Jamie Oliver joined some of the nation's most celebrated and talented celebrity chefs at the funeral of Antonio Carluccio on Monday. The 42-year-old, who had worked for Antonio at the beginning of his career, shared a photo of himself with his peers on Instagram, telling fans that he was honoured to be joined by such "culinary legends".
"Yesterday at Antonio's goodbye it was such a pleasure to stand with these culinary legends, as a young boy I grew up just loving Raymond Blanc he bought us the romance and passion, Rick Stein was dreamy and gentle with simple delicious seafood, Brian Turner the Gate keeper of all things British and good and of course, our very own Gennaro Contaldo who I didn't even know at that point. How funny life is that your heroes can become your friends," Jamie wrote.
MORE: Antonio Carluccio dies aged 80
© Photo: InstagramJamie Oliver with celebrity chefs at Antonio Carluccio's funeral
The father-of-five also paid tribute to Antonio, who passed away in November at the age of 80. "So today we laid to rest our dear Antonio @cookcarluccio what a legend," Jamie wrote on Instagram. "So many great chefs gathered to say goodbye to the Don… tonight all my chefs and I hope you if you're a chef will join together just before service and take your favourite risotto pan and tap it with a wood spoon just to say thank you and goodbye to the man… Big love joxxxxx."
Italian chef Antonio, who founded the restaurant chain Carluccio's, passed away on 8 November. A statement announcing the news said: "It is with great sadness that we announce that Commendator Antonio Carluccio OBE sadly passed away this morning."
© Photo: Getty ImagesAntonio Carluccio passed away in November
Antonio received an OBE from the Queen for his services to the catering industry in 2007, and received the Commendatore – the equivalent of a British knighthood – from the Italian government in 1998 for services to Italy. The 80-year-old wrote more than a dozen books, and will also be remembered for his role in TV programmes, including the BBC Two series The Two Greedy Italians alongside chef Gennaro Contaldo.
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