Jamie Oliver has yet to open the doors to his new Manchester restaurant but town hall chiefs are already eyeing up opportunities to sign him up for a war on childhood obesity.
The celebrity chef is putting the finishing touches to Jamie’s Italian, which is due to open on King Street later this month.
Now Pat Karney, the council’s city centre spokesman, has confirmed he has asked officers at the town hall to contact Jamie’s team to sign them up for a new healthy-eating drive.
Manchester has above-average rates of childhood obesity and the council wants to educate children and families about the food they choose. Jamie has spearheaded campaigns to encourage healthy eating in schools and raise awareness in Britain and America about nutritious eating.
His four-part documentary series, Jamie’s School Dinners – broadcast in 2005, led to a pledge by then prime minister Tony Blair to improve the quality of food eaten by pupils.
Coun Karney said: "I think the restaurant looks absolutely stunning and I think Jamie’s going to be a major asset to Manchester.
"He’s very interested in the health of children and young people in particular.
"I’ve asked the people in the town hall to get in touch with his people to see if he could join us on projects in the city around teaching young people about healthy eating, weight management and the dangers of smoking."
A spokesman for the chef said: "Jamie’s team is always happy to hear from city councils, particularly those who wish to invest in community food education projects like the ministry of food centres which have successfully launched in Yorkshire and the north east."
The Ministry of Food projects were set up with the support of councils and the NHS as a way of educating people about food and nutrition and teaching them to cook from scratch.
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I have no doubt that Jamie Oliver genuinely cares about children's eating habits and the massive rise in obesity. However, he's also a very astute business man and his services won't come cheap. Nice sentiment MCR but on the same day we read that another £80m needs to be cut from your budget, priorities spring to mind. Forget the celebrity PR and concentrate on that which you are paid to do
No irony here, but this is actually what David Cameron's big society is supposed to be about.
Perhaps some of the fast food manufacturers could contribute to the running costs?
Do we really need this, considering the MEN headline about £80m cuts on the way? There haver been so many healthy eating initiatives in Manchester, many lost their funding but all of a sudden there's enough in the budget to pay Jaimie Oliver for a vanity project.
I wish councils and the government would stop all these schemes to reduce childhood obesity. All these fat kids will be a vital source of nourishment to the rest of us in the event of a global food crisis or nuclear winter.
What about those £80,000,000 cuts, there is money somewhere?
Oliver is laughing his head off and raking it in.
Why do councils KEEP seeking his advice and paying good money for repeating the same process at councils across the country?
Why not have hold a seminar, pay him once, but all interested councils participate? No wonder the public sector are accused of being wasteful, with OUR taxes.
Tut.
If Pat Karney was so worried about kids and healthy eating, why does he not oppose all the kebab and other takeaways in his Harpurhey ward like he does off licences!
He won't come cheap,will he? How many redundancies is Manchester making?
Does anyone actually know what, if any fee Mr Oliver charges for appearances at healthy eating events, or lending his name to council initiatives?
Educate the parents might be a starter for ten. How many parents send their children to school with packed lunches that are full of sugars/ fat and not worth eating? Also, Headteachers need to get into the school kitchens and start asking the school cooks questions on why they are serving junk to our children.
I do not have anything against Jamie, in fact when I passed King Street today the line of his supporters queuing outside his new jaunt was admirable. Anyone that can get hundreds of young people on board should be praised. My concern is that health and well-being was traditionally the responsibility of the health services. Why do we now have our councils seeing this as an essential service for them to promote, or are they going to be honest with us and admit they are again on the roll with pet projects. It is time our councils turned back the tide and started providing essential services and cut the excessive council tax. As a council tax payer I do not want any fancy interferences by them in business, health and leisure. Let Jamie do his great thing and let us make the council do what they were put in place to do at a price we can best afford.
And once again he will be shunned by idiots who want to give their kids fizzy pop and crisps for lunch.Good luck with that one!!
And is the council going to pay him? what about the other story regarding the cut backs. Bring cooking skills back into the schools. Stop handing out cash to parents who have overweight kids teach them how to shop and feed their kids correctly. McD';s should be a treat not a meal. I am surprised at how many young people I come into contact with have not a clue about healthy meals from scratch, not even the basic shepherds pie or how tro cook vegetables. We dont need Jamie we need to start with the parents.
This story is so shocking that I almost choked on my turker twizzler