School dinners campaigner, Jamie Oliver voted Brits’ favourite celebrity chef

29th April 2010, 10:47am

Healthy eating champion, Jamie Oliver, has been voted Brits’ most popular celebrity chef, beating off competition from multiple Michelin star winners such as Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White.

The star of Jamie's Ministry of Food secured 19% of the vote, just edging out Ramsay (18%) and Heston Blumenthal (17%), according to a survey from Bookatable.com.

Loyalty to our local chefs isn't evident across the UK, with Delia Smith only proving to be the fourth most popular in East Anglia (10%), and Marco Pierre White only the fifth favourite in Yorkshire (5%).

However, foul mouthed Gordon Ramsay was the clear winner in Scotland (26%) and also men's choice as their top chef (19%), whereas women chose the more family-friendly Oliver (21%).

New kid on the block, Sophie Dahl, didn't fare well, as both she and Anthony Worrall Thompson only received 1% of the vote each, making them our least favourite famous foodies.

The research also found that our obsession with celebrity culture is still alive and well. Almost a fifth (18%) would be willing to spend an extra £100 a head on a meal at a celebrity chef owned restaurant, as Brits expect the food to be of a higher standard because they're on TV.

Despite a number of them running various restaurants and other businesses across the globe, 15% of Brits believe celebrity chefs regularly cook in their own restaurants. Londoners are the most trusting (20%), compared to only 9% of those in the north east.

Wilhelm Hamilton from Bookatable.com, said: "With the huge popularity of celebrity chef TV shows and cookbooks, it's clear that most of us love learning from the best. We now want to make it even easier for consumers to book tables at some of the leading celebrity restaurants, so we've created a new guide on our website to help fans of the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White find the best meal for them."

Related Articles:

• 27 Sep 2010 - Flagship Fifteen restaurant gets a light makeover
• 01 Jul 2010 - 'Jamie Oliver approach' won't tackle obesity, warns health secretary
• 28 Jun 2010 - FIFTEEN CORNWALL RESTAURANT HAS A NEW HEAD CHEF

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