Jamie Oliver gets a real taste of Bristol

Posted: 10 November 2011

TV chef Jamie Oliver gets inspired by Caribbean cooking.

In his new six-part series on Chanel 4, Jamie Oliver is taking to the road, travelling the length and breadth of Britain to find out what makes British food so great. He’s searching for new ideas and inspiration to create his own versions of British classics with a twist.

Throughout his travels, he discovers that many of the dishes we think of as typically British aren’t ‘British’ at all, but full of influences from around the world through invasion, exploration, colonisation and immigration.

On November 15th, Jamie’s road trip takes him to the West Country – famous for its amazing plump pasties, corking cheddar and scrumptious scrumpy cider. But Jamie’s in search of less traditional fare too.

As part of his culinary journey Jamie takes an excursion into traditional Jamaican cooking with Chef Neufville at his restaurant in Bristol’s St Pauls area before visiting poet Miles Chambers and Social Entrepreneur Julz for a chat at local radio station Ujima 98FM. Jamie then goes on to join Julz and his family for a home cooked Guyanese dinner, lovingly prepared by Esme Davis a renowned local Chef.  Esme said, “Jamie took a real shine to the Guyanese dishes that I prepared.  He asked lots of insightful questions and was as interested in the ingredients as he was in the traditions associated behind the dishes.  I really did enjoy his company and was pleased to see that one of my dishes had inspired one of his recipes in his new book. I really do hope he’s used the Tropical Sun dutchie pot I gave him so that he can authentically recreate my recipes at home. Jamie is a great guy and I’d have him round for tea any time”. 

Jamie’s culinary tour of Bristol continued with a taste of the traditional, foraging for wild mushrooms with local chef Toby Gritten, cooking up a centuries’ old recipe of bath chaps (pigs’ cheeks) against a beautiful sunset backdrop.

Jamie tries some local scrumpy with the Wilkins family at their apple farm in Somerset and ends his visit with a fantastic outdoor feast, inviting people he’s met throughout the week to join him.

Inspired by the week’s encounters, Jamie cooks some fantastic new classic British recipes, including jerk-dressed Bristol pork, with crunchy crackling and orchard apple sauce, alternative allotment pasties and an amazing apple pepper pot pudding using a combination of Caribbean spices.

Jamie said, “Bristol is such a wonderful city for food because, like many cities which are ports, you’ve got communities arriving from overseas and settling and then making their mark on the food of the city and surrounding area. I was spoilt for choice in Bristol, but I ended up eating some amazing Jamaican and Guyanese dishes.

Jamie goes onto say, “Just outside of Bristol, it gets back to what we think of as 'West Country' food – apples and scrumpy.  The way the local communities have embraced all the new types of food and, in many cases, integrated them into what was traditional – it’s really inspiring. Food really is the perfect way to bring different communities together as it allows us to appreciate each other’s different gifts to what makes Britain great today.”