I never thought this would happen, but I take back everything bad I have ever said about Jamie Oliver. And there's a lot of it.
But the man deserves a medal for making Jamie's School Dinners, even if (or should that be especially because?) he has no intention of subjecting his own children to the underfunded nutritional hell of the 21st century state school lunch.
I guess I still thought school dinners were about comfort veg, like in the 1970s. I have fond memories of tinned green beans, mashed carrot and swede (we called it pig food, but we hoovered it up) and pickled red cabbage. Lots of sponge and custard too, and let's not forget tapioca with a lump of jam, but on the whole it was pretty good stuff I reckon.
No more, apparently, never no more. If you eat at school these days you get Turkey Twizzlers (30% turkey, 70% crap), chicken nuggets and chips chips chips. There's fizzy pop to drink and the kids that bring their own have Dairylea Lunchables (which look like pre-formed mechanically recovered meat) and chocolate bars.
Exposing this, and the potential long term effects of this, is really important. Nutritionists have been trying for years -- we heard from a woman who ran constipation clinics for seven year olds -- but nobody's been listening. But here's someone who can make people listen, and can show us that kids in primary schools in deprived areas, who may only get one full meal a day, don't know what a leek is, or rhubarb, or corn on the cob.
And there was a hearbreaking scene where he took a bunch of them to a pick your own farm, and there was a little boy holding a big strawberry, looking at it and saying 'I don't dare taste it'. A *strawberry*. How, in a country where strawberries grow wild, can there be kids who don't know what they taste like?
He struggles with the kids' resistance to anything that look like a vegetable, and he struggles with the catering companies (outsourced, of course) that feed them on a budget of 35p each a day. And he works with parents on cutting down sugar at home, and is as shocked as they are at the immediate reduction in hyperactivity and aggressive behaviour.
All in all it's great political television and it might just make a difference.
There's still no excuse for inflicting the insufferable Jools on us, mind.
joella
3 comments:
There was a very good article on Jamie's School Dinners in the Mail, Friday 11th March, tucked in between the usual Tony Blair sniping, Michael Jackson slagging and NHS knocking (I hate the Mail).
I agree fully with both the Mail article and your blog. In particular, it was interesting to read about the 110,000 dinner ladies who *cook* for the kids. Their duties consisting of *unpack and heat up processed rubbish*.
When I was at school, dinner ladies *cooked*. They served up veg. OK it usually consisted of mash, peas, carrots, swede and overcooked, almost white cabbage, but at least it was veg, and at least it was fresh.
Here's hoping Jamie's programme has some effect.
Wouldn't it be quicker to swap these dinner ladies, complete with processed junk, with the canteen / restaurant staff at the House of Parliament and the Downing Street Kitchen?
Might get a result.
Gary
ps. You're right about Jools.
Hooray! A comment!
What's really sad though, is that I discovered (via my job) that Sustain, an organisation who have been working on food poverty for years, are running a campaign for a Children's Food Bill (http://www.sustainweb.org/child_index.asp) which has got almost no profile. I wish Jamie had allied with this campaign rather than starting his own, as I fear the spotlight will move on when he gets his next big idea... I could be wrong though. Does happen.
Two years later and what has been achieved? I've just dropped my 6 year old girl off at a primary school in a deprived area for her second day (we had to change schools mid-term just to get a place - our local two primary schools are for catholics and since I am not one, she didn't get a place). And this is a deprived area school.
She is having veggie burger with carrots and new potatoes, with sponge for pud, today.
So maybe Jamie has made a difference.
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