Jamie's spat over mushrooms

Tim Cooper10 April 2012

It started over Jamie Oliver but it's all about mushrooms, really. Forget whether or not that touslehaired young scamp on a scooter really knows his onions. For two of London's top Italian chefs there is a far more crucial culinary question - who knows most about mushrooms?

This may not seem like a vital topic. But it is to Antonio Carluccio, proprietor of the Neal Street Restaurant, where Jamie first worked in the mid-Nineties. Carluccio, 64, is probably Britain's foremost forager for fungi. He's had his own book and TV series on them. He's got a deli and a cafÈ chain that sells loads of mushrooms and truffles. When people want a mushroom expert they come to Carluccio.

You simply cannot underestimate the importance of mushrooms in his reputation. But now a rival restaurateur - and former employee - has cast doubt on that reputation. Enraged by Carluccio speaking ill of the Naked Chef, Gennaro Contaldo has decided to spill the borlotti beans on his old boss. Contaldo, who worked as Carluccio's assistant for 14 years until he left in 1998 to start his own restaurant, Passione, now claims: "When we met, Antonio could only identify a few mushrooms."

Carluccio, currently promoting his latest book about "wild food", must be choking on his porcini today because none of this would have happened if he had not been quoted in the Daily Express casting aspersions on Jamie. Carluccio now claims he was "misquoted" and "taken out of context". But the paper stands by its report, in which Carluccio described Jamie's popular shows as "too flash," and as "tacky and gimmicky".

His own forthcoming TV show, he promised, would be "very different" from those of Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson. Well, that's for sure: no one has commissioned it yet, but he's "in talks" with a cable channel. In a postscript, Carluccio added: "I am not in it for the fame factor. I do not want producers to ruin my show with music and funny camera angles - that is a terrible insult to the food."

Hardly the most damaging personal attack you've ever heard, but Contaldo, who has remained friends with Jamie since they worked together for Carluccio, rushed to his defence - although Jamie himself stayed out of the whole affair by adopting a diplomatic silence. "Jamie says it doesn't matter, but I feel I have to speak out for him," Contaldo explained as he sorted through mountains of mushrooms at his restaurant in Charlotte Street.

"He is never rude to anybody and he especially adores Antonio, so of course he was upset. I used to love Antonio, too, with all my heart. Even though he paid me s*** I would spend my days off cooking mushrooms for his restaurant. But when I left to start my own restaurant he didn't want to know me any more. I have seen Jamie shooting his TV shows and at least he works hard."

Contaldo claims: "I helped develop the recipes in all but one of Antonio's books. I prepared all his meals for filming the television programmes, I wrote the menus and even carried his bag.

"I went out and found the mushrooms for his programme Mushroom Magic and I put them out so it looked as if he'd picked them himself. He did nothing at all; he had to get me to identify mushrooms because I had studied mycology.

"I know when he was young he used to go out in the woods, but when I first knew him he could only identify a few types of mushroom - I taught him the rest.

"He is famous for his foccacce but I made it for him and he knows that. I think his cooking is rubbish. For me, he should stick to cooking at home for the family; when he wanted to show off he would cook pasta with mushrooms.

"He's in no position to criticise Jamie, who has done far more for the industry - and for Italian cooking - than he ever did. He has inspired young and old people to cook in an easy way. Antonio never inspired anyone to cook. I think he's just jealous. It's not fair for him to criticise someone who worked for him and really adored him. He shouldn't touch that boy: Jamie is very kind and very talented and he inspired me and taught me many new things. Antonio should be proud that he worked there. I know Antonio says he has been misquoted, but he should apologise publicly to Jamie."

Another former employee, Raymond Dusoulier, who was head chef at Carluccio's deli from 1993-1999 and now works as a food stylist, agrees. "What I found disturbing, and was the eventual reason why I left, is that Antonio got everything from the people who worked for him," he said. "We all had to sign contracts stipulating that every dish we created or improved had to become his property. One of the reasons why I left after six years was because they were starting a chain of cafes and wanted to use my recipes without giving me any of the credit. And I was not the only person in that situation. What he says about Jamie, who's a very nice, humble chap, is most unfair. We have a word for people like him in France."

Carluccio, curiously, says he agrees almost completely with his attackers' views of Jamie and categorically denies having fallen out with his former protege. "I have been totally misquoted with words taken completely out of context in connection with my feelings towards Jamie Oliver," he said - though the Daily Express journalist categorically denies that, saying the quotes are "100 per cent accurate".

Carluccio, who declined to respond to the allegations levelled by Contaldo and Dusoulier, added: "I met Jamie when he worked with me in the kitchens at Neal Street, where we found him to be creative and energetic, as well as being a very nice person to be around. I am a great admirer of what he has achieved and there is no question that he has been a great influence in increasing consumer interest in both food and cooking. I continue to wish him great success and believe we should encourage young people like Jamie as they are the future of our industry."

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