It’s Jamie Oliver vs Pete Evans in ‘faddy diet advice’ spat

‘Paleo Pete’ Evans doesn’t take criticism of his hardcore caveman diet lightly, even when it’s from a fellow celebrity chef.

So when UK star Jamie Oliver had the temerity to say that a Paleo diet, or any faddy eating plan, wasn’t really his thing, Evans was quick to hit back.

News Corp had asked Oliver what he thought about Evans’ Paleo diet, which involves eating like one of the original hunter-gatherers, with a focus on unprocessed foods, pesticide-free fruit and vegetables and wild-caught and free-range meats.

“I get that we haven’t changed since caveman times and I get that we were hunter gatherers but to be honest I think that we can get so caught up in diets and fads that we become very confused,” Oliver answered, pretty reasonably.

The Brit went on to say that he preferred just cooking fresh  ingredients and ensuring his meals contained a rainbow of colours.

“Cook with your mum, your aunty, your neighbour, talk about food, experiment. If you’re cooking from fresh you generally tend to edit out 95 per cent of the issues and problems that everyone is yapping on about,” he concluded.

But Evans rejected the assertion that his recommended diet was a fad, or complex to follow.

“Eating a diet rich in abundant colourful vegetables and having a side of well sourced animal protein and fat, such as wild sustainable seafood or pasture raised meats (basically meat and three veg, with an emphasis on the veg) is the most simple and least confusing dietary approach on the planet,” the My Kitchen Rules judge told the Daily Mail, adding that a Paleo diet was being recommended by the world’s leading doctors because it removed ‘inflammatory foods’.

Bringing doctors into the argument, however, is where Evans has gone wrong in the past.

Although his Paleo diet itself may not be particularly faddy or worrisome, he’s previously ventured into the realm of giving medical device, including telling followers that ‘three meals a day’ was a scam invented by food manufacturers, cautioning against using sunscreen, advising parents to feed bone broth to babies, telling an osteoporosis sufferer to give up dairy, and claiming that a Paleo diet can used as a treatment for chronic diseases, as well as autism.

His advice has seen him cop plenty of criticism, from the Australian Medical Association and many others. It caused one Brisbane doctor, Brad Robinson, to even ask Evans to agree to a ‘deal’.

“You don’t give medical advice and I won’t tell you how to best shuck oysters. Agreed?” the doctor wrote in an open letter to Evans on Facebook.

Who do you agree with on this issue – Jamie Oliver or Pete Evans?