Jamie Oliver has been publishing cookbooks since 1999. He burst onto the scene with ‘The Naked Chef’, the fresh new face of tv cooking. Since then his output has been prolific. He’s now amassed over 30 books and he’s a best-selling author. Everyone I know has at least one Jamie Oliver cookbook and he has endless Channel 4 shows. There’s no sign of him slowing down.
I often think, how does he do it? How does he keep on coming up with new recipes after all these years? Well, I think it’s all down to the constraints he keeps on imposing on himself.
His latest book (and tv series) is called ‘Simple One-Pan Wonders’. As the name suggests, the only cooking method he has allowed himself is to use one pan. This constraint has resulted in some inventive approaches and fresh takes on the dishes he creates.
His previous books have imposed different, but equally challenging constraints. For example a constraint of time. In one book, every recipe had to take 30 mins, then 15 mins in another. I could never manage it, no matter how hard I tried.
Another approach was to impose a constraint of ingredients. For example, recipes with only 5 ingredients. This was probably my favourite book.
So what’s the lesson?
Constraints are often perceived negatively. However, in reality, they are the fuel for creativity. The bigger the constraint, the more radical the solution has to be. If you want to push yourself for new ideas, then impose more constraints. The more challenging the better. Jamie understands this. That’s why he’s never short of new recipes.