British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has apologised and withdrawn a children’s book he wrote after it was criticised for causing damaging and disrespectful offence to Indigenous Australians.
Oliver is in Australia currently promoting his new cookbook, but it’s his 400-page fantasy novel that has come under fire.
Titled Billy and the Epic Escape, the Australian subplot in the book tells the story of a First Nations girl living in foster care.
She is kidnapped by a villain who says that “First Nations children seem to be more connected with nature”.
While the character is from Mparntwe, or Alice Springs, they use vocabulary from the Gamilaraay people of NSW and Queensland.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Corporation (NATSIEC) blasted the book for contributing to the “erasure, trivialisation, and stereotyping of First Nations peoples and experiences”.
After NATSIEC called for the book to be pulled from shelves, publisher Penguin Random House UK and Jamie Oliver decided to withdraw it from sale.
Penguin Random House took responsibility for the lack of consultation. (Reuters: Stefan Wermuth)
In a statement, Oliver said he was “devastated” to have caused offence and apologised “wholeheartedly”.
“It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue,” he said.
“Together with my publishers, we have decided to withdraw the book from sale.”
Penguin Random House UK also confirmed that the book was published without consulting any Indigenous organisations or individuals.
“Our mission is to make books for everyone and with that commitment comes a deep sense of responsibility,” a spokesman for the publisher said.
“It is clear that our publishing standards fell short on this occasion, and we must learn from that and take decisive action.”
Many First Nations people have also accused the book of engaging in cultural appropriation.
Sue-Anne Hunter, a Wurundjeri and Ngurai illum Wurrung woman, wrote on social media that it was an “insensitive choice to include themes of child stealing” in the book, given the “painful, historical context of the Stolen Generations”.
“The publication of Jamie Oliver’s book represents a deeply concerning example of how Indigenous peoples continue to face misrepresentation and cultural appropriation in mainstream media,” Ms Hunter wrote on Instagram.
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She also included a quote from Dr Anita Heiss, a Wiradyuri author and publisher-at-large at Simon & Schuster’s First Nations imprint, Bundyi Publishing:
“There is no space in Australian publishing (or elsewhere) for our stories to be told through a colonial lens.”
To which Dr Heiss responded on the post: “I had a lot more to say, as you can imagine.”
Ms Hunter concluded her post by saying publishers should be involved with First Nations peoples at every stage of the publishing process when their stories were being told.
The book was a sequel to Oliver’s children’s debut titled Billy and the Giant Adventure, which he released in 2023.
The famous cook is known for fronting multiple TV series over the years. In the 2000s he was known as The Naked Chef, after his 1999 book and TV series of the same name.
AAP/ABC