This is Jamie Oliver’s greatest contribution

Forget healthy school lunches. Jamie Oliver is contributing to his country’s wellbeing in a much more practical way, writes Kerry Parnell.

As well as attempting to change the world’s eating habits, it appears Jamie Oliver is also trying to populate it.

This week, Jamie revealed wife Jools wants a sixth child. The chef says he’s not so sure, but doesn’t “have much control in that department” as “women are very powerful and I don’t have much restraint.”

One might suggest he cooks up some new… er, recipes for his root vegetables and maybe pops on a ‘chef’s hat’ if he wants to avoid another bun in the oven, but, then, he isn’t called the Naked Chef for nothing.

“I’ve tried to put the brakes on a few times and it didn’t work,” he lamented to TV Week.

“I can give you a stronger answer like, ‘Look, five is enough. I’m struggling already to get them in the car. I can’t even have a car any more. I drive a f***ing bus. We don’t need any more kids.’

“But you would be under the idea that I have control of this situation. So, we’ll see.”

And as everyone knows, when a man says, “We’ll see” it really means, “Yes, but I am not saying the actual word.”

Jamie Oliver, Jools Oliver and their family pose with their new baby after leaving a London hospital in 2016.

Jamie and Jools, both 43, are already parents to Poppy, 16, Daisy, 15, Petal, nine, Buddy, eight, and River, two and earlier this year Jools said, “It would be nice to get it in quick, before I’m 44. You don’t know if it’s going to happen if not. I’m very happy with what I’ve got, but a little baby — you can’t beat it.” She turns 44 later this month.

While six kids might seem a bit bonkers, if you have the cash, the time and the help, why not. Jools can have as many babies as she likes — she’s the one giving birth to them.

If I was her, I’d keep going too. I always thought I’d only have one child — but once I got a sniff of newborn pheromones, that was that. The only thing that stopped me popping them out crazy-lady style was running out of time, bedrooms and car seats.

Large families are the new status symbol, as most people can’t afford more than one or two; which is why fertility rates are falling. Research published in The Lancet this month showed there’s a “baby bust” in nearly half the countries in the world, where fertility rates are not high enough to maintain populations. This includes Australia at an average of 1.79 babies per woman, and the UK at 1.76.

...And with their firstborn Poppy in 2002.

So it’s left to those with the income and inclination to have big families. Madonna, for example is mother to six kids, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt also have six, Mick Jagger has eight, Eddie Murphy and Mel Gibson nine (not together, that would be a little bizarre) and Marlon Brando fathered and adopted at least 11 children — maybe more. Compared to him, Jamie’s still on his starters.

Forget Jamie’s Food Revolution, he appears to be attempting Jamie’s Pukka Population.

Lucky then he’s got a new cookbook out this week called Jamie’s Friday Night Feast, full of family meal ideas.

“These recipes really are the Full Monty,” he said, which is probably what got him into all that baby bother in the first place…

Kerry Parnell is a Daily Telegraph columnist.

@KerryParnell