I watched it too. My goodness, I was so appalled at the waste of food. Couldn't they save the fruit at least, wash it and give it to a food bank? The church family never made a vegetable or a salad? I saw a similar show from the UK, it was the same thing, nobody ate fruit or vegetables AT ALL. It blew me away.
The programme I think you refer to in the UK was made in my home town of Rotherham. I felt embarassed to be associated with the parents there. There was an outrage at one of the schools when they switched to healthy menus and a group of mums were pushing fast food through the school fence as their kids were going hungry rather than eating the new menus. What I don't get is even though many of the parents argued their kids weren't fat so why can't they eat high fat, high processed food, ignoring the fact that they were breeding a future generation of health problems due to diet.
Having had a strong campaign to improve the nutrition of school meals in the UK (led by Jamie Oliver), research has now shown that the food kids are bringing in from home is generally of poor nutritional value and high in fat and sugars. It's a hard battle to educate people especially if they just don't want to know.
It's all about the money. The cafeteria workers don't meet once a month and plan menus together, and it's not that they don't want to work (at least not all of them). They don't get to pick the food....Here one lady picks the menu and she's charged with making sure the cafeteria MAKES money...so she picks cheap and fast stuff that kids will buy. Kids who bring their lunches don't buy at school - hence the potato wedges and pizza in my post above.
I didn't mean across the board, just this one group. They seemed so mad about having to cut some carrots. I know caf. workers in general work hard and do care about the kids.
Wow. Pretty shocking. Yes, I have a total crush on Jamie now. I'd take lessons from HIM
My kids' school is a charter school, so they don't have school lunches. However, most of what parents send in bag lunches with their kids is complete and utter crap--ultra-processed, full of fat and sugar (Lunchables? UGH). My kids constantly complain about the food we send with them because it's NOT crap. It's a very, very difficult and continual battle. We just had a big throw-down with the kids over the weekend because of their poor attitude about the healthy food we want them to eat, and are on the verge of banning their grandparents from feeding them crap, too. (Because any time the kids get to eat crap, it seems to throw them off of their willingness to eat healthy, and that is just not OK. It makes the whole thing extra-hard for us.)
I feel the same as the earlier poster, after watching the show it makes me want to go through my cupboards and freezer and get rid of the stuff with all the chemicals that we can't pronounce and don't even know what they are.
Hi everyone! I watched the show the other night and I agree, it was a great show, and I love what Jamie Oliver is trying to do! That being said, I live in the region that the show was taped in (a few cities over), and in some ways I think it was a little unfair to the people of this state.
There is a huge problem with obesity in MANY areas of the country and it is not only in Huntington, WV. And many, many people eat highly processed foods and few vegetables. That table topped with processed foods could be found in ANY city in this country. And I truly hope that Jamie Oliver can do something to change that in this country. I would love to see a time when eating healthfully is the norm again.
As for the workers in the cafeteria, I don't know them at all, and the way the show portrayed them, they seemed like lazy, grouchy people. But in all fairness, someone they don't know (from a different COUNTRY no less), and who doesn't know the first thing about the guidelines they have to adhere to everyday is coming in and telling them they are fat and lazy, and that they are killing the kids that they work hard to feed what they believe to be "healthy, balanced meals." You can understand why they may feel a little defensive. They have done it this way for many years and they ARE within federal guidelines for child nutrition, and they really don't see any reason to change. They probably eat that type of food at home too.
I am sure that these women care very much about the children they feed, or they wouldn't be there doing a job that is very difficult, even while using shortcuts and processed food. I know because I have worked in a cafeteria in the past. I do not agree that these ladies are lazy. Cafeteria work is HARD work, and using fresh foods and whole foods does add work to an already heavy workload.
But in my opinion, that is part of the problem in this country. We have access to processed food that has lots of ingredients that we can't pronounce, but it's easier! So that is the food that we choose to place on our tables. It takes a little extra time and effort to prep fresh vegetables, and prepare tasty healthful dishes that use fresh wholesome ingredients, versus sticking a processed pizza in the oven or running through McDonalds. Many people in this country are taking the quicker, less healthy route and our children are the ones who are paying the price for it.
As a person who lives in the region, I understand maybe better that some, why people here live the way they do. They feel like this is how it has always been, and why should we change. Many of the people in this area are very poor as well, and have limited funds for food, and so therefore choose foods that have the most mass for the cheapest cost. It is cheaper to buy bologna and white bread than it is to buy boneless skinless chicken breasts, and all of the fixings for salad.
As anyone who has been obese and has lost the weight to become healthy will know, you have to decide to change! Change cannot be forced upon you or it will never be permanent. I truly hope that Jamie can help people in America to see that it is time to change! Ok time to stop writing this book LOL and go get me a healthy snack!
I think the lunch ladies were a little put off by some of this, initially. I sensed their frustration about having to do it this way, and yes, school kitchen work is grueling! I do believe, like liv4god4evr stated, that they want to do right by the kids.
Here is why the processed food is easier to serve: our government gives more subsidies to meat, dairy and corn farmers than it does to farmers of leafy greens, squashes, and tomatoes. Reference: http://www.pcrm.org/magazine/gm07aut...alth_pork.html
[QUOTE=liv4god4evr;3215335]
As for the workers in the cafeteria, I don't know them at all, and the way the show portrayed them, they seemed like lazy, grouchy people. But in all fairness, someone they don't know (from a different COUNTRY no less), and who doesn't know the first thing about the guidelines they have to adhere to everyday is coming in and telling them they are fat and lazy, and that they are killing the kids that they work hard to feed what they believe to be "healthy, balanced meals." You can understand why they may feel a little defensive. They have done it this way for many years and they ARE within federal guidelines for child nutrition, and they really don't see any reason to change. They probably eat that type of food at home too."
I agree. The thing I couldn't understand was why, instead of setting himself up to fail with a *completely* different in-your-face menu, he didn't re-vision the menu the school was serving: in other words, if it's pizza on the menu, then you make *healthy, nutritionally sound* pizza with whole grain crust lots of kid-appeal grilled veggies and sure! a dash of meat/cheese....does that make sense?
It would have been a lot less confrontational and (as it turns out! All those drumsticks left over!) wasteful...
I agree. The thing I couldn't understand was why, instead of setting himself up to fail with a *completely* different in-your-face menu, he didn't re-vision the menu the school was serving: in other words, if it's pizza on the menu, then you make *healthy, nutritionally sound* pizza with whole grain crust lots of kid-appeal grilled veggies and sure! a dash of meat/cheese....does that make sense?
It would have been a lot less confrontational and (as it turns out! All those drumsticks left over!) wasteful...
See, I like his approach a lot more than that one (in general, I'm not a huge fan of the whole "make brownies with spinach in them/deceptively delicious and then serve them to your kids knowing they're healthy" movement). The reason being, he isn't looking to change eating habits in the SCHOOL for that MEAL, he is looking to change them for life. Faking kids out so that their unhealthy favorites are actually healthy for that meal doesn't teach them anything about what healthy food looks like in the real world, and it sends big time mixed messages (Pizza is healthy! But only if you get it in the cafeteria).
The problem with giving the kids "healthy pizza" or "healthy nuggets", etc, is that he's teaching the kids that nuggets/pizza/etc are in general good, healthy things to eat. When those kids go out into ANY other setting in that town, the lesson they've learned is "the healthy eating man taught us that pizza is OK, so I'll order pizza". And when parents use those techniques at home to "sneak in" veggies, they start pushing foods that are generally unhealthy just because they have a vegetable hidden in them. Thus you get kids whose parents push them to eat brownies because they have carrots and spinach, but since those parents are trying to "hide" the veggies from the kid, all the kid hears is "come on, eat more brownies so you grow big and strong!"
I do understand that sometimes kids don't want to eat vegetables, and I also understand that being able to make healthier versions of the food you crave is a good thing for adults...adults distinguish between "My pizza I make at home to be healthy" and "pizza not made by me" in terms of health. But kids often don't get to that level of subtlety ("the healthy food guy says pizza is good to eat" or "Mom was so happy when I ate all those chicken nuggets"), and I think at this stage, it'll be ultimately more productive to cut ties with the processed/convenience crap, even in name, and explore new tastes that will be healthier choices almost universally. If he teaches them that baked chicken legs, wild rice, and vegetables are a healthy option, that'll be a lot more likely to be true WHEREVER they go, even if he isn't designing the food.
But regardless, the chicken was wasted because this was a setup (probably so the show could demonstrate that he failed before he succeeded). It had nothing to do with the FOOD...those kids were given the choice between "familiar and comfortable" and "new and different", and most kids do gravitate toward the familiar. If there had been "pizza the old way" and "pizza the new way that looked different", the result probably would have been the same, as kids gravitated toward the comfortable stuff.
I pretty much agree with mandalinn. The real issue is getting kids to accept new and different foods that look like what they really are (beans, spinach, cauliflower...rather than brownies or pizza crust or whatnot). Even if Jamie had made healthy versions of their same old food, it's a very good bet that the kids would protest or not pick the new food; we deal with this constantly in my household. (One of our kids is, unfortunately, a supertaster and always knows when we try to sneak veggies past him. Faux pizza or brownies are just not an option.)
The only way to confront the issue with kids is to limit their food choices to what's healthy, and to engage in ongoing conversation/education with them about what you're doing and why. Kids from ages 6 or so up really do have the ability to understand and want to make better choices, they just need a lot of guidance and help in doing it. In fact, I would say that kids are much better at this than grownups, because kids just seem to have that natural youthful hope/optimism/idealism thing which makes them want to dive and try it out, because it's good for them / good for their families / good for the planet. (Whereas grownups mostly are jaded and cynical about this stuff.)
The thing I couldn't understand was why, instead of setting himself up to fail with a *completely* different in-your-face menu, he didn't re-vision the menu the school was serving: in other words, if it's pizza on the menu, then you make *healthy, nutritionally sound* pizza with whole grain crust lots of kid-appeal grilled veggies and sure! a dash of meat/cheese....does that make sense?
Don't lose sight of the fact that this is a television show for entertainment. Plot lines and characters must be established. Leading questions are asked, scenarios are put in place, editing happens. I have NO doubt that he is genuine in his efforts, but it's still television.
I am certain that the decision to put the foods "head to head" came from his production team. First, it's drama. Second, it establishes that people are resistant to change, especially the bureaucracy of schools. The food ideas we have and the guidelines we follow are well entrenched. It also makes the point that you can't really give children that age a choice and expect them NOT to choose pizza. Putting the foods head to head served a purpose.
I like the show and have had a big ol fangirl crush on Jamie Oliver for years. I'm excited to watch! I feel strongly that we are effed UP in this country with how we're eating and living. It's HARD to eat whole, healthy, REAL foods (let alone local or organic). Our lives are almost too full to fit in proper exercise. Our towns don't support a pedestrian lifestyle. Unless something very fundamental changes, we're in a lot of trouble! I hope this show is crazy popular and a lot of people really take it to heart! All that said, if he calls those women "girls" or "darlin" one more time, I fully expect one of them to belt him.
I think it might be awesome if at the END of the series, when the kids have a working knowledge of healthy food/eating, he asked them to help him re-envision the pizza or the nuggets or whatever. That would be a great lesson for all involved. Unfortunately, right now, those kids don't know what makes healthy food healthy, so they don't have the tools for that project.
Never heard of this even - will have to search it out. I did watch Kirstie and so far not very impressed. I was amazed at what she weighed though - shows how much I know. I thought she was heavier than what she weighed.
is it just me, or does anyone thing Kirstie fibs about her weight??? she's big big girl, and she says the most she's ever weighed is 230something, and she's tall too?? maybe just wishful thinking lol
FYI Jamie's on Larry King tomorrow night, and Oprah on Friday. I might break my no-oprah rule and watch it lol
Really enjoying this show so far. And while you have to give the lunch ladies and everyone else the television benefit of the doubt, I can't fathom why they'd agree to do this and then dig their heels in so hard.
You can't help people who don't want to change.
The family Jamie was helping was the best part of the episode because you could see they understood how important the change was.
is it just me, or does anyone thing Kirstie fibs about her weight??? she's big big girl, and she says the most she's ever weighed is 230something, and she's tall too?? maybe just wishful thinking lol
I didn't want to be the first one to say it, but what is the point of her going on all these shows and talking about her weight if she's not even honest about it? I remember seeing her on Oprah years ago and I forget what weight she claimed to be but no. No way. She'd have to be under five feet tall. And on her show she weighed in at 230. Again I say...I just don't think so. Not that's it's anyone's business but when you're making money by talking about your weight and telling actual numbers, why lie?
LOL and go get me a healthy snack! 
