Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/jamie-oliver-s-food-revolution

Comment #749

2010-05-12T01:31:36Z

Sixth episode: The wrap-up. Unfortunately, Jamie nearly lost me on this one. It's one thing to change the food served by the schools, but his idea that all children should eat the school's lunch, and that the school should regulate any meal brought from home, is offensive. Granted, many of the brown-bagged lunches were junk, but that is the parents' business and responsibility, and Jamie should have approached the problem the way he did so well in other areas: through education and inspiration.

Comment #748

2010-04-17T19:41:53Z

Fifth episode: The first one I convinced Porter to watch, but alas, the least interesting so far.

Comment #747

2010-04-12T13:03:50Z

Fourth episode: I'm starting to be very impressed with both Jamie's energy and his knack for publicity. At first I though his crazy stunts were designed to make good reality TV, if that isn't an oxymoron. There's no denying that his personality fits that style. But his crazy stunts work! A flash mob of dancing cooks on the college campus, a cook-a-thon in the street, a bet with his most vocal opponent, and endless hours spent on radio and television interviews paid off in a big way. I wish healthy eating gave everyone the kind of energy Jamie Oliver has!

Comment #746

2010-04-05T11:39:57Z

Third episode. Best so far; this had me choking up. Jamie assembles a diverse team of high school students and proves once again how much we underestimate kids. The only bad moment was the one teen who upbraided the adults: "You're the ones who are supposed to be taking care of us." I couldn't help thinking of David Farragut commanding a ship at age 12. But we taught them that dependency mentality.

Oh, yes, there was also the part where Jamie serves a healthy, fresh meal with chicken, pasta, vegetables, and fruit, and gets in trouble for not meeting the school lunch nutritional guidelines—not enough vegetables, according to the eye of the inspector. But the lunch of chicken patty sandwiches and piles of French fries gets the okay because (1) French fries count as a vegetable and (2) there is an "optional" (and almost universally ignored) salad available.

Comment #745

2010-03-29T01:16:00Z

Second episode. What shocked me the most about this one had nothing to do with the food. It was that the elementary school students did not eat with knives and forks: they used only spoons and their hands. The school staff did not expect the students to be able to handle table knives safely; they were shocked when Jamie told them that schools in the UK routinely give tableware to school children. When Jamie did give them knives it was clear that they had never learned to use them. How do you get to be five years old and not know how to use a knife and fork?

This reminded me of Janet's visit to a Japanese family's home, so I went back to pull this quote from her post: The two-year-old helped flip meat on the grill with her little chopsticks! Everyone skillfully got food and ate it using chopsticks. One of the youngest got sloppy and had his chopsticks taken away and was given a fork, but he could use them just fine when he wanted it. So the Japanese let their two-year-olds cook with chopsticks, and we don't even let our elementary school students eat with forks?

It's not a negative episode, however. The teachers rise to the challenge, and lo and behold, the kids learn to use knives and how to identify a potato that's not in French fry form.

Comment #744

2010-03-23T12:06:53Z

I was thinking the same thing about all the kids having breakfast at school.

Our K-2 school doesn't even have a kitchen. There is some accommodation made for kids who need a school breakfast or lunch, but in general, every child brings their own lunch. If I remember correctly, they do get milk.

The 3-6 schools started serving lunches several years ago. T tried it once or twice, but with the lunch period so short, he didn't want to waste his time in line.