Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Did anyone see the preview of Jamie Oliver's new series on ABC last night? Interesting concept, even with the obvious "made -for- TV drama". I don't know if the entire series will be in this small West Virginia town, but I will be curious to see if he is able to persuade this "unhealthiest town in America" to change their dietry habits.
ilene

I had to watch this because I used to be a Food Services Director for two different School Lunch Programs. I thought it was interesting. The lunch ladies were typical. The food that was served was mostly USDA commodities that schools get for a very good price. It will be interesting to see how he deals with Food Costs and Labor issues.

I watched too. I also found it interesting. I think he has a long row to hoe with those lunch ladies. They are not happy with someone telling them they are not doing their job correctly. The stuff the kids are eating is quite discusting. I rarely buy any processed foods. And occational TGIF appy or prepared wings etc.

You would think the FDA would come up with some new guidelines on nutrition for children.

Laurie

[
You would think the FDA would come up with some new guidelines on nutrition for children.

Laurie[/quote]


Hopefully Michelle Obama will hve some influence
ilene

The FDA won't come up with nutrional guidelines, because actual true nutrition might cut Food Inc. out of a buck. Remember when the Feds tried to reorganize The Food Pyramid?

I didn't see Jamie's show, but I will catch it next time.

Laurie,

Not too likely. Alice Waters has been after them for years; the basic problem is that school lunches are subsidized, and the current Federal budget for school lunches comes to $2.68 per lunch, and with the Fed starving the states for money, there isn't any more in the state budgets.

For $2.68 it's surprising the kids get edible food at all. Waters has been able to serve good meals in Berkeley schools only by raising money from the local PTA.

Anyone remember Ronald Reagan and "ketchup is a vegetable"?

Interesting factoid: do you know who invented the school lunch program? The Black Panthers. The Department of Education made it a federal program mostly out of embarassment.

Data: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 04039.html

So, question: why is a British cook coming to the USA to try to reform our eating habits? It's not exactly like the English are paragons of healthy diets. Is he here because he already gave up on the UK?

Uh, Fuzzy, I believe the Panthers developed the Head Start Breakfast program; school lunches were around when I was in school, which was in the mid century, last.

Jamie already went after the lunch ladies of Britain. He just put out a new book "Jamie Oliver's America" and, I think, there is some kind of road trip show in the U.K. to go along with it. He is quite a brand in Europe. I am sure this is a lot about widening his market but I also believe he is sincerely dedicated to bringing "real food" and cooking back to the people. Check out his TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

Mary

It premiers Friday night and I'm really looking forward to it. I've been after my granddaughter to improve her boys' diet for years. They're all coming for dinner Friday and we're going to watch this together. Maybe if the words come from someone else, she'll listen.
Fitzie

TiVo is set.

As part of the leadup, Jamie is carpetbombing the airwaves doing promos. He was on Letterman last night and will be on Oprah, Good Morning America, and The Wendy Williams Show on friday. There's also a Biography episode about Jamie on Friday, but given that it's on at 9 AM I'm going to guess that it's a repeat.