Week five of Jamie’s tour sees the Naked Chef in the Deep South, and all the usual clichés are present and correct. Rednecks – check. Genteel Southern belles – check. White trailer trash – check. Soul food mama – check. Unlike Louisiana there’s no Great Charity Cookoff, although as usual Jamie can’t resist taking the food he’s just tasted and giving it his own little twist.
And it seems we must yet again have a theme, rather than just enjoying the company of one’s new friends. This week it’s how the recession is affecting the lives of ordinary Americans. “Recession has a massive impact on food, what people eat, how they eat, how much they spend … I just think the recession is very, very real here.”
Lonnie Smith and his family are proud to call themselves rednecks, and they see nothing negative about the label. The term originally referred to somebody whose neck was burned from bending over while working all day, and the Smiths have lived off their land for generations. Even in bad times they can still come together around the table as a family.
She Does Hugs, Not Handshakes
Soul food restaurant owner Nikki Bush has also built a successful business serving traditional dishes – collard greens, grits, corn on the cob and pigs’ feet to name but a few. This type of food originated with the slaves, who were given the poorest cuts of meat, and little else, to eat. It was literally all they had to survive on, so they put their “soul” into it, along with a liberal dose of seasoning, to make it edible.
By far the most entertaining part of the programme is the “only in America” segment featuring the largest barbecue competition in the south eastern U.S. known as the Pig Fest. Held in Florida, 165 teams compete in 7 categories, with a total of $10,000 prize money on offer. The best Jamie’s team can manage is a respectable second in the “Anything But” category, but the whole spectacle provides a wonderful slice of a previously unseen America.
Some People Did Vote McCain
Less successful are the two non-cooking parts of the show. Jamie’s encounter with the “Sex and the Savannah Girls”, ie the high society southern belles, borders on embarrassing as he tries to get them to discuss the effects of the recession. He obviously believes these ladies who lunch are doing just fine, thank you, and takes their reluctance to admit to any downturn in their lifestyle as proof of this. Sadly he fails to realize that, like religion and politics, personal circumstances are simply not discussed for fear of offending guests.
Another group who are even less thrilled with an Obama victory than the staunchly Republican ladies are the folks Jamie meets when he parks his trailer for the night. Obviously puzzled as to why a Brit, complete with camera crew, is descending upon them, the residents of the trailer park are possibly the most stark example of how the economic crisis is hitting ordinary Americans. But considering this is the Deep South, why was Jamie so surprised some people might have a less than glowing opinion of African Americans (“They got a Queen, we got a ni***r)?
There’s no doubt Jamie Oliver is a friendly, down-to-earth person, but it’s a shame he becomes so uncomfortable when he meets people who don’t share his view of the world. Considering the warm welcome he received from everyone, it’s rather rude to throw their hospitality back in their faces.
