There. I've said it.
It was his cooking that first hooked me in but more, I love that he chooses to use his popularity - his power and influence to educate and argue for reform. His crusade to connect people with the food they eat has included showing a lamb being slaughtered and last week he shot, then skinned an alligator. More famously he had a huge impact on school dinners. So much so that his school dinners campaign led the government to introduce higher, healthier standards for school food. The television images of parents handing parents fast food through railings will remain in the British psyche for years to come - a harsh reminder of what we have become.
The Academy has also felt the ripple of the Jamie revolution. Food cannot be brought in to the academy. Everyone must eat the food provided. At lunch time everyone - students and staff - sit down together to eat. Students must sit in an allocated seat. There are six jobs from laying the table to collecting the main meal and clearning up afterwards. We even have 5 seconds of reflection to remember how lucky we all are to have food in front of us when so many in the world have none. Some meals are really popular with everyone and are devoured whereas some - the leeks for example - are left uneaten.
Three nights a week we have after-school classes and there is a short break in between. The Principal asked the caterers to serve water and apples. Given a choice between an apple or no apple the fruit is proving a huge hit even at 45p a go.
So is this the utopia Jamie would want?
Everyone eating the same meal in school is not a new idea in Britain. Public schools throughout the land have been supervising meal times for centuries. However in the public schools of the '50s there was no accommodation for difference. Our meat is Halal and we serve vegetarian meals. Some students have doctor's certificates that they have to have a snack at a certain time.
There is an inherent contradiction in trying to impose conformity and it is these challenges that have led to some schools offering choice upon choice. I think we have got the balance right. My Dad used to say 'a family that eats together, stays together' - perhaps not always the case but for our school I think the sense of community generated by sharing the same meal at the same tables is powerful. Jamie would be proud.
