Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

[GuardianAngel]

I was shocked at the number of children that didn't know the names of the fruits and vegtables. Growing up, we always had a garden, and one of my two sisters and I had to take turns to go to the garden and get, 3 cucumbers, 4 tomatoes etc, how we remembered I'll never know, as it changed each time according to what my mother needed. My parents coming from Italy, continued the tradition of eating only fresh fruits and vegtables. To this day, I have had a McDonalds hamburger once in my life, all 52 yrs of it. There aren't too many things I eat out of a can or box. I always read the ingrediants of items I purchase and would never eat anything from some of the fast food places. Our meals always consisted of lots of green vegtables, fruits, and homemade this and homemade that.

Those lunch ladies and the whole community, loved the pastor by the way, should embrace Jamie and learn as much about healthy eating as possible. Unfortunately, those kids will grow up to be like that lady who had nothing but frozen junk food in her fridge. Its not her fault, she was probably never taught the importance of eating the right foods.

The part I loved the most is when Jamie said everyone is missing out on sitting at the table and eating as a family, paraphrasing. He is so right. I lost my dad when I was 13 yrs old, but I have so many memories of sitting at the table eating supper, where we all chatted about our day over a home cooked meal, everyday. Everyone is too busy, running around, sports, dance classes, ballet, running here and there.

When my son was young and all through his elementary years, I always had meals that I prepared fresh, then froze them, ready for the oven, I often used the oven timer so when we all got home at the end of the day there was always something in the oven or in the crockpot, because I too had to run around, baseball practice, hockey or whatever sport he was into at the time. Homes are being built or renovated with the most expensive kitchens, and they are hardley used.

I would like to hear from others in Ontario or any other province in Canada. There aren't any schools in my area, other than high schools, that have cafeterias? We always brought our lunch, and that's just the way it is in my area, there aren't cafeterias in the elementary schools.

Buying fresh fruits and vegtables isn't anymore expensive that purchasing junk food, I don't buy that excuse. You can get a 2 pound bag of carrots on sale for $1.39 which will go a long way in soups or stews, or a 5 pound bag of apples for less than $3.00. Its all about planning, they wouldn't know what to do with a bag a carrots, its easier to buy a frozen pizza and that takes care of one meal.

I have always enjoyed Jamie, I think his personality may rub some people the wrong way, but its a British thing. I don't mean to be prejudice or rude, but its a straight forward type of charachter that some people might take the wrong way. However, he has always been trying to fight for the cause of healthy eating, and has done a similar show in his own country which was just as frustrating.

Will it be on every Friday night? I'm confused as to the regular time slot. I watched it last night, but didn't know it was on last Sunday?

[norealityhere]

Guardian,

I believe it's a limited run show. I think there will be 6 episodes and they will play on Friday night. I thought it was 8:00 PM but I may be wrong about the time.

[GuardianAngel]

norealityhere, thanks!! I don't want to miss it!

[sweetpea]

I would like to hear from others in Ontario or any other province in Canada. There aren't any schools in my area, other than high schools, that have cafeterias? We always brought our lunch, and that's just the way it is in my area, there aren't cafeterias in the elementary schools.

Hi GA! I was just going to come on and mention this as well. I was floored by the breakfast and lunch programs at the school Jamie was at. I live in BC and have never had a lunch program in elementary school. At the school my girl's go to, they have pizza day every other Friday, and there is a private program called "lunch moms" that offers parents the option to purchase a lunch for their child on the other days. I let the girls have pizza. About 2 years ago or so the BC Govt mandated that food eaten in schools must be more health conscious, so the pizza the kids get now is on a whole wheat crust. Some resistance at first from the kids but now they are fine with it. I can't say anything about the lunch mom's food, since I've never ordered it. First of all, it's expensive and I can pack basically the same thing for a lot less. My kids always get a fruit of some kind for snack, along with a homemade muffin or baked item, and then a sandwich or soup for lunch, sometimes a bagel, etc.

I was as floored as Jamie by the food they were serving those children. Pizza for breakfast, along with flavoured milks? How could it possibly be more difficult to offer the children some hard-boiled eggs (protein) some cheerios or shreddies or other semi-healthy kid-friendly cereal with plain milk, some toast or a bagel (carbs) and then some bananas, or oranges, etc. It CANNOT be more expensive or more difficult to prepare, but what a difference to their health!!

We are incredibly fortunate to live where we do, in the Okanagan with it's abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables. As a result, we eat fruits and veggies a lot, and my kids love almost everything they have had, including broccoli I liked the show but it made me so sad, to see that Mom with all those frozen processed foods in her freezer. I cannot believe that family eats that kind of food all week long. Hopefully Jamie can make a change, but I fear it will be very slow coming because you don't change habits like that so quickly. The Mom had never been taught how to cook good wholesome food, so she's probably too unsure/scared to just go out and buy fresh foods and follow a recipe. Did she mention she was a stay at home Mom? She's got all day while they are in school, I hope she goes to that kitchen Jamie was showing and takes part in the free cooking classes offered.

Anyone else in Canada watch the CTV version? I think it was edited down? I watched it and I don't remember some of the things you guys are referring to...like the Pastor visit or going to the Dr.'s office...was there more than one episode?

[causingchaos]

You'd think that, if the kids may not be getting fed at home, they would want to provide them with really healthy food at school. I find it shocking that they think those meals are totally fine. I was shocked when I read Fast Food Nation and found that the lowest quality beef - the kind most likely to have E. coli, btw - is sold to our schools! I mean, I know they can't buy the prime cuts, but they shouldn't be feeding them the dregs either. I don't think I bought my lunch at school more than once per week, but I don't remember it being as bad as the stuff they're feeding these kids on the show. I remember there being fruit and a salad - of course, it was teeny portions, but it was there.


I see the same things at my 99 cent store. I will say that our farmers markets are usually packed and you can generally get better deals there on fresher produce. Not only that, but we have a guy who sells meat and I can get pork tenderloin that's fresher and better quality for half the price of the grocery store. There definitely are people who just can't afford to buy the healthier foods, but there are some, like the ones you mentioned at the 99 cent store, who are spending the money on junk food when the healthy stuff is the same price.

ABC re-ran last night's episode this afternoon. I'm hopeful that ABC thinks this show is important enough to really promote. The more people who see this show, the better.

It's different here. Our dollar stores sell only chips and like junk food as food products and our farmers markets and coops are always considerably more expensive for fresh produce and meats. Most of the genuniely poorer people I know rarely buy any meat at any store because of the cost. So it's not a matter of frying chicken or baking chicken it's a matter of there is no chicken to do anything with.

And in response to another post. I could buy a bag of carrots for $3.99 or I could buy a giant bag of pasta or a giant bag of rice for much much cheaper and get many many more meals out of it. Yeah one could buy a lot of vegetables and make it into soups and freeze it but lets face it carbs will make a person feel fuller than a bowl of soup will and if you're like many people who get one meal a day you're going to want to have the meal that makes you feel full. Gardening isn't always possible for the poorest people, especially those living in inner city areas where it sometimes costs more to rent garden space in some community garden.

And for putting fresh stuff in school lunches, these lunch ladies don't have freezer space for all the foods they could prepare and freeze for the entire school. Not to mention codes and regulations about how long food can be kept. What isn't eaten is thrown out in most cases because you can't legitimately feed the children the same soup every day for a week. And the cost to the school to buy new fresh foods and veggies every week can get very costly very fast especially compared to buying the bulk mashed potatoes and canned wonders.

It's very idealistic to think that all school districts can afford these options every day.

I garden and do freeze my food but I know many many extremely poor people that literally go to the store with $10 a week and eat one meal a day and bag of carrots and a bag of apples seems quite wasteful compared to the beige foods which will preserve and last much longer.

[GuardianAngel]

Anyone else in Canada watch the CTV version? I think it was edited down? I watched it and I don't remember some of the things you guys are referring to...like the Pastor visit or going to the Dr.'s office...was there more than one episode?

Hi sweetpea. I watched the CTV version but what I noticed is the TV Guide had it listed for a 1 hour show, to be followed by 20/20. However, when it ended, I realized it had to be a special series because it couldn't just end the way it did. I just so happen to leave the station on the same channel, went to make myself a green tea, and when I got back, another show started. So it was in fact two 1 hour shows.

With regards to fresh vegtables and fruits, I too am fortunate to live in an area where we have plenty of fruits and vegtables, but only during spring summer and fall, winter's are long with imported products.

causingchaos, I understand some of your points in your previous post. However I find it appalling those children were eating pizza for breakfast. Like sweetpea mentioned, hard boiled eggs, cheerios, regular milk, its not that difficult or costly. I would think flavoured milk is more expensive than regular milk. Its a matter of change, using the ability to create healthy meals, on a budget, we all live within a budget, I certainly do. It goes back to the same thing, "its easier", that seems to be the way for alot of families, when really all it is is planning. I would think the lunch ladies already use a large amount of freezer space to store all that frozen food.

The food bank in our area, started a blitz a few years back, "plant a row, give a row". This has become very popular. If you are fortunate to have a garden, plant a row for the food bank. Every year this has grown to a point where people are bringing bushels full of fresh fruits and veggies. Nothing is wasted.

[coltnlasma]

...It's very idealistic to think that all school districts can afford these options every day...

Very true. Maybe this show and similar efforts can open people up to a different way of thinking about their nutrition, so that the "want to" is there, and changes can be implemented as finances allow. In my family, we often add a carb side to fill out the meal, and it's like you mentioned - a budgeting choice - and something we'll phase out when the budget allows. And we garden, too, though I'm not sure it's a cheaper alternative when you factor in the cost of a tiller or freezer. (For us it's more of a family unity/work ethic project than a means of saving money.) A couple of positive things I've become aware of lately that sort of follow the line of thought in this show: the USDA offers "fresh fruits and vegetables" grants for qualifying schools, and Angel Food offers a fresh fruits & veggies package (as I'm guessing other food programs do). It's little steps, but in the right direction.

[Miss Scarlet]

The type of food they serve, aside from having to be low cost, I think goes back to the menu having to benefit the lowest common denominator. That being a kid who goes home and has nothing. Zero.

I've heard & seen this statement before, & maybe I'm just naive, but I just can't comprehend or believe that.
I find it nearly impossible to believe that kids just don't get ANY food except for at school. How the heck to they survive during the Summer? Or on weekends. And what are the parents doing for food?
I call bullsh** on that statement! I think it's an exageration people use to justify their programs & jobs. Many kids may have limited foods to pick from, & maybe not full of all the necessary nutrition, but they do have something to eat at home.

When my kids were younger (grown & gone now) there were some tough times & very limited funds, & sometimes I had to really scrimp on the grocery bills & only buy what was absolutely necessary, but there was always at least a carton of plain white milk, 1 box of unsweetened cereal & a box of raisins for breakfast, some bread & a jar of peanut butter in the house for lunch & hopefully some oranges/apples/bananas (cheap fruit). As for supper, something decent, even if cheap, was on the table every evening. I rarely served fast or "convenience" foods for supper, simply because they were just plain more expensive. WAY more expensive. Homemade is cheaper, no doubt about it.

If I'm wrong about the NO food at home thing, then I guess I'm grateful for my often poor, but sheltered existence.

[canuckinchile]

You should read the book "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls. She is now very successful but chronicles her childhood where there was literally no food in her home. Granted her mother was obviously mentally ill and father an alcoholic, but I bet it happens more than people think. She survived by scrounging through the trash bins at school and eating kid's throw aways. As for the parents, she didn't really say except her dad was never home (drinking or drunk) and her mother hoarded chocolate bars and stayed in bed.

I think you can put nutritional meals on the table cheaply if you have the inclination, the time, and have been taught/read how to do it. People that get in a rut often fail to see a path out of it. I think there are more year round Farmer's markets offering local produce for reasonable prices. I love these.

[hepcat]

My daughter's elementary school was 50% free/reduced lunch, which means under the Federal poverty level. So the school served both hot breakfast and lunch. The teachers all had cereal bars, graham crackers, that sort of thing right in the classroom (unheard of in my day!). However, the principal made a point of saying that the worst offenders for not feeding their kids breakfast were the busy two-parent working families who were just too rushed in the morning to get any food down their kids. From the school's point of view, those kids are not going to score high on standardized tests if they're on an empty stomach, and it is ALL about those tests because that's your funding.

I think the upshot is that you don't need to be scraping by to make nutrition a low priority in your household.