Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

It’s all over the news, the radio, tv reports, newspapers and the internet about Jamie Oliver’s TV show “Jamie Oliver’s food revolution”. Basically he’s passionate about turning around the current School food system, which is basically reheated processed foods in favor of fresh foods, cooked on the premises and cooked from scratch. Sound familiar? Yep that’s what all eco-friendly people have been advocating for a while, and here we have a pioneer in Jamie Oliver taking it to our schools and wanting to restructure the menu’s, the food and even the tableware!

If you haven’t seen any of the episodes of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution they are available for viewing at hulu.com until June 5th so go check them out and be prepared to be amazed, disappointed, shocked and dumbfounded with the information revealed on the show. Each episode shows just what is wrong with our current food system, and the fact that this is going on in our schools is tragic. Childhood obesity (and morbid obesity) rates are on the rise, and looking at some of the students Jamie has sharing their stories on his show it is obvious that food is a problem for a lot of the children. They go to school to get educated and in return are being let down by the system.

Jamie shows that french fries are counted as vegetables, students are being given white refined processed breads, rolls etc, the meat products are full of byproducts, preservatives and fillers. The most tragic thing about the show was Jamie discovering that young children didn’t know their fresh fruits and vegetables, in a quiz none knew what a tomato, potato, beet or broccoli was! Are our children really so uneducated on basic foods these days? Apparently so! Basic cutlery is no longer used, in favor of finger foods for ease of use. When did the school system become more concerned with the dollar and ease of use over the health of our children?

Eco-Aspects
This isn’t just about health though, all this processed food is bad for the environment too and very eco-UNfriendly! Artificial ingredients, preservatives and fillers are bad for the environment and are usually overly packaged in cling wrap and plastics. Using fresh products eliminates waste and allows schools to source local produce which is more environmentally friendly. All these artificial additives and preservatives end up in our kids with no long term studies on the consequences. Children aren’t being allowed or taught to use basic silverware, instead packaged foods are used the wrappers and containers are sent to landfills. When children start to realize the impact foods have on their health, they begin to wonder about the impact on the environment, where their food comes from, and learn to make better choices. This should be happening from an early age!

If you haven’t watched the show check out the episodes on hulu, and if you have watched and are outraged by the processed foods in our school cafeteria’s then sign Jamie’s online petition to support his food revolution! Our children deserve better!!!

dalgal | My Bio & Articles