Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution! [General]

2010 Jan 30
This looks awesome!



He goes to the "Unhealthiest City in America" (Huntington West Virginia) where he hopes to start a food revolution.

2010 Feb 1
Didn't he try this in england? and FAILed?

2010 Feb 1
I find it hard to fault the guy in any way; his cooking is legit and he seems to actually get his hands dirty and involved in issues rather than simply espousing the "shop-your-way-to-a-better-world" mantras of many TV personalities.

2010 Feb 1
Also, my impression was that he had a great deal of success in reforming the food system in schools in the UK. Contrary to what Woten suggests.

He isn't going to get rid of obesity overnight. First you have to sow the seeds - then you have to wait for them to grow.

2010 Feb 1
www.guardian.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk

www.bounty.com

etc...

He tried... I remember watching a t.v. show about how he had failed to encourage the UK's children to eat more nutritious food...

Don't see how he will be able to do this in the states... lets hope he doesn't start with Texas...

2010 Feb 1
Heads up, doesn't look like a great start:

www.opposingviews.com

2010 Feb 1
Woten, I can find just as many articles that say the UK one was a success.

www.thisistotalessex.co.uk

I guess if you search on "fail" you'll find failure. If you search on "success", that's what you'll find too :-)

EDIT: btw, read the user comments in the Telegraph story you posted

2010 Feb 1
I should of checked on wikipedia...

This is what I remembered!

In 2005, Jamie Oliver embarked upon his school dinners campaign to improve the quality of food fed to pupils. While the campaign proved to be ultimately successful,[30] at the time it was a highly controversial shake-up for students and parents, some of whom believed that the students should have a healthy option available, but still be given the choice as to what they want to eat. In September 2006, Rawmarsh Community School, South Yorkshire, UK, made headlines after a handful of parents revolted against Oliver's lunch plan (in which all 1,100 pupils on site were fed two portions of fruit and three vegetables every day) by delivering junk food from local shops to the pupils through the school fence. One parent dismissed Oliver's food as "disgusting rubbish" and declared, "Food is cheaper and better at the local takeaways.”[31]

2010 Feb 1
"He isn't going to get rid of obesity overnight. First you have to sow the seeds - then you have to wait for them to grow."

"I find it hard to fault the guy in any way; his cooking is legit and he seems to actually get his hands dirty and involved in issues rather than simply espousing the "shop-your-way-to-a-better-world" mantras of many TV personalities."

yes, and yes. i may be biased as i am a huge jamie oliver enthusiast. but i don't see the harm in educating people (especially at an early age - with his school program) with the food they eat.

i cringe when people critize Jamie's way of thinking, saying junk food is cheaper. yes it is, but it doesn't fill you as much and you'll end up eating more... and eventually the health problems from eating so many processed foods.

2010 Feb 2
big fan of Jamie Oliver! we love his "Jamie at Home" show, very laid back and comforting. We like his less is more approach.
He did a great job with the schools in the U.K., especially when he was given very little $$$ per meal to deal with. Whether or not it was a success on paper, it did get people thinking, talking and learning about good food.

P.S. a chef friend of mine is very critical about J.O.'s approach...maybe envious?

2010 Feb 2
Just for clarity sake - he did try the same thing with the unhealthiest city in England. He held various event to teach people how to cook from scratch, and get them to teach their neighbours. It was entertaining - which is probably why they are doing it in the states. While his intentions are great, don't forget the reason anyone is paying for it is to sell advertising - money is king. From the shows I saw, he was succesful at an individual level, and his events were successful, however there was no long term success. I was impressed by the shows frankness on the big picture, and how little impact all the work they put into doing this appeared to have.

2010 Feb 2
I gotta say I love Jamie Oliver, and bless his heart he is "trying" to do the right thing here... BUT as someone who has travelled extensively thru this part of the USA, I can say that the reason Huntington, WV is the "Unhealthiest City In America" will have more to do with SMOKING than it ever will with FOOD.

West Virginia is a Tobacco State. With the most smokers in the USA at 27% (as stated by the CDC) = abcnews.go.com

West Virginia is one of the few places where one can still smoke in Bars & Restaurants (and let me tell you, it is super smokey in those places).

West Viriginia is also according to US Census Bureau data, is the third lowest in per capita income, ahead of only Arkansas and Mississippi. It also ranks last in median household income. The proportion of West Virginia’s adult population with a bachelor’s degree is the lowest in the US at 17.3%.

Interestingly I found this Quote on Wikipedia for the City of Huntington though... and it clearly does show that with a population of about 50,000 it does seem to have a variety of health problems

"A report issued by the Centers for Disease Control August 15, 2008 using survey data from 2006 found that 24.3% of adults 18 years-of-age or older reported themselves as in poor to fair health. The survey also found that 48.1% of residents over 65 years of age in the Huntington-Ashland, West Virginia-Kentucky-Ohio statistical area had all their natural teeth extracted. In addition, the CDC reports that 45.5% of adults older than 20 years are obese. 21.6% of adults over 45 years of age reported a diagnosis of coronary heart disease while another 12.7% of adults aged 18 or older reported a diagnosis of diabetes. An Associated Press article describes lifestyle and cultural barriers as obstacles to better public health.

As examples, the article describes local eating habits (the number of pizza shops in Huntington alone exceeding the total number of health clubs available in the entire state of West Virginia), the relatively sedentary culture, and poor education as causes for health issues described in the CDC report. In an MSNBC report published November 16, 2008, Huntington was rated as the most unhealthy city in the United States. The study took into consideration obesity rates, toothlessness, and levels of healthcare."

I wish Jamie luck with this endeavour… hopefully he can make a world of change for the residents of Huntington… and help make life better for some children who are the innocent victims in all this.

2010 Feb 3
I don't think his efforts could be summed up as either a success or a failure - it's too early to tell and the criticism rages on (I say this as I have connections to ppl in the UK who've been following this very issue since it has started). The school food trust might face some serious problems if the students do not embrace the food... no/low demand will result in lower supply which means less money for the program to deliver this healthy food which is already strapped for cash. Only time will tell.

2010 Feb 3
if he can even change the thinking of just one person, isn't that success? it takes a long time for people to change their eating habits, if all he does is present some new options and get people talking about it, then that sounds like a good job to me.

2010 Feb 3
HFF - I hate to sound the cynic, but no, changing the mind of only one person is not success when health pros are doling out words like "epidemic", "systemic", etc. in the same breath as "obesity". That said, I can't fault the guy for trying, I just think the issue is much larger (no pun intended) than a celebrity chef with good intentions, and while his approach was effective in getting the school food trust started, I have to wonder just how long it will last due to the fact that you have an entire generation & their parents who aren't prepared for such a drastic paradigm shift. The problem that has started now in some schools is that children have opted out of hot lunches, so their parents are packing them lunches now... which likely contain processed, convenience garbage. So if fewer people participate in the program, they might just toss it in the bin and slash funding - no more school food trust.

2010 Feb 14
He's still making waves, this time at TED 2010: www.ted.com

It's a powerful 20 minute talk worth watching!

2010 Feb 15
Hee! Just reading the comments on that TED talk, and one guy rants:

"Food is too expensive? No, priorities have changed. In the 50's, food accounted for 20% of disposable income. Today, less than 10%. Stop spending $150 on cable TV and $60/month for your stupid iPhone and use that money to feed your kids proper food."

As "foodies" I'm guessing pretty much everyone who reads this site spends closer to the 20% of disposable income on food, so we are the least likely segment of society to be loading up on processed convenience foods. Do you agree?

2010 Feb 15
I disagree on your conclusion FF. Would be interesting to do a proper survey. Check out PHPSurvey on Sourceforge.

2010 Feb 15
Fresh Foodie - 20% "sounds" like a lot... but as Foodies, I'd think you'd be probably right in your estimate. Especially if you are taking into account all items be they food or food related... Groceries, Eating Out (it's pretty difficult for 2 to go out for dinner and not spend $ 75 or more per shot) and Food Related purchases (like the odd kitchen gadget / gizmo) then it makes sense... if you add in alcohol (Wine, Beer & Spirits) then 20% is easily reached.

2010 Feb 15
But that's it - I would not personally count eating out nor alcohol, because they would be disproportionate when comparing with historic numbers

2010 Feb 15
A ratio of the food cost to occupy in disposable income :"Engel's coefficient" en.wikipedia.org
This is what I learned when I was a junior high student.
One application of this statistic is treating it as a reflection of the living standard of a country. As this proportion or "Engel coefficient" increases, the country is by nature poorer, conversely a low Engel coefficient indicates a higher standard of living. But this does not apply to foodies I think.

A ratio of the food cost to occupy in disposable income
2008 data
Canada 23.5%
USA 19.3%
Japan 25.4%
UK 24.9%
Italy 24.4%
Turkey 35.5%
Korea 32.9%

2010 Feb 15
I can see how one can do a little creative accounting when determining food costs. I have been keeping a budget for as long as I have been living on my own and I have my "food costs" in the loosest sense of the term divided three ways: one for groceries (strictly food items), meals out, and alcohol. When money is tight I just don't eat out. I have given up my glass of wine with dinner when I was unemployed which, thankfully, was a very long time ago and when I couldn't afford the extra expense.

And to be devil's advocate I will offer some food for thought: if you brew your own wine/beer are the ingredients included in your food costs or are they considered a luxury item?

2010 Feb 15
Pasta lover, to answer your question, my wife and I agreed that my wine-making *equipment* should come from my own "discretionary spending" budget envelope, but the raw ingredients (kits, grapes, etc) can come from our "grocery" budget envelope. So the ingredients are included as food costs. LCBO purchases for personal use typically come from our grocery budget so this makes good sense for us.

2010 Feb 16
I just finished up last years expenses - we put groceries + shampoo etc in one bin , LCBO, and eating out in another bin. I'll have to check, I don't remember what our percentage is, but I think it is much closer to 10% than 20%. We make most things from scratch, but do have the occasional frozen pizza and chicken fingers in the freezer.

2010 Feb 19
Quicken tells me that last year 19% of my net income went towards groceries, dining out, and alcoholic beverages.

This is actually way lower than I thought, given my high-flying lifestyle. Maybe I'm living within my means after all!

2010 Feb 22
If you're into what he's talking about, check out my blog!

www.lejeunegourmand.tumblr.com

Thanks, guys!

2010 Aug 16
I'm sure Jamie Oliver is pulling his hair out over this one: www.foodpolitics.com

2010 Aug 16
I gather that the Government is attempting to make the poorest performing schools semi-private and more competitive. I have not read much about it, don't know much about how it all works, but it may not be as crazy as it sounds.

I agree that at first glance it sounds crazy.