Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has blasted his English homeland, saying it is a country full of people only interested in binge drinking and eating "bland" food.
In an interview with a French magazine, Oliver says he could find a tastier range of food in African slums compared to what is served up in England.
He argues the English have become too obsessed with big TVs, mobile phones and fast cars as well as getting drunk in pubs, all of which he says are symptoms of the "new poverty" emerging in Britain.
"I found the cooking of the inhabitants of the slum in Soweto in South Africa a lot more diverse than ours," he told Paris Match magazine.
"It's true! I'm going to be harsh, but I think a lot of English people's food lacks heart. It's bland."
