The food campaigner claims the trend in ordering meals through an app is “driving our kids away” from learning how to make their own. He insists some delivery firms are expensive and they do not care about their customers.
And Jamie, 46, says the public is being misled into believing that there is a home-cooking boom because they have spent 18 months baking “banana bread and sourdough”.
Promoting his new Channel 4 show The Great Cookbook Challenge, Jamie tells Radio Times: “Cooking is a rare breed and it’s still under threat.
“Everything, socially and technologically, is driving our kids away from taking ingredients and making a plate of food.
“We’ve been under an illusion over the last 18 months – making banana bread and sourdough – there was a spike in cooking, but it was because we were forced.
“The reality is a whole load of digitisation and delivery solutions.” Pointing to his mobile, he adds: “It’s never been easier to order dinner on that.Those companies, none of them cares yet. There’s no proof you can give me that they care.
“There’s no proof that they care about you, your family, and the patterns of what you do.
“Convenience is the big driver and even cheap takeaways are expensive when you compare them to cooking.”
Jamie, who has five children with his ex-model wife Jools, 47, insists that all youngsters should cook.
He says: “If I had a wish for every child in Britain, it would be that every 16-year-old would leave school knowing how to cook 10 recipes.
“They would know the basics of nutrition, where food comes from, and how it affects their body.”
His Channel 4 show is a contest in which would-be food writers compete for a publishing contract by completing recipe challenges.
Jamie is Britain’s best-selling non-fiction author after writing 26 cook books – but he says he wants to “demystify” the publishing world.
- The Great Cookbook Challenge, Channel 4, January 31, 8pm
