How takeaway delivery services are killing the art of cooking - Jamie Oliver

Ordering food is 'driving our kids away' from learning their own culinary skills. Photo / Getty Images

Jamie Oliver says online takeaways are killing off the art of cooking.

The 46-year-old TV chef has insisted the habit of ordering meals to be delivered is "driving our kids away" from learning their own culinary skills.

Speaking to Radio Times magazine, he said: "Cooking is a rare breed and it's still under threat.

"Everything, socially and technologically, is driving our kids away from taking ingredients and making a place of food.

"We've been under an illusion over the last 18 months - making banana bread and sourdough - there was a spike in cooking, but it was because we were forced."

Oliver - who has kids Poppy, 19, Daisy Boo, 18, Petal Blossom, 12, Buddy, 11, and River, 5, with his wife Jools - noted it's "never been easier" to get takeaways delivered to your door, but he claimed the companies themselves don't care about their customers.

He added: "It's never been easier to order dinner on [a mobile phone]. Those companies, none of them cares yet.

"There's no proof you can give me that they care. There's no proof that they care about your family, and the patterns of what you do.

Chef Jamie Oliver says it's "never been easier" to get takeaways delivered to your door. Photo / Getty Images

"Convenience is the big driver and even cheap takeaways are expensive when you compare them to cooking."

The Great Cookbook Challenge star - whose new show launches on Channel 4 in the UK on January 31 - thinks all children should learn how to cook 10 different meals.

He explained: "If I had a wish for every child in Britain, it would be that every 16-year-old would leave school knowing how to cook 10 recipes.

"They would know the basics of nutrition, where food comes from, and how it affects their body."

During lockdown, Oliver started helping son Buddy with his Cooking Buddies video series, in which he gets kids around the world to send in videos of them preparing family meals.

He said at the time: "We're doing this thing called cooking buddies where we're trying to get other kids from other countries all around the world to send in simple videos of family favourite meals.

"So, Buds has been doing, like, you know, a video a week and he's been getting more views than me."