By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver,already under fire for criticising the diet of Britain's poor,has said all his restaurants would close immediately if it werenot for European immigrants who make far better workers than"wet behind the ears" Britons.
The gabby 38-year old, who inspired home cooks acrossBritain with his "pukka tukka" or nutritious food recipes, saidEuropean workers were tougher and stronger than their Britishcontemporaries and willing to work longer hours in hot kitchens.
In an interview with Good Housekeeping magazine, thetelevision chef whose cheeky working class personality hasdriven up his TV viewing figures and recipe book sales,criticised Britons for complaining about work hours restrictedto 48 hours under European Union regulations.
"And they still whinge about it. British kids particularly,I have never seen anything so wet behind the ears. I havemummies phoning up for 23-year-olds saying to me, 'My son is tootired.' On a 48-hour-week! Are you having a laugh?," he said.
"I think our European immigrant friends are much stronger,much tougher. If we didn't have any, all of my restaurants wouldclose tomorrow. There wouldn't be any Brits to replace them."
Immigration is a major issue ahead of Britain's 2015election - this month the opposition Labour party toned down itscriticism of retailers Tesco and Next afterinitially planning to accuse them of favouring cheaper workersfrom Eastern Europe over British employees.
Next said it hired Polish nationals at busy times but saidit did so because it could not find enough Britons to fillvacancies and it was not doing anything unethical or illegal.
"It's all very well when people are slagging off(criticising) immigration and I'm sure there are problems,"Oliver said.
"Older people always complain about youth and I think it's agood thing because it is always changing. The young will bebetter at different things. But long hours in hot kitchens isnot one of them."
Oliver hit global stardom on the back of his quest forhealthier school meals in Britain that earned him an MBE awardfrom Queen Elizabeth in 2003.
He has numerous books and television shows - the latestfocused on cutting down food bills. His own wealth estimated at150 million pounds ($233 million), Oliver came under fire thisweek for criticising the food choices of Britain's poor.
In a separate interview, Oliver told the Radio Timesmagazine he found it "quite hard to talk about modern-daypoverty" after seeing families living on cheap, processed foodbut spending on large, top-of-the range television sets andother high-tech gadgets.
He described a scene from one of his shows, where a motherand child ate chips and cheese out of styrofoam containers witha huge television behind them, saying "it just didn't weigh up".
"Seven times out of 10, the poorest families in this countrychoose the most expensive way to hydrate and feed theirfamilies. The ready meals, the convenience foods," he said.
"I just want to hug them and teleport them to the Sicilianstreet cleaner who has 25 mussels, 10 cherry tomatoes and apacket of spaghetti for 60 pence and knocks out the most amazingpasta."
"Some of the most inspirational food in the world comes fromareas where people are financially challenged."
His comments were met with angry criticism online with someTwitter users pointing to the price of producing his recipeswhile charity Child Poverty Action Group said low incomes can bea barrier to healthy eating.