Not far from us, down the Northcote Road (which is painfully trendy and where only the beautiful people are allowed to walk.) Jamie Oliver has opened Recipease. It has a great looking interior and is stocked to the brim with everything that represents brand Jamie or Jme as the logo reads - you can have a hot water bottle and an eye mask right through to "Real" Tomato Ketchup. I absolutely loved the aesthetics of everything. The Spencer squirrel nutcracker is a triumph or form, function and fun.
However at the till I noticed the Jamie Magazine, there were a number of issues each with a cheery photo of our eponymous hero. I asked the guy behind the till if every issue had a picture of JO on them he said "of course it is his magazine". It does make sense of course but I asked is there no sense of self effacement "not at all why should there be?" I explained that I would never want to subject the public to endless images of myself and then I asked the till operator would he want the same he said "yes if I had the same life's accomplishments and success." I pressed the point a bit and said "where does being humble and humility come into it" He said with great magnanimity JO had proven the possesion of this characteristic by way of his school dinner project and the fifthteen restaurants. So I realised I should never had raised this question here of all places and sculked out the door to eat Humble Pie not branded Jme but JG.
James 4:6 "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
The way JO makes his money is based around the JO brand. Others can make their money on brands that dont depend on a personality. That way you can stay anonymous. Colin
Posted by: restaurants in clapham | Wednesday, July 07, 2010 at 09:24 PM