Some dweeb nobody knows whines about food in America

[Darth Rotor]

Spot on. He has played a part in changing eating habits of UK kids. Why can't he do the same in the USA?

Is it the policy in the UK that only the government feeds children breakfast?

Oh, that's right, he's a foreigner.

Not quite: he's a busybody, and a foreigner to boot. He is arrogant enough to presume that nobody else has noted any problems with nutrition and health in the US, and his solution is some deep revelation. Checkmite nicely shreds that line of crap.

He also seems to misunderstand American society, politics, and attitudes.

Willfully ignorant of him, I'd say.

He's a food person. Food and diet is his profession. He appears to make the presumption that people ought to see the world through a food lens.

Yes, arrogant busybody about sums it up.

DR

 

[pgwenthold]

Supermarkets should appoint "food ambassadors" to explain to customers how they can prepare local, fresh and seasonal foods.

Can Jamie Oliver please explain the difference between preparing local and non-local foods?

I have two heads of cabbage in my pantry. One was grown locally, the other was not.

How should my preparation be different?

 

[Cavemonster]

I don't know what school lunches are like in the UK; but in the US in primary school, it's not a choice thing. In the US, there is a set meal for each day, and you either eat what's on the tray or you don't. In some schools, you have a "choice" of chocolate milk or regular milk.

That's 100% not true.
I tour performing in schools, generally setting up in the cafeteria which is also the auditorium.

Every elementary school at the very least has a choice between a hot lunch or a cold lunch. Most schools have a non-meat option as well, and most offer a regular alternative that is often hamburger or pizza. The vegetables served are most often optional. Going down the line, the kid will be asked "green beans?" with the option to say no.

 

[Aepervius]

Is it the policy in the UK that only the government feeds children breakfast?

The "Only" is really a strawman IMHO. Nobody said all child should be forced to eat at school, but those that do should get a better diet.

I dunno for breakfast but here around it is the noon meal which the government take care of during kindergarten and ground school, that is called "cantine". The fee for the parent is relatively low. Sure the children *MAY* go back and get feed by their parents, but that is neigh impracticable when you have at most 1h30 (from 12h to 13h30) , have to go back to your parents home, get fed, go back to school. Yes kid have morning AND afternoon school.

And changing the fare during those noon meal and get the kids acquainted to a healthy food meal apparently indeed get results in the UK.

 

[Darat]

...snip...

He also seems to misunderstand American society, politics, and attitudes.

Willfully ignorant of him, I'd say.

He's a food person. Food and diet is his profession. He appears to make the presumption that people ought to see the world through a food lens.

Yes, arrogant busybody about sums it up.

DR

Same type of comments he got here when he tried to make a difference, thankfully he didn't let them deter him.

 

[richardm]

Same type of comments he got here when he tried to make a difference, thankfully he didn't let them deter him.

Indeed. Not even when people weren't just sniping from the sidelines but actively trying to sabotage his efforts to improve the food the kids were being served at school.

It'll be interesting to see how it goes in the USA all the same, fighting against the "Not Invented Here" attitude on top of everything else.

 

[Cavemonster]

Can Jamie Oliver please explain the difference between preparing local and non-local foods?

I have two heads of cabbage in my pantry. One was grown locally, the other was not.

How should my preparation be different?

You know, a quick google search would reveal to you thousands of resources about what is meant by local foods and how to make them a larger part of your diet.

 

[Checkmite]

It still may help with obesity for the years they have no choice.

That depends entirely on what the child eats while not in school - something, I suspect, that is not included in the "15% more vegetables" statistic.

 

[Darat]

Indeed. Not even when people weren't just sniping from the sidelines but actively trying to sabotage his efforts to improve the food the kids were being served at school.

It'll be interesting to see how it goes in the USA all the same.

Whether from design or not his approach seems to be in line with how we understand people's eating habits are formed, I suspect that is why it is showing results.

 

[Checkmite]

That's 100% not true.
I tour performing in schools, generally setting up in the cafeteria which is also the auditorium.

Every elementary school at the very least has a choice between a hot lunch or a cold lunch. Most schools have a non-meat option as well, and most offer a regular alternative that is often hamburger or pizza. The vegetables served are most often optional. Going down the line, the kid will be asked "green beans?" with the option to say no.

If you say so - but it changes nothing. Not giving the kids the choice to say no and watching them eat all the healthy stuff at school, and then claiming this proves you're "changing children's attitudes about diet and nutrition". Of course kids are going to "eat sandwiches and carrot sticks rather than potato chips" if there's nothing but sandwiches and carrot sticks in the vending machines. It proves nothing but that the kids are hungry.

 

[The Fallen Serpent]

That depends entirely on what the child eats while not in school - something, I suspect, that is not included in the "15% more vegetables" statistic.

I would agree with largely, but not entirely. If I ate one balanced meal at school and three horrible meals away from school that still has an impact if even only a marginal impact on improving health over eating one horrible meal at school and three horrible meals away from school. Sometimes children will ignore entire food groups. I know I was not the most critical thinking child in elementary school. If I had the choice between spinach and pudding I would have chosen pudding... and never found how much I love the taste of spinach.

The idea is to get children used to healthy habits instead of encouraging poor habits. Saying that just because even a large number will ignore any lesson learned that the school should not teach the correct lesson is defeatist. Healthy eating habits and nutrition are a subject that was under represented when I was at school. I would like to see that changed.

Keep in mind that I disagree with some of the points you mentioned he is speaking of, but I welcome the debate. Having this debate is a positive idea in my mind.

ETA:

If you say so - but it changes nothing. Not giving the kids the choice to say no and watching them eat all the healthy stuff at school, and then claiming this proves you're "changing children's attitudes about diet and nutrition". Of course kids are going to "eat sandwiches and carrot sticks rather than potato chips" if there's nothing but sandwiches and carrot sticks in the vending machines. It proves nothing but that the kids are hungry.

It changes the habits at school and at least exposes children to a healthy alternative. It is possible for people, even children, to change their minds when exposed to an alternative. When my family was poor I ate more at school than I ate at home. A variety of healthy choices provided at school would have had an impact. It is debately if it changed my lifestyle overall, but it would have been a worthy attempt in my mind.

 

[Darat]

...snip...

ETA:

It changes the habits at school and at least exposes children to a healthy alternative. It is possible for people, even children, to change their minds when exposed to an alternative. When my family was poor I ate more at school than I ate at home. A variety of healthy choices provided at school would have had an impact. It is debately if it changed my lifestyle overall, but it would have been a worthy attempt in my mind.

This is at the heart of the changes he led in the UK; if a child is not exposed to "proper" food then they will never learn to like it, and it is matter of learning to like different types of food.

 

[Checkmite]

The idea is to get children used to healthy habits instead of encouraging poor habits. Saying that just because even a large number will ignore any lesson learned that the school should not teach the correct lesson is defeatist. Healthy eating habits and nutrition are a subject that was under represented when I was at school. I would like to see that changed.

I don't know how long ago you were at school, but in the 90's in high school, the food pyramid and nutrition was taught in Health class, and it was compulsory to take a health class and a gym class at least once each year.

Even now, the US government has a website - an entire very good and very large website, dedicated to nothing whatsoever except teaching people how to eat properly.

I don't see how Americans could possibly be called uneducated about food - or, at the very least, those who "aren't properly educated" are thus by choice.

 

[The Fallen Serpent]

I also think having an onsite dietician/nutritionist (whichever is the protected educated term in the US) at supermarkets to be useful. I sometimes have questions about food while I'm shopping. No, I do not want someone who interrupts my shopping nor the checkout clerks to make unsolicited comments on my purchasing habits, but I like the idea of being able to seek a professional opinion at the place of purchase. Kind of like having an electronics expert at an electronics store. Or the contracters places like Home Depot employ that are there to provide advice when customers ask for it.

I don't know how long ago you were at school, but in the 90's in high school, the food pyramid and nutrition was taught in Health class, and it was compulsory to take a health class and a gym class at least once each year.

Even now, the US government has a website - an entire very good and very large website, dedicated to nothing whatsoever except teaching people how to eat properly.

I don't see how Americans could possibly be called uneducated about food - or, at the very least, those who "aren't properly educated" are thus by choice.

Good guess, I went to high school in the late 90s. Yes, I took those classes and passed with good grades. Somewhat undermined by the pizza I bought from school, at cheaper prices than the salads were sold at. The point is less about academic education but habitual education. A gym class is extremely benefitial in teaching about exercise. It hammers home a point that an academic study of exercise in health class cannot do. Both are useful and complementary. Why not extend the same concept to the foods that schools serve? High schools advertise soda drinking. That is very contrary to teaching healthy eating habits even if they have a class that explains that over indulging in soda is unhealthy. The idea is not to remove all choice from children, but to more steadfastly make choosing what the school offers a healthy choice.

 

[ohms]

If you say so - but it changes nothing. Not giving the kids the choice to say no and watching them eat all the healthy stuff at school, and then claiming this proves you're "changing children's attitudes about diet and nutrition". Of course kids are going to "eat sandwiches and carrot sticks rather than potato chips" if there's nothing but sandwiches and carrot sticks in the vending machines. It proves nothing but that the kids are hungry.

If that were the case you would have expected the take up of school lunches to have decreased. Instead there has been a slight increase. See Table 5 in this pdf.

 

[Darat]

If that were the case you would have expected the take up of school lunches to have decreased. Instead there has been a slight increase. See Table 5 in this pdf.

I believe there is a pattern of an initial drop in the numbers of kids taking school meals when the new menus are introduced but that is only a temporary drop. (I can't find a link to support that so it may well be I dreamed it.)

 

[Checkmite]

It changes the habits at school and at least exposes children to a healthy alternative. It is possible for people, even children, to change their minds when exposed to an alternative.

I object to the way you're portraying this. Using phrases like "changing minds", "changing habits", and "exposed to an alternative" suggests that such things are happening voluntarily on the part of children. That's incredibly misleading. Taking away "unhealthy choices" in fact leaves no alternatives and forces any changes that take place - which in my estimation short-circuits any claim at "accomplishment". It's telling a kid you're not driving her to school anymore and patting yourself for helping her "choose a healthier lifestyle" when you see her walking to school. She didn't choose anything.

If you folks think force-feeding kids healthy foods is justified by the health benefits - well that's fine, but say so, and seriously cut it out with all this "educating kids and helping them make better decisions about nutrition" crap because that's not what's happening at all.

 

[WildCat]

Do you get out much? Oliver a dweeb? Right now, he's likely the most recognized chef in the world.

I've never heard of him.

 

[Checkmite]

If that were the case you would have expected the take up of school lunches to have decreased.

No, I wouldn't. Kids still have to eat.

 

[Staropeace]

I am a chef. I have never heard of him but I do not watch television.

I know that most households,nowadays,seem to exist on take away and convenience foods.

Alot of my female friends sorta brag about not being able to cook a simple meal. I do not know when this type of atitude became vogue.

I could bake bread at age ten....most of my friends could,too. That could be a cultural thing though...growing up in Newfoundland.

Working in the food industry,I am well aware that alot of folks see no other option but to order out or dine out. That needs to change for health and economic reasons.