Catering for the few?
A pastiche of Jamie Oliver's advice to the education profession on how to run schools
Jamie Oliver has a new TV showing airing on Channel 4 on how schools should cater for neurodivergent students. In order to whip up some anticipation, he’s written an article for Schools Week. What follows is my advice to restauranteurs like Jamie. I feel confident that my expertise, based on eating out regularly over the last 30 years or so will be welcomed by all chefs.
It’s 2025. Surely it’s time restaurants moved on.
I’m 53 years old and I’ve just spent the last few weeks dining out. I met some incredible chefs and front-of-house staff doing their best under pressure, but I left feeling weirdly deflated. When it comes to meeting the needs of all customers, not enough has changed since I was a child ordering off the kids’ menu.
Chefs and hospitality workers are working their aprons off – you can see the love, the graft, the artistry – but too many are being sent into restaurant kitchens without the knowledge or flexibility they need to cater for everyone. Gluten-free? Dairy intolerance? Vegan? Just plain fussy? Still treated like awkward extras rather than actual paying customers.
Let’s face it: if your menu only works for 75% of diners, it’s not good enough. You’d never get away with opening a school that only worked for three-quarters of pupils. So why is it fine to ignore one in four customers because they don’t like coriander or can’t eat wheat?
People with dietary needs aren’t broken. They’re hungry, they’re human, they’re paying punters. But the industry often treats them as a hassle; an afterthought at best, a joke at worst.
It’s not just about bad food swaps and being told the chips might be fried with the calamari. For many, it’s about dignity. It’s about mental health. It’s about whether you feel welcome at the table – literally.
I’m open about the fact that eating out hasn’t always been easy for me. Back in the day, if you wandered into a restaurant and asked for anything off-menu, you’d be met with a sigh and a passive-aggressive “let me check with the kitchen.” And that’s if you were lucky. Once, as a teenager, I asked for pasta without the sauce and got served plain spaghetti with an upturned ramekin in protest.
But I got through it. I had my coping mechanisms. I carried oat milk in a thermos. I memorised allergen charts. I learned to say “I’ll just have water” with a smile that said “this is fine.”
But what about the young diners who haven’t figured that out yet? The ones made to feel like their needs are too much? Food is supposed to bring us together – to nourish, to celebrate, to comfort. If you’re excluding people because they experience eating differently, you’re not cooking, you’re gatekeeping.
We need to reimagine the dining experience. Not just stick an “optional vegan cheese” on the end of the menu. We need proper structural change.
First, universal dietary screening at the door. Every customer handed a laminated sheet on arrival: tick boxes for preferences, allergies, sensitivities, culinary traumas. Don’t assume, ask. Some people choose to avoid onions. That’s not a cry for help, that’s a valid lifestyle.
Then we need to overhaul chef training. Current catering colleges focus too heavily on meat thermometers and not enough on oat milk. We need menus designed from the ground up with dietary difference in mind. Quorn shouldn’t be a footnote. Gluten shouldn’t be the foundation of every main.
And we can’t forget about the existing workforce. Thousands of brilliant chefs are out there right now, working their fingers to the bone – but still panicking when someone whispers “low FODMAP.” They deserve CPD: Continuing Palate Development.
Hospitality is under pressure. But it’s also brimming with potential. We’re at a culinary crossroads.
Let’s support the next generation of chefs, so they can support the next generation of diners – whether they’re vegan, nut-allergic, or just really into beige food.
Come on, Britain. It’s 2025. Let’s move things along.
This week’s essay for paid subscribers…
The piling on Jamie Oliver is a bit much don't you think? I don't live in the UK, but in the US a few things are true. 1) The SoR movement has not solved the access to education problem for dyslexic students. Indeed, it has taken the focus off dyslexia (where the movement started with some very determined moms, yes moms, not teachers) and turned it to reforming tier 1 literacy education - a good goal, but not the sufficient for dyslexia. 2) There is in fact a good evidence base demonstrating that dyslexic brain organization is inherited, present from birth, and meaningfully different from non-dyslexic brain organization. There is also evidence (and need for further study) that dyslexic brain organization does confer some learning advantages. See Wolf et al (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11881-023-00297-1). If Oliver can bring attention to these problems, maybe folks should listen thoughtfully rather than poke fun. I hate the "expert" cult demeaning parents and advocates who have a lived experience that is vitally important.
This really speaks to the tension I’ve been exploring—especially in my reflection on Flexibility Without Burden. How do we design systems that truly serve individuals without creating hidden burdens for those navigating or delivering them? It’s a big part of why I’m focused on now—because as we rethink equity and flexibility, especially in the age of AI, the decisions we make today will shape what’s sustainable and just for years to come. Thanks for naming this so thoughtfully.