When I personally think of attempting a Guinness World Record, I think of those pretty wild attempts in the 90s when I was growing up - like pulling an aeroplane with your teeth and drinking a cup of milk in 4 seconds, so when I found out that Jamie Oliver had broken a world record, I was certainly curious.
Thankfully it's something very worthy of the title with the man himself hosting the largest cookery lesson in the world, ever! The record break was done across multiple venues, and achieved using live streaming, supported by Jamie's long term technology partner, Wonde, a global school data management specialist.
Over 10,000 people from across the world dialled into Jamie’s live stream cookery class and cooked up fresh pasta and easy no-cook tomato sauce; in school classrooms, office meeting rooms and even neighbours’ patio gardens.
The cookery class was hosted by Jamie and his Head Cookery School Chef, guided the participants through each step and demonstrating the simple and nutritious foundational cooking skills that Jamie believes to be transformational for the futures of the next generation.
Jamie had his whole team cooking along on the day, at his HQ in Islington and the Jamie Oliver Cookery schools in John Lewis Oxford St and Benwell Road. The results were independently verified by the best number crunchers in the business - Maths Circle.
Here's the impressive figures that came out of the successful world record attempt:
- 10,515 bowls of pasta made
- 31,545 tomatoes chopped
- 10,515 eggs cracked
- 5,257 garlic cloves chopped
- 21,030 hands washed
- 42 countries cooking together simultaneously
Jamie was absolutely elated and said 'We did it! I'm absolutely delighted that we’ve broken the Guinness World Records title for the largest cookery lesson (multiple venues) ever. It just goes to show what an impact we can have when we come together to celebrate the joy of learning how to cook. We couldn’t have done it without everyone who joined the class – so thank you, each and every one of you, and cheers to us!'
The record attempt was carried out to illustrate Jamie’s core belief that all children, everywhere, should be able to leave education at 16 with the ability to cook and provide for themselves - no matter what life throws at them. From nutritional knowledge, knife skills, food safety to budgeting.
Jamie’s 10 Skills resource hub is the ultimate platform to provide secondary schools across the nation with essential food education, nutrition and budgeting materials, which have been developed with food educators across the UK. Since 2023, the programme has taught 127,250 young people the skills they need to cook and this September will see 900 schools deliver the course, reaching 225,000 new students.
Secondary schools can sign up to Jamie’s 10 Skills programme at schools.jamieoliver.com & primary schools can access free resources at Jamie Oliver’s Kitchen Garden project
Mel is the Senior Food & Drink Writer for Good Housekeeping UK, covering all the delicious new product launches that come her way, writing about food and drink topics, and curating gift guides for the best foodie products to buy. Alongside that, she can be found developing and creating cocktails for GH and holds her WSET Level 2 in Wine and Spirits. She was part of the Good Housekeeping Institute food testing team for over four years before moving over to the digital side, so knows a thing or two about great food products. You'll find her scouring the supermarket shelves in her spare time for new and exciting ingredients to experiment with in her kitchen.
