Food Revolution

This week I have been at my parent’s house enjoying some time with my family. When at home I often watch more tv than I do when at my apartment, and by more tv I mean a few shows at night and a little SportsCenter in the morning (not real hard to do since I don’t have tv at my apt). Earlier this week my mom told me about a show advertised on ABC about food in schools. This interested me because school food has always been a big gripe of mine. I’ve even discussed and shared my displeasure about school food with various teachers and administration, often to be told that my ideas just wouldn’t work.

At first I thought it would probably be a 4 minute segment on a news show but it was actually a real full hour show. The concept of the show is Chef Jamie Oliver is trying to change the way people eat and view food in America. The show takes place in Huntington, WV, reported as the unhealthiest city in America.

FOOD REVOLUTION

Jamie has some great ideas and seems to put a lot of effort and sincerely trying to improve the food that the youth of America are eating. In the first episode Jamie enters the school system and faces heavy negative attitudes from the school cooks. He has some great ideas and is really working to make the kids healthier. Throughout the show he does not shy away from his disdain of processed foods and Americas nutritional guidelines, both of which he calls “Rubbish” in his English accent. Jamie is surprised by the attitudes and reactions of the cooks, kids, and local community in general to the preference and acceptance of processed foods over fresh ingredients. I’m not sure if it is negative attitudes, ignorance, just not caring, or plain laziness that the cooks, administration, and people from the town so strongly exhibit but it is obvious that few think that he will succeed.

You can see clips or even check out the whole episode at ABC’s website.

I plan on catching the next few episodes of this show to see what happens. Having personal experience with school systems and administration I am curious as to how he will address the many excuses and negative attitudes that will stand in his way. The guidelines come from the top but getting the cooks involved could cause a big stir and cause a change in the administration.

Don’t get me wrong; in America we have a great system. And it should start at home. Teach kids to eat good at home and they wouldn’t need to force fresh food at school! The problem is the junk that we put into the system. Put junk in and we get junk out. The casualty is we are putting junk into our kids and they are blamed when they don’t do great things.

What do you think about the food our kids eat at school? What do you think about the tv show?

Be Better,
Brooks