I watched two episodes of Jamie's food revolution last night, and I found it so frustrating. He's intent on bringing healthier food to our nation's schools, starting with the unhealthiest town in America. He's sometimes a bit of a whine bag and pushy and maybe that's part of why Oliver is so..unwelcome. His intent is good, but, he steps on toes.*
The lunch room ladies don't like him snooping around criticizing their work, they don't see anything wrong with what they're feeding the kids. In all fairness, their food comes from standards set higher up and from budget restrictions. One took offence at being called a lunch room lady, she wants to be called a cook. But, when the only thing you use industrial ovens for is reheating pre made food, you aren't a cook. The kids don't even recognize simple foods like a tomato or potato..unless it's a french fry.
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Like I said, it's frustrating and I think Jamie could make his point and change things easier if he just kissed a little butt and stopped being such a cry baby. And also, everyone is always pointing out the long term effects of feeding kids crap, like Diabetes, heart problems, obesity..but, who listens to warnings about something that's years away? How about pointing out the effect it has right now, like lack of attention span, stress, lethargy, lower energy levels?
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I just feel really bad about what most schools are feeding kids, and a lot of kids eat two meals at school. We should be able to do better by our kids. We are allowing schools to feed children fat, chemicals, preservatives, salt and sugar and calling it nutrition controlled by standards set by a government who let manufacturers put all this crap in our food in the first place.
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I think the answer is somewhere in between the health freaks and the pizza for breakfast people..maybe Jamie Oliver can help. Or maybe not. What ever happened to just plain old good sense?
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Here's a link to the show. HERE
18 comments:
There's something wrong when the words food and manufacturer are used in the same sentence but these are the kind of "foods" most of America is eating. Those lunch ladies are offended because that's how they "cook" at home. I think there are 2 generations in this country that have zilch cooking skills. Next time you're in the grocery store have a gander at what people are putting in their carts. It's a conspiracy between the food manufacturers and the drug/health insurance companies. Yep. I'm convinced.
Yes, it was pointed out that the kids ate the same thing for dinner that they had for school lunch. Processed pre packaged crap. And it really is crap. We feed our dogs better and that's shameful. There has to be a compromise that's better. Both sides have to give a little and budgets for school food have to improve.
The show is interesting and you can find it on Hulu. The superintendent of the school informed Jamie his lunch didn't meet the two bread a day standard and Jamie was like, yeah, but, I have brown rice. That went right over the officials head and he made him add bread. Then Jamie found out kids won't eat brown rice anyhow, I don't care wtf you put in it. So, he learned to compromise and made them fresh pasta. I'll keep watching. I want to see who wins. Hopefully it's the kids.
I still think in the long run. It would cost less if they would go back to square 1. Cook home cooked meals. With nothing prepackaged, sodium filled junk.
Also this is one time in a day. A child gets a cooked meal or any kind of meal. Make it better for the youth of the nation.
They need cooks and a dietician. With a plan to give kids the best food possible. I bet you if they ate much better. We would have less obesity, heart problems, diabetes and maybe better scores in schools.
Oh love that lunch lady said she is a cook. Ok sweetie cook you are not. You are a server. Who serves junk to kids.
Escrow I agree with you. People hardly take the time to make dinner anymore. Its either fast food, delivery, prepackage crap, frozen crap and box meals. Yes some people do cook by scratch still. But mostly its the new generation who doesn't.
I'm 1,000% on the side of feeding our kids healthy, nutritious food and getting rid of the crappy, industrial school system food.
I think the disconnect with the Jamie Oliver show comes in with the fact that here's this loud, pushy, know-it-all "youngster" telling folks what a piss-poor job they're doing and THIS IS THE RIGHT WAY TO DO IT!
These are regional places where the food is the culture - those are tough things to change. It's great to see him trying, but good luck, long term.
David Letterman busted Jamie's chops the other night and Ricky Gervais was on the show last night discussing Oliver with Letterman.
The interesting thing that Gervais said was that Oliver's bragging about turning around the way English children eat in their school system was nice to hear, but wasn't true. The kids are back to eating the same old bad stuff - mostly because the PARENTS didn't see much wrong with their former dietary habits.
Changing human nature is a hard thing - you can lead that horse to water, but you can't make him drink it.
I was one of those kids that ate the federally funded school meals. Breakfast and Lunch! mostly lunch because my mom thought that a glass of warm chocolate milk was a meal! I think the meals were more healthy back in the 70s though, so i feel for these kids. Mom did make a healthy dinner though. Peruvian pheasant food, yummo! bima
Grilled Cheese and coffee cake!!!!!bima
Kids get enough of a free ride in this country. Let them go kill their own food.
who decided kids need all that bread. You know its not the good whole grain with goodies in it. My picky eater wouldn't eat it anyway. "I don't like nuts in my bread mom." Same kid won't eat potatoes prepared any way. Isn't that weird not French fries, baked, scalloped nothing. The list of weirdness goes on and on with him. With kids like him it's hard for school or mom to feed him healthy. If it were up to him his diet would consist of Doughnuts, milk and cake and ice cream.
Challenging!
I am surprised that your little guy is like that though. I know he's around good food a lot and sees different choices.
back in my day if you didn't pay for your lunch or snack bar crap you didn't eat. At least now kids get one hot meal each school day. Even if they can't pay. Believe me i would have been on Free Lunch if it existed back then. I would have enjoyed it and been happy to have it. Back then the food was real tho & was made by ladies in hairnets that were usually pretty nice. free lunch is great but it should be mnore healthy & I say they should outlaw that fake chocolate milk crap at school. It's not even milk!!
rox
I watched the first preview episode of this and I was appalled that the "lunch ladies" thought it was OK to serve pizza for breakfast!
I've volunteered for lunch room duty at my kid's school(years ago) and the meal planner was the so called "cook" in the kitchen. I found the meals very high in carbs, fat and ALL pre-packaged.
Needless to say I was surprised by this. At least it explained my children's changes in eating habits!
My kids prior to going to school and eating lunch there would eat salads/raw veggies (even spinach). After they started school I could not get them to eat them any longer.
I grew up a freaky vegetarian in the 70s so I never got school lunch. The shit they served back then was bad too: Canned green beans (sooo gross), crappy pizza, burgers -- anything that might have had any nutrition to start out with was so overdone that it was a pile of useless food product by the time the kids got it.
Now there are chicken nuggets and the like? How can any parent allow his/her child to eat that shit?
I get that as a nation we act like we don't necessarily know better, but information is so much more widespread now than it ever has been. No more excuses. Status quo doesn't work any more: There are way too many easily-accessed resources for bad school lunches to continue.
Good job Jamie Oliver for having a show on network TV so everyone can see it. Here's hoping it changes some minds.
Lu
Michelle Obama chose childhood obesity as her cause and so many people squealed and howled about it but this conversation proves that this topic is long overdue for change.
This show really frustrates me, too. I usually like Jamie Oliver, and I've been appalled by school meals for some time. My son is long grown up and out of school, so I don't head over there making trouble - but if he were still in school, I would.
HOWEVER, Oliver is going at it all wrong. There are so many issues, it's hard to know where to start. But basically, any outsider coming in and telling folks how they're doing things all wrong and "I'm gonna start a revolution" is bound to be offputting.
He should have tried to get those ladies on his side somehow, maybe found out what the regional favorites were, and tried to come up with healthier, tastier versions.
He should also have tried to get the kids on his side by first just letting them have fun cooking and then gradually taught them healthier eating. JUst trying to gross kids out w/ the nuggets demonstration, I could have told him, would backfire. Don't you all know kids who would dare each other to eat something for the gross factor, or try to shock adults doing the same?
It's no accident that in the few seconds while they were thinking whether they wanted to eat those nuggets, one kid rebelled, raised his hand, and the others followed suit.
His approach is totally ass-backwards and counter productive. He should admit, too, that he wasn't well received in all quarters when he tried this in England. Some (stupid!) parents were so incensed they met their children on the playground and handed them burgers and other junk through the fence.
The nugget demo was stupid because in the end, they looked like nuggets. BTW, after watching that, I cooked some nuggets I had in the freezer for Lis and ate some. They tasted disgusting and I ended up throwing up. WTF is IN that shit? I am not going to buy them anymore.
Crabbie has the right idea go back to
nature and hunt for your own existence.
Allbthat running around after game will be a
bonus built in free excercise program! Kiki ;)
Jamie he got a THICK tongue this is fact. He started this kid food revolution in England, I hear it was NOT a sucess anyone know?
Grabbie " Let them kill their own food"
you know thats not such a bad idea
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