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Everyone Is Kicking Off Over Jamie Oliver's 'Jerk Rice'

Everyone Is Kicking Off Over Jamie Oliver's 'Jerk Rice'

Levi Roots, creator of the Reggae Reggae jerk sauce, taught Jamie how to cook 'real deal' jerk but he was accused of cultural appropriation

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

So it would seem that whatever Jamie Oliver does isn't good enough - he only has to ask what people have for breakfast to get absolutely rinsed and don't even get me started on his proposal to scrap two-for-one pizzas.

He's on a warpath to ruin our 'hangover Sunday' - plain and simple. But now the shoe is on the other foot and it's all down to the celebrity chef's 'jerk rice'.

If you didn't know, Jamie was accused of 'cultural appropriation' this weekend for launching a 'punchy jerk rice' product, according to Metro.

And people were outraged, claiming this isn't true to traditional Jamaican jerk recipes.

Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent Central in London, took to Twitter writing to her 36,700 followers: "#Jamieoliver @jamieoliver #jerk I'm just wondering do you know what #Jamaican #jerk actually is?

"It's not just a word you put before stuff to sell products."

The 48-year-old Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities suggested British-Jamaican musician and celebrity chef Levi Roots, 60, should teach Jamie about what traditional Jamaican jerk is.

And TV chef, Rustie Lee, wasn't forgiving 43-year-old Jamie Oliver either when she appeared on Good Morning Britain.

She said: "At the end of the day, I've tasted it and it tastes like Caribbean rice and beans with flavours in it. The jerk part of it is barbecue and you can't barbecue rice.

"Jerk chicken...goes onto meat, it doesn't go onto rice. She chose a word that made us talk. Would we have been here talking about it [otherwise]?"

PA

GMB host, Kate Garraway, asked why it mattered and Rustie replied: "Jerk...originated from Jamaica and they would be offended by this.

"It's an insult because jerk is from the Caribbean and as much as I love Jamie, the point is it's getting onto a bandwagon to say its Caribbean, it's taken away from us."

But Levi Roots, who also made an appearance for the debate, didn't feel like it was that serious when he said: "Jerk is either a method of cooking, or the marinade.

"If it doesn't have these four things in it then you can't refer it to jerk. You cannot call it jerk if it doesn't have allspice."

Whether you agree or not, the main question is - anyone hungry now?

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Food, Celebrity, Jamie Oliver, Community