Colour Diversity Disappointment And A Missed Opportunity In Front of A Football World Cup Audience Which Includes Anglo-Saxons, And Africans, Asians, Caribbeans, To Name But A Few!
Photos Courtesy of ITV/Agent/Insta: Ainsley, Candice And Carl As Before. Plus Left Is Mark Pougatch, Olly Murs And Sam Allerdyce. Right Is Australian Actor Alan Fletcher And Former England Football Michael Owen. Ainsley’s Jerk Chicken Wings With Dutty Fries (Patois Pronounciation On The “Dutty” Please If Poss!). All Receipes @ainsleyharriott.com And ITV X
After Interviewing Ainsley (Which Was A Joy) The Full Line Up of Guests For All Five Shows Later Became Available And The Full Guest List Was At Least Twice As Many As Initially Mentioned (And Potentially Three Times As Many If There Are Three Guests Per Show, As In The First Episode, Featuring Former England Manager Sam Allerdyce, ITV Sports Presenter Mark Pougatch And Pop Singer Olly Murs, Which Would Have Made It 15). In Reality Eleven Scheduled Guests Have Been Officially Confirmed And Only One Of Them Is Black. And That Is Former Footballer Jermaine Jenas Who Is Mixed Race.
Other Famous Guests Appearing Over The Coming Five Weeks Include Another Former England Manager, Glenn Hoddle, Former England Footballer Michael Owen, Lionness Jill Scott, Ian Broudie Lead Singer of The Lightening Seeds (Who Co. Wrote “Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home)” With Comedians Frank Skinner And David Baddiel), TV Presenter Denise Van Outen, Welsh TV Presenter Owain Wyn Evans And Austrailian Actor Alan Fletcher (aka Dr Carl From Aussie Soap Opera Neighbours, Which Ceased Broadcasting In The UK Earlier This Year To Much Fanfare And Proclaimed Sorrow From Various Networks, Publications And Members of The Public).
It’s A Great Line Up of Guests (All Their Profiles In The Picture Galleries In This Article), But It Chronically Lacks Racial Diversity [EP 1: Sam Allardyce, Mark Pougatch & Olly Murs – EP 2: Alan Fletcher (Aka Dr Carl Kennedy from Neighbours) & Michael Owen – EP 3: Jill Scott & Ian Broudie (of the Lightning Seeds) – EP 4: Jermaine Jenas & Denise Van Outen – And EP 5: Glenn Hoddle & Owain Wyn Evans].
Photos: Ainsley With His Cod Fish Fritters With Spicy Aji Dip, Candice And Carl As Before. Plus Jill Scott And Ian Broudie. All Receipes @ainsleyharriott.com And ITV X
There Is However Age Diversity, Gender Diversity And Sexual Orientation Diversity. And That Is A Good Thing. But This Is A World Cup Programme And Those Watching And Actually Playing Will Be White And Black And Brown. That Should Be Reflected In The Programming. It Seems Odd That It’s Not. Especially Considering The Recent Boldness, Courage And Honesty of Jermaine’s (Channel Four) Football Documentary. (Hunting The Football Trolls: Available On MyFour).
Reflecting On The Full List Certain People Were Conspicuous By Their Abscence Given The Total Number of Guests Scheduled To Be On The Programme (11) And The Fact That Ainsley Is An Arsenal Fan. It Looks Like ITV Have Scored Something of An Own Goal In Terms of Missed Opportunities Somewhere Along The Line And This Is Definitely One For The Linesman, And It Needs To Be Tackled Head On. There’s No Side-Steppin’ This One.
We Adore Ainsley, We Are Very Happy For Him, Ainsley’s World Flavours Is A Great Concept For A Show, He’s Got Some Great Guests, It’s Obvioiusly Topical & Timely, And Once Again We’ll Be There Watching.
But There Is A Sense of Disappointment Here As Life Is About Progress And Moving Forward – Not Going Backwards. For Instance, It Is Utterly Inconceiveable That An Italian Chef, Would Make A Great Programme Travelling Around Italy And The Surrounding Countries, Meeting Fellow Italians, Both Felow Italian Citizens & Fellow Italian Food Professionals, Which Proved To Be A Big Big TV Hit And Then Make A Five Week Football Series, With 11 Guests And Have Only 1 Single Solitary Italian Guest. Frankly It Just Wouldn’t Happen.
Also What Wouldn’t Happen Is A Caribbean Home Making A Steak Sandwich That Left The Bread Board Bloody And Red After Cutting It In Half.
West Indian Cuisine Is Traditionally Well Done. The Bloody Board Had Us Having To Look Away. Caribbean People Historically Created Jerk Cuisine And Hardcore Seasoning & Cooking Is What We Do. If Ainsley Believes Eating Bloody Sandwiches Is Okay In This Day Age, Having Been Raised Within A Caribbean Household To Which He Always So Affectionatley And Respectfully Refers, It Seems Culturally Important Enough That He Would Have At Least Have Had A Conversation About That With A Fellow Caribbean Chef of His Own Generation And Indeed A Younger Generation Chef To Discuss This Cultural Shift And Culinary Differences of Opinion.
To Just Ignore The Caribbean Culture And Embrace English Rare, Medium Rare, And Indeed Blue Cusine Without Discussion Felt Like Cultural Denial And Erasure. Especially After The Magical Series Which Was The Jewel In The Crown of His Career, About Which We Could Rave Forever – Ainsley’s Caribbean Kitchen.
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