Jamie Oliver raises funds for victims of the Amatrice earthquake with a classic pasta dish that hails from the stricken town
- Restaurants asked to make donations from sales of Pasta Amatriciana dish
- Chef put dish on specials menu at every UK branch of Jamie's Italian
- £2 from each sale will be donated to the Italian Red Cross
- Fundraising campaign will last for months to help earthquake victims
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has urged Italian restaurants in Britain to follow his lead in making donations from sales of a classic pasta dish, which originates from an Italian town destroyed by Wednesday's devastating earthquake.
The celebrity chef has put the famous Pasta Amatriciana dish on the special board at every branch of Jamie's Italian across the UK.
In total £2 from every sale of the meal - spaghetti in a tomato sauce with pork cheek and pecorino cheese - will be donated to the Italian Red Cross.
Jamie Oliver has put the famous Pasta Amatriciana dish, pictured, on the specials board at every branch of Jamie's Italian across the UK. £2 from every sale will be donated to the Italian Red Cross
The dish hails from Amatrice in Italy - where the 6.2 magnitude earthquake has all but destroyed the picturesque town, killing at least 268 and injuring 400.
'This is going to go on for months, and I think we can raise thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds,' Jamie, 41, said in a Facebook Live video yesterday that has been viewed more than 1.5million times.
'This is just a little bit of love to our Italian neighbours, and trying to do something in the way that we know that we can, which is cook.'
He added: 'I know it's gruesome out there but we're going to do what we can.'
The idea to raise money from sales of the famous pasta dish began in Italy, with more than 600 restaurants signing up to the campaign launched by food blogger Paolo Campana.
Jamie said he was trying to get more British Italian restaurants involved in the campaign. The fundraiser was launched by food blogger Paolo Campana, and now 600 restaurants in Italy have signed up
Now Italian restaurants across the world have been urged to follow suit.
In his Facebook Live video, Jamie said: 'There's lots of chefs around Italy doing this, I'm trying to get the British ones involved as well.'
The Naked Chef also posted the fundraising appeal on Instagram, where he wrote above a picture of the dish: 'Sadly this activity will run for months to come as it will take time to relocate people in new accomodations [sic].
'But we can support for the same time - every bit of help will count.'
The image has been 'liked' more than 66,000 times.
Jamie posted the fundraising appeal on Instagram and made a Facebook Live video. The £2 donation from each dish will help fund the ongoing rescue mission by the Italian Red Cross, and help them to treat families for injuries and provide food and comfort to those who have lost loved ones
Amatrice was set to hold its 50th annual food festival celebrating the 'spaghetti all’amatriciana' dish before the devastating earthquake.
The £2 donations will help fund the ongoing rescue mission by the Italian Red Cross, and help them to treat families for injuries and to help volunteers provide food and comfort to those who have lost loved ones.
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