Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

[jamimb]

Just finished watching this show. I am so excited about this. I grew up about an hr from Huntington and I know firsthand what they think is "healthy" food. I am very passionate about eating and feeding my family food that is nutritious . I am an assistant teacher and am sometimes appalled at what the kids at my school eat. Both school lunches and lunches brought from home. IMO this entire country needs a food overhaul. It never ceases to amaze me the foods some people think are healthy!!!

 

[allison443]

I didn't realize that started tonight! I wanted to watch it.
Maybe it will be online.

 

[jamimb]

It was a sneak preview. Friday it's a two hr event so maybe they will show the hour I just saw and a new hr. I hope they will be posting the episodes online because I will be traveling Friday night and will be unable to watch it.

 

[mickeywho?]

Turns my stomach to think about what those kids were eating...
Potato pearls? WTH is that?
I can understand the school cooks feeling defensive...but seriously...reading the ingredients on some of those packages and thinking it's all okay? YUCK! Hope he's able to cause some serious waves and get them started on making changes. Should be interesting to watch!

 

[jamimb]

Turns my stomach to think about what those kids were eating...
Potato pearls? WTH is that?
I can understand the school cooks feeling defensive...but seriously...reading the ingredients on some of those packages and thinking it's all okay? YUCK! Hope he's able to cause some serious waves and get them started on making changes. Should be interesting to watch!

I don't know why but I'm so excited about this. I hope he can make some serious changes and it will have a ripple effect.

 

[SOnotLayuh]

I've been anxiously awaiting this also! CAN'T WAIT!

 

[bigmerle1966]

I felt sorry for him, trying to make a change and so much resistance. You would think they would have started this somewhere the people would be more receptive. I could only watch bits and pieces because it was ticking me off.

 

[buckler]

If you like spoilers, here are some articles from a Huntington news source. Don't read them if you want to be completely surprised.

1st Grader Had Not Held Carrot
Jamie Oliver Wraps Up Show in Huntington

 

[allison443]

It was a sneak preview. Friday it's a two hr event so maybe they will show the hour I just saw and a new hr. I hope they will be posting the episodes online because I will be traveling Friday night and will be unable to watch it.

Thanks for the heads up! Going to set the dvr in case I miss it..

 

[Swimnoid]

I really enjoyed this and cant wait for more episodes. I didnt think the kids would pick chicken over pizza though!

 

[bumbershoot]

Wow it was in Huntington? That's an uphill challenge, if my summer spent there showed me anything... Although the town is pretty cool; they had veggie burgers on many menus back in 2000, for instance.

Hey, turns out DH is watching it right now, off I go to the living room!

 

[bambii]

those kitchen ladys were acting... like there was nothing wrong with that food. three blind mice.. why not change if it helps the kids.. i even noticed they served white bread, my kids eat school lunch and have alway had whole wheat brea..

 

[shortbun]

Those women were MEAN!!! To think that in 2010 women who prepare food don't know that what they are serving the children is just crap...and the woman who presented him with the guidelines, that smirk on her face...the principal...so glad my kids packs and has always packed!!!!! Funny thing is that our school lunches in uppper grades provide large salads as a choice with great bread on the side or veggie burgers. The ES lunches are pretty pathetic. Why do kids gravitate toward pureed junk???

 

[eliza61]

My son goes to Marshall college. He's a freshmen and just returned home for spring break. Take about adding on some pounds. "ouch".
Our food supply is horrible to start with. As a country we eat processed, high fructose, non nutrional food routinely.

What is amazing is that we act all surprised or shocked that we are obese with high % of
chronic illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease.

 

[lucas]

I enjoyed the show. Can't wait to see more.

 

[agnes!]

Look, I think it took a lot of guts for Huntington to agree to do this, I'd admire them. And there's nothing especially horrible about Huntington per se...this show could have been filmed almost *anywhere* in the United States. Huntington doesn't hold the patent on being ignorant about food, otherwise McDonald's fries and 7-Eleven's Big Gulp wouldn't practically be our official national foodstuffs.

Someone mentioned on the CB fairly recently that there's some teacher who is blogging anonymously about her experience of eating school lunches for an entire school year...brave woman.

What's funny is I remember school lunches used to be prepared at each individual school, even had home-made breads. Now with centralized preparation almost all school-based kitchens are basically just re-heating stations. The schools should keep the fridges and freezers and just take out all the stoves and stick in a bunch of microwaves with some steam-tables...stop trying to pretend that any food is actually *cooked* there.

agnes!

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

My son goes to Marshall college. He's a freshmen and just returned home for spring break. Take about adding on some pounds. "ouch".
Our food supply is horrible to start with. As a country we eat processed, high fructose, non nutrional food routinely.

What is amazing is that we act all surprised or shocked that we are obese with high % of
chronic illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease.

What horrible women!

 

[Sarah7401]

Marshall "College"? Really?

Anyway, granted, the cooks were rude; however, they don't have much choice (read absolutely no choice) in what those kids eat for lunch. If he really, truly wants to make a change, he needs to come to Charleston and head to the capitol to talk to the state board of education. Schools are provided a menu each month from the county and they order accordingly to make what is on the menu. They used to have more freedom in what they ordered. For example, the cooks at my son's school knew that making certain dishes was just a waste of time. They knew that half the kids would bring their lunches and those that didn't would end up throwing all their food away. So, instead of having all that waste, they would order something different for that day. It's not the cooks' fault... although they could have been nicer.

 

[cajunmommy]

I'm glad I stumbled on this last night. I'm connected to the school lunch program both personally as a parent as well as professionally with contacts in both school nutrition & the food industry. I can't wait to get their feedback.

The dilemna is a tough one, but Jamie hit the nail on the head with his whiteboard schematic showing it's all about the $$$$.

Unless the school feeding program director has the support, education, & creativity, their hands are tied by that big binder of Child Nutrition guidelines issued by the USDA. I can see how they fall into the pattern of heat-n-eat processed crud because it's easy to plug in the numbers provided by the manufacturers to get x% fat, y% protein, z% salt or n servings of "bread" & still meet a budget & the guidelines stipulated by USDA (which they have to meet in order to continue to receive fed. funding).

What I found ironic is the resistance the ladies put forth. Maybe it's just because it's "change", but they looked to be of the age where they should remember when schools actually did from-scratch cooking. It just baffles me that just because a CN label was slapped on the side of a box they presumed it to be "healthy".

 

[allison443]

Marshall "College"? Really?

Anyway, granted, the cooks were rude; however, they don't have much choice (read absolutely no choice) in what those kids eat for lunch. If he really, truly wants to make a change, he needs to come to Charleston and head to the capitol to talk to the state board of education. Schools are provided a menu each month from the county and they order accordingly to make what is on the menu. They used to have more freedom in what they ordered. For example, the cooks at my son's school knew that making certain dishes was just a waste of time. They knew that half the kids would bring their lunches and those that didn't would end up throwing all their food away. So, instead of having all that waste, they would order something different for that day. It's not the cooks' fault... although they could have been nicer.

I don't know how the process works, but if the menu says "mashed potatoes" do they have to use those instant processed potatoes or could they make them from scratch? In other words, do the individual schools order their own supplies or are the supplies sent to them by the state board of ed?