Are you watching this show yet?
I mentioned Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution last week – I saw the premiere episode Sunday evening and watched that same episode AGAIN Friday night, followed by a new hour of the series. And yeah, I’m pretty much hooked.
I love the idea – the concept – and I love thinking of what the end result could be if he is successful in revolutionizing the way we eat – even if only at the school level. I’ve watched in awe as Jamie has made efforts to make positive changes in the menu of this West Virginia elementary school, only to be met with steely-faced mean-spirited opposition from the lunch lady crew. Those same people, of course, are afraid they’re going to look bad on television – yet seem to revel in smug glee whenever Jamie hits a stumbling block in his challenge.
Why are they so resistant? Set in their ways? They just don’t like this stranger butting in? The cooks were so giddy when Jamie’s menu doesn’t meet the “two starch” requirement and I was boggled – TWO starches? Because we’re concerned that our kids don’t consume QUITE ENOUGH carbs?
I realize there are other factors in play – that there are government regulations on the nutrition content of school meals (and I don’t have stats or specifics on it – mainly because I’m just too lazy to Google it). I know those nutrition guidelines are based in some sort of reason – a common theory I’ve heard is that for many kids, that may be their only real meal they get each day. But there is a difference between having a real NOURISHING meal and having miscellaneous chicken parts all ground up together and squashed into a deep fried nugget and served to children (and when I saw Jamie do this on Friday night’s show, I literally cringed).
Jamie Oliver could easily be condescending – to the employees of the school, to the children and to the families he works with – but yet, he remains focused on the goal to promote better eating. HEALTHIER eating.
Are you watching this? Have you gotten sucked in too? What are school lunches like in your neck of the woods? Have you signed Jamie’s petition?
No one asked me or paid me to talk about this show. Just a fan. A very enthusiastic, nerdy fan.
About sarah
They are cooks not lunch ladies. Lol I love how she got all bent over the title “lunch lady”
I love the show. I knew school lunches weren’t great but I had no idea they were that bad. I have made my kids lunches for 2 years because I wanted to know what they were eating. I will keep making their lunches.
The waste was another thing that really bothered me. All that food just thrown away.
I hope this show catches on because we all need a wake up call. It woke me up.
Ha – that’s right – they are not lunch ladies. 😉
Not only did the food waste bother me – but all the plastic getting tossed — I’m hoping that somehow that’s addressed as well. I know for my second grader, lunch really isn’t that long. Even when I send a lunch from home, she often stands in line to get a carton of milk – once she’s gotten her milk, she’s only got a few minutes to eat. In effort to squeeze more SCHOOL stuff in, I think lunch times have gotten shorter over the years (I’d compare but I don’t even remember how long we got when I was in school).
I’m very excited about this! The lunches in our neck of the woods are a bit better than what was shown on the program but still, there a lot that is lacking. And my daughter, as you know, is a vegetarian. She can’t eat school lunches because they don’t provide non-meat choices (other than PB&J).
Our family is launching it’s own food revolution. We’re taking some baby steps but I think by next year, you won’t be finding very much processed food in our home.
Actually, I hadn’t even THOUGHT of what children who follow a vegetarian diet do if they get school lunches! My guess is that they probably are mostly like your daughter and don’t get school lunches — and I bet it’s partly because families that would be accepting of a vegetarian diet are probably more AWARE of what they’re eating — armchair theorist, aren’t I?
I can’t wait to hear how your family’s revolution goes!
I’m hooked too! I got caught up on Hulu this weekend and have the DVR set for the upcoming episodes. I was so angry at the radio station DJ…he was so…ARGH!! Something that stood out to me was after the reaction after he brought parents into the equation and showed them the reality of what their kids are eating. Parents were all up in arms and I was just wondering…”are you feeding them any better at home?” I doubt the city has been tagged as the un-healthiest in the nation based on the school lunches alone…it has to be happening at home too.
How sad is that those kids would eat those chicken nuggets fully aware that they were made with the gross chicken waste? *blech*
EXACTLY, Sarah. I would share their outrage if I was faced with the same thing (Somehow, I can’t picture our school district being so willing to share those kinds of visuals with us!), I’d be outraged too. I wonder if there’s an element of, “Well, this is their job – they should be doing it better than this.”
And yeah – I can’t believe those kids still ate those nuggets, either!
I’m definitely roped into this show. I can’t wait to see it progress (And I’m CROSSING MY FINGERS for progress!).