4/7/10

America Needs a Food Revolution

How far gone are we, when the idea of cooking fresh food is revolutionary??

I recently started watching the incredible ABC show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  The show focuses on Jamie Oliver's quest to enlighten people about food.  He does this by attempting to change school lunches in a small town in West Virginia (that happens to be the most obese and unhealthy town in America).  What is both fascinating and disturbing about this show is how ignorant we are about food, and our resistance for change.

The point that Jamie is trying to make is one that I whole heartedly agree with: No more Fast Food!  No more Processed Food!  We need to cook our own food.  Otherwise, you have no control as to what goes in your food (and the food you are feeding your family!)--and please believe, it's a lot of CRAP.  Just read the ingredients label.  The food industry has bamboozled us into thinking that we should buy, and not make ourselves, simple things like a loaf of bread.  Let's start using our pots, skillets, stoves and ovens.  It truly only takes about 10 minutes to cook a healthy meal--grill some fish, lightly sautee some vegetables in olive oil, and serve some brown rice.

Jamie is preaching the same thing that I have realized since I started this blog and really committed myself to cooking the food that I eat.  My entries in this blog are not representative of what I eat.  I'm not eating crepes everyday for breakfast, and cupcakes for lunch.  I drink a fresh fruit smoothie for breakfast, along with steel cut oatmeal w/ maple syrup and walnuts.  For lunch, I'll have a sandwich with some fresh vegetables and hummus--or maybe lentils or soup.  For dinner, I'll often have some brown rice, more vegetables (I'm currently on a mushroom, spinach, green bean rotation), maybe chicken or fish, and fruit for dessert.  And if I recently made cupcakes, yes I will have one of those as well.

But back to this fascinating show...

Jamie starts by going to an elementary school that serves a rotation of pizza and chicken nuggets (with chocolate milk) for pretty much every single breakfast and lunch.  He goes to a high school where the students are pretty much only eating french fries every day for lunch.  That is a lot of french fries.  And a lot of grease. And pretty much zero nutrition.  What's worse, is that the school meal bureaucrats consider french fries to be a vegetable.

I'm not opposed to pizza, chicken, and french fries. We are all entitled to splurges where we eat delicious, lovingly prepared food.  These kids are having reheated over-processed non-food.  Furthermore, the lack of diversity in what these children are eating will undoubtedly lead to unhealthy eating behavior in adulthood.  Which will lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

This show airs on Friday nights on ABC.  Please, please, please watch it!  You will be shocked, and you will probably learn something ( I certainly did--chocolate milk has more sugar than soda, and many school children don't know what a potato looks like).  If you want to catch up on the 3 episodes that you missed, go to Hulu.com where you can stream the full episodes.
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4 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 7, 2010 at 12:00 PM

    I absolutely love this show. (AND YOUR BLOG BTW!)

    I have always loved Jamie Oliver and I think he has tremendous courage to attempt a "Food Revolution" here in the U.S.

    I recommend that EVERYONE watch this show as well. It's an eye-opener!

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  2. Angela HApril 7, 2010 at 12:17 PM

    This show is incredible. I actually watched all 3 episodes this morning and can't wait to see more. My 4th graders in Chicago were the same way as these kids. There were even posters in our cafeteria glorifying PIZZA! And, yes, I did have my principal take them down, haha.

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  3. Wilsons GuideApril 8, 2010 at 10:36 AM

    I watched this show, and was mortified...that's right, mortified.

    Jamie brings up a very good point in one of the episodes; do we need to be giving kids who are like 5 and 6 years old the option of whether to eat healthy chicken or fatty pizza? Of course they'll choose the pizza, but that's not what's necessarily good and right for them.

    I think it's very hard to switch from what's cheap, easy and quick (i.e., unhealthy foods) to what's good for our bodies and more time-consuming (i.e., healthy foods). It will be interesting to see how these kids are in 10 years

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  4. Miss O.April 13, 2010 at 10:49 AM

    To piggy back on Miss Wilson's comment, let's not forget that not only is processed food easier to make, in most cases, it's CHEAPER too. When $3 per person will get you enough McDonald's food to be stuffed until the next morning and a floret or two of broccoli is something like .75 cents, what's the more economical buy?

    Parents who have lost their jobs or are working two just to make ends meet usually just want their kids to have something in their bellies. No matter if it's mostly salt and left over chicken bits.

    If you're really interested in educating yourselves, I suggest you watch a documentary called "Food, Inc." It sheds light on just how calculated and mechanized our food industry is. It also shows how little we know about where our food comes from and how it gets on our shelves.

    Thanks for the great post Val!

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