I am ... lovin' Jamie Oliver

Who doesn't know Jamie Oliver? The British bloke from Essex with a passion for food, who turned out to be the face of easy cooking for people all over the world. Out of all TV-cooks, Jamie Oliver is starting to become someone I have great respect for. Why? Not only because he is a great cook, but he has his heart in the right place as well.

Beautiful dishes with a strong Italian influence

I wish I had a veggie garden like his!

When watching some of Jamie Oliver's cooking shows - there are quite a few, you can't help but get excited about food as well. He's passionate and enthusiastic. So much so that during Oliver's Twist - one of his earlier shows from 2002 which is currently rerunning on TV here, he is so energetic that he seems out of breath half the time!

Over the years he became a bit calmer and I love watching him cook in the comfort of his own home after getting the ingredients from his own veggie-garden in Jamie at Home (2007), a show which is also rerunning here on Finnish television.

Not that his recipes, which have a strong Italian influence, are always the easiest to cook for the amateur cook like myself, but at least he's got me excited and trying out different kinds of vegetables, herbs, spices and cooking methods. And that's all that matters, really.

His 30 Minute Meals certainly take up to an hour for me to prepare, but that doesn't matter either. If you take the time, you'll end up with a "beautiful meal", full of "beautiful flavors" and "beautiful texture"! Yes, Jamie Oliver says the word "beautiful" about 25 times per episode. I suppose that is the only way to describe his dishes.

Respect and critique

I made Jamie Oliver's French Caesar Salad!

When watching his shows like Jamie's Food Revolution and Jamie's Ministry of Food in which he tries to get the Brits to eat healthier, get them excited about cooking and actually help people to learn how to cook, I have to say hats off to him. He is a celebrity and makes tons of money, yet he doesn't seem to have this I-am-too-good-for-you-attitude and he's still wiling to help you and I start cooking.

Although a lot of respect has come his way over the years, he's no stranger to critique either. He's had animal rights activists on his case after slaughtering a lamb in one of his shows and encountered a lot of resistance when he tried to improve the quality of food in British as well as American schools.

Critique or not, I can't help but love the guy. He's pleasant to watch, he's witty, he's energetic and enthusiastic and although I don't know him personally, he seems sincere, honest and loving.

He taught me the simplest of techniques, like how to butterfly a chicken breast, and gave me useful tips on how to NOT put oil in a grilling pan if you want your meat to have that grilled taste.

While I'm not that big on French cheese, he got me trying out his French Caesar Salad with Roquefort cheese and I actually liked it so much that so far I've already made it twice!

For now I will continue to try out some of his easier recipes and will slowly work my way up from there. I am happy Finnish TV is rerunning all of his shows and I'm grateful to Jamie Oliver for getting me excited about cooking!