with the results. The only flaw with this book is the way the method has been written, it can be very confusing and difficult to follow.
• 
  Alexander Case

  There are some recipes in this cookbook that fit the criteria of Simple, Delicious, and Affordable.
  
  Almost every chapter features multiple dishes that involve expensive cuts of meat like filet mignon, or expensive fish like salmon. Also, while the book is generally good about giving pictures of how to perform some of the more uncommon culinary techniques (like butterflying), the fact of the matter is that I wouldn't have someone try a recipe (or even look at a recipe) that involves butterflying until they'd figured out cutting, chopping, dicing and mincing. Butterflying requires dexterity and a really sharp knife, and if you don't have those (and I'd frankly expect most people to not have those), then it's not something your average reader (who Jamie claims he's shooting for) should be trying to do.
  
  That said, the very first chapter of the book, where Jamie gives a list of (to use Alton Brown's terminology) useful and necessary hardware for your kitchen is incredibly useful and valuable. With the exception of the mortar and pestle, with this assortment of equipment, you have absolutely everything you need to learn to cook. The cupboard list is okay too, though I'd probably recommend dropping the Marmite or Vegemite for peanut butter.
• 
  Alex Mendiola

  Those who know me are aware that I have been preaching what's in this book for years. Jamie (as shown in his recent TV reality series) exhorts that, like Britain, we are killing ourselves with food. This book combats the modern American notion that healthy food is flavorless, too expensive, and too time consuming for the masses. In the introduction, he says a few words about the Ministry of Food in Britain during WWII. I’ll let you all read it but, essentially, it was a government department set up to provide citizens with nutritious meals with their given rations and home gardens. Since that time Britain and America has moved away from the institution of home as hearth. Our hectic lives push us away from the common ground of mealtime. Working long hours far from our homes, extracurricular activities like travel sports demanding ever more time on the road or at practice, both parents working or single-parenthood all serve to separate us from our families, loved ones and our kitchens. Jamie proposes a pyramid scheme, grass roots approach to get us back to the dinner table. Learn how to prepare a few simple, quick, nutritious meals and pass it on.
• 
  Zoe

  What sets this book apart from other cookbooks today is the attitude it's written with and the way it's organized. If more cookbooks preached, as this one does, that cooking isn't too hard and you don't have to be whipping up magazine worthy food to even bother, we wouldn't have the problems we're having. It would stave off not only obesity and diabetes but the unbelievable tidal wave of people who don't know how to cook anymore. I cannot believe how many of them I meet nowadays.
  
  The other beauty of the book is its structure - chapters like 'pasta', 'curries', 'humble ground beef' actually tell you a few new things to do with old stuff, so even if you cook quite a bit, htis book is inspirational. It's going to become my standard gift to new married couples from now on.
• 
  Joy

  I've been a fan of Jamie Oliver for a long time but I have yet to purchase one of his cookbooks. I won't be buying this but it is a nice cookbook with colorful illustrations. I only made one of the recipes and it was a simple one. I need Jamie to come over and give me a cooking lesson in person! Or I'd be only too happy to go back to London and meet him there - ha!
• 
  Diana

  Blech. Hoped it would be better than this. I like the idea of good food cooked at home to feed families, but I didn't like the recipes. And honestly, I can't take one more vow in my life right now (learn one recipe from each chapter, vow to teach it to at least two more people). I get it Jamie, but honestly...
• 
  Heather

  This is a nice book, but many of the recipes weren't for my family. I'm game for most foods, but my family are very much "meat and potatoes," so many of the more non-traditional fare (like aloo gobhi) wouldn't fly in my household. I wish that wasn't the case. Good (British) recipes promoting better eating habits and more affordable ingredients.
• 
  Melissa

  Jamie Oliver gets me really excited about cooking as a basic, essential aspect of a happy life. I DESERVE TO EAT A HOME-COOKED MEAL THAT ISN'T RAMEN! YES, JAMIE, YES I DO!
  
  This book also features some harried, working-class individuals who learned to cook for themselves and it's sort of heartwarming.
• 
  Kathryn Hodgson

  This is a great cookbook. It certainly let's a new cook know how to make good home cooked food. I particularly like the curry section and the salad section. However, the recipes are not that simple!
• 
  Marijan Šiško

  jamiejeva knjiga za početnike, što ne znači da iz nje i napredniji ne mogu nešto naučiti.
• 
  Bookish

  Before I graduated, I knew how to cook two things: eggs and boxed macaroni and cheese. Then my sister bought me Jamie Oliver’s simplest cookbook for Christmas—the one with a back flap that promises, “anyone can learn to cook.” Within weeks, I went from eating Chipotle every night to cooking chicken tikka masala and spaghetti bolognese. This change was good for my diet, but it was also good for my social life. I started inviting people over for dinner two or three times a week. That was how I started to build a new social life after college. —Caroline (
  https://www.bookish.com/articles/five...)
• 
  Cweb

  Very easy to follow, an ideal book for someone who is trying to learn how to cook. It was recommended by my neighbour.
• 
  Kristel

  The focus of Food Revolution is the idea of getting people who don't cook or don't cook much or who mainly just order take out or buy ready-made to start cooking. Oliver's trying to show that cooking doesn't have to be complicated or time consuming and that it's healthier and tastier than ready-made or take out.
  
  Oliver also puts forth the idea that people who buy the books should learn some of the recipes and then pass them on to other people so that they'll start cooking as well. So here's me passing on a recipe I tried tonight:
  
  Jamie Oliver's Asian-style Steamed Salmon
  
  serves 2
  a large handful of broccolini or broccoli rabe
  1 x 8-oz can of water chestnuts
  a large handful of sugar snap peas
  2 salmon fillets, skin on, scaled and bones removed (about 7-oz each, though I used more vegetables and only about 100 g fish)
  
  a thumb-sized piece of ginger root
  1 clove of garlic
  1/2 a fresh red chile
  1 scallion
  2 tbsp soy sauce
  3 tbsp olive oil
  1 lemon
  
  To prepare the salmon:
  If you have a steamer basket, add water to a saucepan just below the level of the basket. If you don't but have a metal colander, add water about half way up a saucepan that will hold it. Put water on high heat to boil. Trim the ends off the broccolini. (I used broccoli because it's what I had, cut to florets). Drain water chestnuts in a colander or through the steamer basket. Add washed sugar snap peas. Lay the salmon fillets, skin side down, on top of them, then scatter the broccoli over. Cover the colander with aluminum foil and scrunch tightly around the edges to seal the steam in.
  
  To cook your salmon and make your dressing:
  Put the colander or steamer basket (with lid) over your pan of boiling water and let it steam for 8 to 10 minutes. While that's happening, peel and grate the ginger and half the clove of garlic into a small bowl. Finely slice your chile (I used a serrano pepper, because it's what I could get) and scallion and add them to the bowl with the soy sauce and olive oil. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon into the bowl. Mix together with a spoon and set aside. After your salmon and vegetables have been steaming for 8 minutes, peel back the foil to check the fish it cooked through, it should flake apart.
  
  To serve your salmon:
  Divide the salmon, water chestnuts, and veggies between your plates or bowls. Give the dressing a quick stir and drizzle it over. Serve with the remaining lemon half, cut into wedges, for squeezing over.
  
  
  
  Oliver also suggests using cod in place of the salmon and asparagus or asparagus, peas, and greens in place of the broccoli and snap peas. I think it'd probably be quite nice like that.
• 
  Dolly

  I am a big fan of Jamie Oliver. I've watched him on cooking shows and on his series "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," so I know that he had a lot to offer regarding cooking techniques as well as fantastic ways to motivate people. So when I discovered this book at our local library, I just knew I needed to read it!
  
  Many of his recipes are a bit more complicated than I normally cook, but a lot of others follow along the same lines as what I do already. So I found some challenges and a nice reassurance that I'm already headed in the right direction as far as trying to feed my family home-cooked, nourishing and healthy meals.
  
  Since he is English, it makes sense that a lot of his recipes have a British flavor (or should I say flavour?) This is good for me, but in our family, I have to accommodate different preferences. So I expect that I will try a few of my favorite recipes (especially when I'm cooking for myself) and a few of the ones I think our family will be open to trying and hope that they approve.
  
  I made a family favorite last night - the Thai Green Curry (with a few modifications, like using a bit of curry paste, since it is difficult to get lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves). I also made it with pork rather than shrimp, but we like it with just about any meat (chicken, tofu, etc.) I liked the vegetables that he added (I've never made it with asparagus and snow peas before, but with fresh Spring asparagus, it was fantastic!) and I appreciated his tips, since I'm always trying to make the sauce taste more like what we've eaten in Thailand!
  
  Overall, I like his approach to this book. I love the idea that by passing down recipes to one another, we can create a world of cooks, rather than a world of fast-food eaters. If nothing else, I hope to teach our girls that cooking homemade meals is simple and worth the effort. I agree that the times mentioned on the recipes might be a bit optimistic, especially for a novice cook. But with a little prep and some practice, you can easily put together a hot, fresh meal in about 20-30 minutes. I'm not a big fan of television, but I am looking forward to seeing the second season of "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" soon.
• 
  Maryna

  Меня вполне можно назвать фанатом Джейми Оливера - мне импонирует его подход к кулинарии и еде. В своих книгах он делает ставку на сбалансированность и разнообразие питания, а не на внешний вид или заумное название. Например, Креветки без Хлопот - это действительно просто креветки и совсем без хлопот, которые выгладят так, будто вам их подали в азиатской забегаловке, но они полезные и вкусные, а главное - приготовлены собственноручно за каких-то 20 минут!
  
  Именно "Министерство Питания" мне кажется той книгой, что стоит иметь начинающему кулинару - все блюда в этой книге базовые, но с предложениями по разнообразию блюда и заменами некоторых ингредиентов. Джейми толково разделил книгу на несколько глав, выделяя "Блюда за 30 минут" в самое начало - вот вроде бы все не так тяжело и скучно, правда, читатель? Возможно, в книге и нету описания разницы между итальянской и швейцарской меренгами или теории раздела рыбы, но с этой книгой вам они и не понадобятся - многие рецепты выгладят так "купите рыбный стейк, банку консервированных томатов, несколько специй, бахните всю эту радость на противень, закройте фольгой, примите душ, достаньте рыбу - ешьте и радуйтесь."
  
  Итог книги - несколько десятков рецептов и идей к тому постоянному меню, что сформировалось еще нашими бабушками. Лично меня ни одно блюдо не вызвало шока от перечня ингредиентов или нюансов приготовления, как выносит мозг почти каждое блюдо в книгах Джулии Чайлд. Все просто и базово. Хотя, возможно, блюдо "Тикка Масала с курицей" звучит страшно и непривычно, но я откажусь от порции пюре с котлетой, и попробую приготовить эту курицу, что займет, согласно Джейми, 18 минут. Может и не понравится, но я хотя бы привнесу разнообразие в свое меню)))