March 31, 2015
SYDNEY, (AFP) - British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver said Tuesday he regretted saying rival cook Gordon Ramsay was jealous of his success and brushed off their simmering food feud as "no big deal".
Both are successful celebrity television chefs and have traded barbs before -- with Ramsay recently chiding the younger Oliver for not attending the launch of his own Hong Kong eatery, Jamie's Italian.
Oliver, in Australia as part of his "revolution" to champion food education in schools, hit back on Sunday.
"Gordon will do anything to try and take the piss out of me because he is deeply jealous and can't quite work out why I do what I do and why he can't do that," he reportedly told the Daily Mail.
"He is too busy shouting and screaming and making our industry look like a bunch of shouters and screamers."
Asked about the comments on Tuesday, Oliver told reporters he wished he had not hit back in the food fight.
"To be honest, I'm annoyed that I said anything because I did bite for a few years and it felt quite good but I don't think it's very responsible of me to take the piss again because I don't want his kids to get upset because I'm slagging off their dad," he said.
But Oliver didn't rule out the possibility that the two high-personality cooks could one day be friends.
"I got on with him once but he decided to slag me off at every opportunity. It's kind of friendly banter, it's no big deal but you never know: we might be friends again some time."
