Celebrity chef and father of five Jamie Oliver has been forced to endure a tirade of abusive comments online after sharing a photo of himself cooking dinner with six-month-old son River in tow.
Sharing the black-and-white image to his Facebook page last week, Oliver wrote, “Gotta start them young!….. bless baby River he’s so fascinated by the cooking.”
The image shows Oliver holding River in one arm while he holds a pan in another.
Within hours of posting the image, however, the 41-year-old faced an onslaught backlash, with many believing the world-famous chef was putting his youngest child at risk.
"If that spits at the kid he will get burned," one Facebook user wrote, adding, "never ever take children that near a cooker."
Another agreed, commenting, "working with a child of that age so close to all that danger, when will this d**k ever grow up."
"So adorable. But PLEASE don't hold your baby near the stove," one user said, while another asked "Did he do a risk assessment before this !!!!!!!"
Other fans of the television star, though, applauded the image for its parenting realness.
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"I love that even celebrity chefs have to balance their babies on their hips to simply get a meal on the table," one mum said.
"What a beautiful photo. I always had my children in the kitchen with me whenever I was cooking," another shared.
"My fifth child was in a sling every meal I had to make for her first year of life. She's now 2 1/2 and loves to "help" with dinner," another wrote.
A number of parents from around the world then shared their own photos of cooking with their children, proving that babies and food can be a safe match made in heaven.
As to what Oliver makes of the fiasco, we're not quite sure, as he's yet to comment.
But if there's one person we'd be likely to trust in a kitchen, it's someone with over 20 years' professional cooking experience behind them.
Top Comments
You know what gets me is that if this were a photo a female celebrity chef, she would be applauded for doing the exact same thing. The man has five kids for Heaven's sake! I think he knows what he is doing. I always bring my son into the kitchen with me when I cook, granted he is too big to hold on my hip like that, but he is always present. I want him to have pleasant memories of his momma cooking in the kitchen and playing with him while she danced and sang to the music always playing in the house.
Ummm how does any parent get the dinner cooked with a little baby, most of the time my 4 were in the sling/snuggly.
It's a shame people aren't appreciating Jamie being so lovingly involved in the hands on raising of his children.
I think it's a lovely picture Jamie - keep up the gorgeous work xx