Why do vegans hate Jamie Oliver?

Jamie outside one of his restaurants, Barbecoa. Photo / Getty

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has said vegans hate him and often raid his restaurants.

The TV cook said anti-meat activists have targeted his eateries and show off pictures of "slaughtered animals" to children eating meals with their families.

According to the Daily Mail, Oliver also hit out at Theresa May's style of government and its record on childhood obesity in his latest salvo aimed at the Prime Minister.

Speaking about the vegan backlash, he told The Sunday Times Magazine: "They hate me because we do stories about higher welfare meat, which I am deeply passionate about, but for them it is on or off - there ain't no stepping stones, whereas I'm all about stepping stones.

"Vegans do annoy me, but I also do care for them."

He also explained how his restaurants have become targets for vegan activists with '20 scruffy, weird-looking fellas putting iPads of slaughtered animals in front of kids having spaghetti bolognese on a Saturday lunch'.

In March, vegan activists armed with a megaphone and a cow costume campaigned outside a packed Jamie Oliver restaurant in Bristol after the chef promoted 'happy milk' on television.

The protesters from Bristol Animal Save protested outside Jamie's Italian to criticise the chef over comments made in an episode of Jamie & Jimmy's Friday Night Feast.

Meanwhile, the TV star and restaurateur has been highly critical of the Prime Minister's approach to tackling childhood obesity and the now-shelved plan to scrap free school meals for infants.

Oliver said Mrs May's administration was "completely locked down" with her team of close advisers keeping information away from ministers.

Oliver blamed Mrs May's team for watering down the childhood obesity strategy that David Cameron's government had been working on.

Oliver told the Sunday Times magazine: "Look, I have met four prime ministers. They are all very different, but... May's government was completely locked down."

In 2015, Oliver encouraged people to ditch meat for a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle several days a week.

The celebrity chef said the diet would save people "a load of money" and revealed he personally tries to be vegetarian two or three times a week.

He described the experience as "an absolute joy" and encouraged others to enjoy "more plant-based delights' because it is 'beneficial for the environment and your wallet".'