Being one of the forerunners in bringing food and cooking back to the public consciousness, Jamie Oliver is one of my favourite chefs. I've never met him, but he seems approachable and really does believe in the wonder of food which is evident in the various ways he has tried to make people more interested in it - the schools program, training chefs such as those in Melbourne's Fifteen, etc.
His latest book, Jamie Does... takes you on a culinary journey through the world with each chapter focusing on a different city or region: Marrakesh, Athens, Venice, Andalucia, Stockholm and the Ardeche region of France.
"The food I've embraced on each trip is a mixture of what you could call the cliched star dishes - the tagines of Morocco, the flamboyant paella of Spain, and the zingy flavours of a classic Greek salad," Jamie says, "and the recipes that I've been inspired to make after walking through the markets and soaking up the vibes of each place."
The recipes are inspired by these places - a mixture of both classic and new - and have, of course, Jamie's personal touch to them. It also has beautiful photography of the regions he has visited for his research: people, food, ingredients - and therein lies the problem.
This isn't a book I'd take to my kitchen. It's too pretty, the paper is too thick, and I feel, at times, the recipes are overshadowed by the images. There's just too much going on in there.
Also, as I flicked through it trying to get a feel for it, I kept getting distracted by the images instead of the recipes.
"What you'll find in this book is fun, optimistic, escapist food you can actually cook and enjoy in your own home," Jamie says - and I have no doubt of that. But I really don't want to scribble a recipe down on a piece of paper that I can take to the kitchen, so I don't get my book dirty.
I make it no secret that I prefer cookbooks to be user-friendly - easy to use recipes, something you can take into the kitchen and make a mess of.
Jamie, being Jamie, has probably exactly those kind of recipes in the book, but here's the thing: I'm sitting here writing this review without the book in front of me, and can't remember a single one of them right now. They were completely overshadowed by all the beautiful colours and images and places Jamie had visited.
A beautiful book to flick through and to add to your Jamie collection; not so good for the kitchen.