Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

[geo in mi]

Anyone watch it last night? Comments?

[plowjockey]

DW watched it and I caught bits and pieces, while on the PC. Pretty unreal in it's reality.

Mostly what I got, was that most of the food kid's eat today is truely garbage. Kid's love this garbage.

The fact that most of the pre-school and kindergarten kids, did not have the slighest idea, on how to eat with a knife and fork, was unbelievable.

The School officials and the lunch ladies responses, were not too surprising. They are so used to buying and serving low cost\quality heat-and-eat swill, the idea of actually cooking and serving fresh food, in a school cafateria, was something from an alien planet.

Good show overall.

I hope it wakes people up, to their child's nutrition, of rather, lack of it.

[Kmac15]

I like what he is trying to do, but his comments were very insulting and his backtracking was humorous. I have worked in a school kitchen and understand that the staffing is not set up for a lot of prep work. I have never worked with anyone that objected to being called a lunch lady LOL

I know there was a lot of editing, but the women were protrade (sp) as angry and mean. If this is true why did they agree to the show?
And last, Yes your kids do throw out that much food.

[watcher]

Didn't see the show so this is firing blind. It maybe getting better but food studies have shown that kids eat the 'junk' off their lunch tray and toss most of the 'healthy' food. If you get a chance got to the local school and watch the finished trays the kids bring up to dump.

[Kumquat]

Originally Posted by Kmac15

I know there was a lot of editing, but the women were protrade (sp) as angry and mean.

Was this the one in Huntingdon, WV? Maybe because before he even set foot in the town, Oliver gave a very condescending interview where he basically said everyone in the town was an in-bred hick who had never eaten a home-cooked meal in their life and they were essentially child abusers? Stuff like that has a tendency to put people off.

Of course, they didn't tell the audience watching what he had done, but portrayed him as the poor innocent Brit, being picked on by those bigoted Americans.

[Linda J]

Yep, the women did seem pretty surly (probably part of the way it was edited). If that is their real attitude, though, I'm sure there are unemployed people that would be thankful to do the job, take some pride in it, and have a much better attitude. They didn't seem to want to be taught or try something new (just like the kids).

I did agree with Jamie as far as the kids need to be taught to use a knife and fork, and if they aren't learning at home, the teachers or aides could move around and teach them. It's not like they would need to spend ALL year teaching the kids to do it, maybe just a week, and then the kids have the hang of it. Once they learned, the kids dug into the food.

I liked the idea of the stickers. And by the end of the week, it looked like the kids liked the food. (maybe the lunch ladies needed a sticker, too).

Americans do eat junky food, and it would take a revolution to take over the lunch rooms and change things. It kind of bothers me that the British say they are the ones to do it. The parents should be the ones demanding it.

[cnichols]

I watched it and I even chastised my DH when he started "mimicing" Jamie when he was upset and almost in tears. This man is here to do something good for that community and the way they're treating him truly is sad.

I shook my head when that lady got all offended at being called a "Lunch Lady" LOL

She's going to be a nightmare for Jamie and I wish him luck.

Oh, and the family he is helping? I laughed so hard when he asked the little girl on his return visit .. "What was your favorite meal this week?" and she piped up " PIZZA! " :smiley-laughing013:

Just goes to show what American's think of as good food. Sad really. Even sadder (IMO) is the fact that I'm one of those addicted to this "disgusting" food.

[cnichols]

It kind of bothers me that the British say they are the ones to do it. The parents should be the ones demanding it.

It's not the british saying they are the ones to do it. Jamie DID it in Britain. I totally admire that he's doing this. IMO it will take someone with the TV Persona to do it. America is TV addicted. If they see it on TV then it must be true! :P

And if you really think about it, the parents are just as brainwashed as we are making the kids. Did you hear what the kids were saying they had for dinner that first night? That first day at school they had "breakfast pizza" then for lunch the had "chicken nuggets" then the kids they showed (and I will be the first to admit it wasn't "all" the kids) BUT a large majority of the ones they did show, when asked what they had for dinner said ... "chicken nuggets"!!!

And those little kids who didn't even know what a potato was, nor a tomato, nor broccoli, etc. I admire the teacher that was shocked and took it upon herself to TEACH the kids what veggies are!

It will take a Revolution to get parents to wake up and realize that they are killing their children. I know that may sound a bit dramatic but it's true. Eating they way they are, young children are loosing years off their lives during their most formative years.

[highlandview]

I forgot about it. But, being from WV I was concerned it would be offensive. My family (extended on both sides) all have healthy eating habits at home. Lots of fresh garden produce and mediterranean dishes from Italian heritage. However, the kids cafeteria at school is pitiful. My kids usually pack lunch. One day for hot lunch there was funnel cake and nachos and cheese. My DD said it was like eating at the county fair. This year we did get a salad and soup bar. So there is a step in the right direction.

[Kumquat]

Originally Posted by cnichols

This man is here to do something good for that community and the way they're treating him truly is sad.

If he really cared, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to ensure that he got a negative reaction from the locals. See my earlier post. He and the producers deliberately set out to create tension with these people, and then they edited to make poor Jamie look like a martyr.

The man is a fake. His working class accent is made up. He comes from a very well-to-do family, but it's part of his act. And that's all this show is - part of his act.

[ajaxlucy]

I thought his parents ran a pub, and he grew up in the rooms above it. They may have done well with their business, but that doesn't mean they're not working class.

The show sounds interesting, though. I hope it repeats so I can catch it.

[plowjockey]

Originally Posted by Kumquat

If he really cared, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to ensure that he got a negative reaction from the locals. See my earlier post. He and the producers deliberately set out to create tension with these people, and then they edited to make poor Jamie look like a martyr.

The man is a fake. His working class accent is made up. He comes from a very well-to-do family, but it's part of his act. And that's all this show is - part of his act.

Don't blame him, blame the TV viewing public.

This is, after all, a reality TV show and with out all the usual controversy, twists and turns to the story, etc., viewers will change the channel in a heart-beat.

[Wayne02]

Originally Posted by plowjockey

Don't blame him, blame the TV viewing public.
This is, after all, a reality TV show and with out all the usual controversy, twists and turns to the story, etc., viewers will change the channel in a heart-beat.

That's true, and that is exactly why the writers will make sure that drama and conflict is intentionally manufactured by their scripts. The people in these shows are actors following the writers scripts more so then they are participants in a so called 'reality show'. True reality is much too boring to make good tv for today's audiences.

[geo in mi]

Apparently this article in 2008 is what kicked all this off--that Huntington was named as the "Sickest" city in the US in terms of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,452864,00.html

I think Jamie is facing an uphill(okay, I am making a pun) struggle with an engrained culture that isn't changing with the times. His personality and the rolling cameras don't help much, either. I know that I, too struggle with an obesity and diabetes problem that springs from my own farmer style high calorie/high carb intake of years ago when we went out and burned it off each day--and from the fact my own mother, a depression kid--made me "clean up my plate" before leaving the table. However, I do know what a tomato and a potato looks like. The hard-working coal miner culture is still in town, but the coal mine jobs aren't. This article points out to me that we are in the midst of a new revolution in our society, and it will be quite painful--many, many people will pay a high, painful price for their inability, or unwillingness, to make the changes necessary. In Huntington, it will be that of having teenagers taking insulin, and riding scooters to the prom.....

[Beeman]

I saw a little of it, what lovely ladies. You're not going to go into a school, especially in an area like that, and expect anyone kids or teachers to change their eating habits. Fast food makes it's big money in places like that or the county I live in. Mountain Dew is put in baby bottles around here. Pizza is reward food for kids, do good at anything or for any reason on earth and you get pizza. McDonalds has a line around the building at 10 PM with parents buying their kids supper after they pick them up from daycare or ball practice and then shop at WM.

[FarmboyBill]

I didnt eat lunch at HS, and they didnt serve it at GS, course, at GS, they didnt have indoor toilets, phones, well, only one had a phone. A wall phone hooked to a bare wire line, that sounded like somebody strangeling a cat when used in a wind as were haveing today. Course, no kitchen, no puters, copiers, well, almost no copiers. They had a machine that turned out copies in purple letters. Used to know how it worked. Forgot it right now. Used my HS money 35cents a day, 25 without milk, to buy ciggies and beer at lunchtime downtown at the local bar,. Told mom I couldnt gag down lunch with water, so I got the extra nickle. She wouldnt spring for pop. A L L said and done she was a wise, if not always good mom. Cigs was 25cents a pk, a beer was the same, a short beer.

[MaineFarmMom]

Originally Posted by cnichols

And those little kids who didn't even know what a potato was, nor a tomato, nor broccoli, etc. I admire the teacher that was shocked and took it upon herself to TEACH the kids what veggies are!

That was as baffling to me as kids who didn't know how to use silverware. I can't imagine a school cafeteria not having enough silverware for the kids. Apparently a lot of parents don't take their kids grocery shopping and walk through the produce department. I was pleased that the teacher took the time to teach the kids which veggie is which.

Originally Posted by Beeman

I saw a little of it, what lovely ladies. You're not going to go into a school, especially in an area like that, and expect anyone kids or teachers to change their eating habits.

Not only did he expect it, he did it.

The show can be watched here with high speed access. http://abc.go.com/shows

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

i caught just a few minutes of it , he could be more tactfull in what he is doing but that doesn't make good tv according to producers.

i wish they for the sake of the food they would give up on the controversy , the insults and such and let the food stand on it's own. it is badly handi capped agains things that are engineered for the taste of an adolecent , from thier very conception deep in the labs of the factory that produces them.

what i did catch is that his menu of chicken and brown rice was lacking the state mandated 2 bread servings but the pizza the lunch ladies served was a perfect fit for the 2 bread requirment now when i read the food pyrimid from the my pyrimid .gov it said grain , and suggested bread as a source of grains (pizza crust as a source of grains is often a bit of a strech) but to completely forget grains in thier own food group is real bad policy.

[rean]

Born in New England, raised in Western Maryland, and residing in Iowa. I LMAO when I saw he was in Huntington, WV. There's a saying that "ignorance is bliss", and is proven true in that neck of the woods.

[texican]

Everything in moderation.

I've tasted some abominable food before... whole wheat pizza... sugar free fat free ice cream... please tell me what's the point?

I saw the listing, but didn't watch...