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fixing it all. I have a full-time secu- rity service, including a guard dog, and of course that’s incredible. But when you’re playing with the Matrix ... I mean, if you expose parts of the food industry and its morals in your stories, you’ll see how your career fares. That sounds grim . Come on, that shouldn´t surprise you! You’re stirring up a can of worms. It’s all a blatant game in which I, too, am just a puppet. A puppet in the puppet theatre of the establishment, however you want to define the establishment, with mon- ey, status, whatever. And you are also part of the system, the media, in both a negative and positive sense. I was the a**hole, the do-gooder, the pain-in-the-ass for a year and a half back then. When I put chili con carne on my menu, people got upset, now he’s ruining chili con carne. Chili con carne is now posh, and so on. Come on! Chili con carne is never posh, I just made sure that the meat was good quality. One day a newspaper ran a posi- tive story, and when it was printed, everyone was suddenly nice to me. I learned then what and by whom I should feel offended and what and by whom not. The only thing I can do is to be relentless and honest – and always put the children’s health first. If it all affects your life so much, you could just keep selling a lot of books and enjoy life. That’s right, with the right timing, the right tone and because you’re hit- ting a certain zeitgeist, you can sell a few million books. But I’m heading for 50 million books sold. That’s more than just successful, that’s a very clear vote for me. It’s not as if I’m a bloody genius. Perhaps the only thing I’m good at is listening. And being persistent. And yes, OK, I’m famous now, but I wouldn’t advise anyone to aspire to that. Being famous is not healthy, neither for yourself nor for your family. I’m at a point now where there’s no way out of fame for me. I’m stuck in my role. And if that’s the case, I might as well make sure it’s worth it. That what I do, I do well. SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (28/29 OCTOBER, 2023); © SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG JamieOliver’s parents Trevor and Sally ranTheCricketers pub in Clavering, a small town inEssex, England. Oliver, whohad struggled withdyslexia since childhood, worked there fromanearly age. The TV show TheNakedChef made Oliver globally famous in the late 1990s. Today, he is active in various campaigns for better nutrition and his cookbooks have soldalmost 50millionworldwide.He ismarried andhas five children. JAMIE OLIVER readersdigest.com.au 7 “The Only Thing I Can Do Is To Be Honest”