In case you missed it, the Twinkie turned 80 yesterday. (And a Big Ol' Happy Birthday to ya!)
First, a confession - I like Twinkies. I can't remember the last time I ate one, but I probably wouldn't turn one down if handed to me. Even knowing what's in it. What can I say - I'm a sucker for a moisty, springy cake! (Someone please file that away for my birthday, ok? Thanks. Moving on.)
In this vide, the man who wrote the book Twinkie, Deconstructed gives a quick explanation of what goes into a Twinkie. He talks about the rocks, the petroleum products...the things that aren't food. (Although, the rocks are broken down into salt, baking powder and baking soda, so I guess I have no issue with those.) When asked if there is anything wrong with having these ingredients in your food, he says, "If there is, then there's something wrong with ALL of our processed foods! And some people do have a problem with that...so they can eat more whole foods."
There's the rub. Those things are in everything from jarred salad dressings to most store-bought breads. They were added to give things a better shelf life, a better mouth-feel, a better look. I can understand that, really, I can. I guess my question is this - when, exactly, did food become a product to sell, instead of just something to eat? Why do we have to eat cakes that were made up to a month ago? Why do we want salad dressing that was made a year ago? Is it the branding? The ease of simply opening a package and having food to eat? The way the flavor is the same behind every jar, seal and wrapper?
Whether out of laziness or frugality, I've stopped buying most packaged foods. While I can pat myself on the back for doing my part to lead a healthier lifestyle...the truth of the matter is, I'm hungry. Most of the time. It's one thing to not buy the food. It's another to figure out what you are going to eat at lunch time, and snack times, and breakfast time, and...you get the idea. I need to give some thought to what we are going to eat, if breaking open a bag of chips or a box of cookies is no longer an option!
Watch the video, and then weigh in. Also, please tell me what to eat? Thanks a ton.
Showing posts with label Food Revolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Revolution. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Food Revolution, Episode 3
We're back!
We're in beautiful Huntington, Virginia.
If you'd like to follow along with my comments, head over to ABC.com and look for episode "103." The link is at the bottom of this post.
1. Alice has issues...control issues? She's mad that she's in the test kitchen, and she thinks that the processed foods are better for the kids, because it makes them happy?
2. Rhonda, the district food supervisor, is letting Jamie into one of the high schools as well. This is a good sign!
3. The student body is, apparently, completely dependent on french fries for their emotional and mental well-being. That will probably be one of the first things that has to go.
4. He's putting together his little army - all the kids he can round up to help with the Food Revolution. And he's going to put them in the kitchen! Man, if I was in high school, I would SO be there.
5. All of these kids have either major weight-related health issues themselves, or have been intimately affected by weight issues in their families. That group of kids...that IS the revolution.
6. Homemade yogurt and homemade shepherd pie?! That sounds absolutely amazing. And it's just FOOD - no additives.
7. "It tastes good. That's not the point." We know that Alice is here for the money...and that whole kitchen might run better if she either got herself on board, or took herself out. ?? What do you do in a situation like that? She's good at what she does, but she's poisoning the project.
8. They need to raise $80K to train all of the cooks. Or just get the kids to do it. Heh.
9. Everything takes money, doesn't it? Moving back to real food...oddly enough, takes more money than the fake food.
10. Fries are a vegetable, y'all. Jamie is just figuring out that we count fries as veg and ketchup as fruit. Jamie is ticked. His dish was full of veg and NOT optional. The regular meal (a chicken sandwich and a bunch of french fries, with an optional salad) was going out like hotcakes...sans salad. So his meal was reprimanded (with veg built in, but not ENOUGH) and the other meal went out (with plenty of veg, that nobody was taking). How does that make sense? Bureaucracy, my friends. Red tape, and it's silly.
11. I don't agree with...the wandering around the lunch room and stealing back the french fries. I mean, come on - the kids have got to know they aren't healthy. How embarrassing would it be to have your crispy fries snatched right off your tray at lunch time!
12. These kids are not chefs, obviously, and they're cooking for senators. Umm...I hate to be a kill-joy, but a senator is still just a person who grew up eating Mom's casserole for dinner and cold cereal for breakfast. Still, it's a fundraiser, so it's got to wow and convince.
13. Jamie is so funny when he's angry. He tries to kill you with kindness, to your face. Still, I admire the way he keeps his cool. (Oh, and he said he was serving pumpkin...and it looks like he's cooking butternut squash. I don't know how it is in England, but here in the US...they're different gourds. Heh.)
14. And...our prodigal chef is back! Rob had to dash off for football practice. It's interesting - football takes precedence over a dinner that could change their (health) lives. Ok, maybe not this one dinner...but still.
15. Poor little Robert - he's got to just be a freshman. Those kids are all tired.
16. "I never had a famous chef cook for me. It tastes really good." It will be great to see what they say when they find out the meal was cooked by a bunch of...non-chefs! It REALLY makes the case for Jamie's revolution. If six high schoolers can cook a fabulous, fresh meal and serve it to 80 people...then 6 grown ladies, with years of experience, should be able to do the same for a high school every day! Yes, it will take time. It will take a lot of organization...but most good things in life do!
17. Here's the big reveal! "I started to cook because I was rubbish at everything else." Well, that's a great reason to go into a profession!
18. The boy that went through lock up makes SUCH an eloquent argument. If lock-up had had programs like this...he would have come out with a job, a hobby, and a way to help others. How true is that?!
19. Those six kids are inspiring. They are standing in front of their friends and family, and BEGGING for the means to facilitate this change.
20. "You guys make the change, and I'll believe it." That's our boy, Ryan (the one from lock-up). As parents, and adults, we do have the responsibility. We buy the groceries, we cook the meals (generally). This is our responsibility.
That's the whole show! Jamie still needs to raise his $80,000 to keep the lunch program rolling. Can you imagine...restaurant quality food in schools?
I know that there are people who just don't think about food. They eat because they have to, and they move on with the more important things in life. I must admit, I'm a little more on the Jamie side of things. I make food because I love to watch family and friends eat it. I love to see the look on friends' faces when I tell them that my daughter, Ming Wai, made the bread they are eating, because generally they assume it came from a supermarket bakery. Preparing food for my family is a priority for me. We organize our day around the meals, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. People might argue that focusing on food so much can lead to weight issues...but I think it's just the opposite. When food is forbidden, shunned or an embarrassing topic, I think that is when kids learn to hoard food, or develop unhealthy eating habits. It is my job to get at least three healthy meals in front of my kids every day, and teach them what to expect from their food, and how to get it for themselves. How to make those good choices.
How do you organize food in your houses? I loved the suggestions last week from you guys. This week, for lunch, my kids have been working on an enormous pot of pasta and broccoli that I cooked up. It's backfired a bit, as Siu Jeun (my son) is more interested in throwing the pasta around on the deck than he is in eating it. One friend (hi, Casey!) suggested that I serve finger foods - slices of bread, cheese, meat, fruit and veg. I love this idea because anything left after lunch can be put back into its containers, instead of being thrown away!
Episode 103 can be found here.
We're in beautiful Huntington, Virginia.
If you'd like to follow along with my comments, head over to ABC.com and look for episode "103." The link is at the bottom of this post.
1. Alice has issues...control issues? She's mad that she's in the test kitchen, and she thinks that the processed foods are better for the kids, because it makes them happy?
2. Rhonda, the district food supervisor, is letting Jamie into one of the high schools as well. This is a good sign!
3. The student body is, apparently, completely dependent on french fries for their emotional and mental well-being. That will probably be one of the first things that has to go.
4. He's putting together his little army - all the kids he can round up to help with the Food Revolution. And he's going to put them in the kitchen! Man, if I was in high school, I would SO be there.
5. All of these kids have either major weight-related health issues themselves, or have been intimately affected by weight issues in their families. That group of kids...that IS the revolution.
6. Homemade yogurt and homemade shepherd pie?! That sounds absolutely amazing. And it's just FOOD - no additives.
7. "It tastes good. That's not the point." We know that Alice is here for the money...and that whole kitchen might run better if she either got herself on board, or took herself out. ?? What do you do in a situation like that? She's good at what she does, but she's poisoning the project.
8. They need to raise $80K to train all of the cooks. Or just get the kids to do it. Heh.
9. Everything takes money, doesn't it? Moving back to real food...oddly enough, takes more money than the fake food.
10. Fries are a vegetable, y'all. Jamie is just figuring out that we count fries as veg and ketchup as fruit. Jamie is ticked. His dish was full of veg and NOT optional. The regular meal (a chicken sandwich and a bunch of french fries, with an optional salad) was going out like hotcakes...sans salad. So his meal was reprimanded (with veg built in, but not ENOUGH) and the other meal went out (with plenty of veg, that nobody was taking). How does that make sense? Bureaucracy, my friends. Red tape, and it's silly.
11. I don't agree with...the wandering around the lunch room and stealing back the french fries. I mean, come on - the kids have got to know they aren't healthy. How embarrassing would it be to have your crispy fries snatched right off your tray at lunch time!
12. These kids are not chefs, obviously, and they're cooking for senators. Umm...I hate to be a kill-joy, but a senator is still just a person who grew up eating Mom's casserole for dinner and cold cereal for breakfast. Still, it's a fundraiser, so it's got to wow and convince.
13. Jamie is so funny when he's angry. He tries to kill you with kindness, to your face. Still, I admire the way he keeps his cool. (Oh, and he said he was serving pumpkin...and it looks like he's cooking butternut squash. I don't know how it is in England, but here in the US...they're different gourds. Heh.)
14. And...our prodigal chef is back! Rob had to dash off for football practice. It's interesting - football takes precedence over a dinner that could change their (health) lives. Ok, maybe not this one dinner...but still.
15. Poor little Robert - he's got to just be a freshman. Those kids are all tired.
16. "I never had a famous chef cook for me. It tastes really good." It will be great to see what they say when they find out the meal was cooked by a bunch of...non-chefs! It REALLY makes the case for Jamie's revolution. If six high schoolers can cook a fabulous, fresh meal and serve it to 80 people...then 6 grown ladies, with years of experience, should be able to do the same for a high school every day! Yes, it will take time. It will take a lot of organization...but most good things in life do!
17. Here's the big reveal! "I started to cook because I was rubbish at everything else." Well, that's a great reason to go into a profession!
18. The boy that went through lock up makes SUCH an eloquent argument. If lock-up had had programs like this...he would have come out with a job, a hobby, and a way to help others. How true is that?!
19. Those six kids are inspiring. They are standing in front of their friends and family, and BEGGING for the means to facilitate this change.
20. "You guys make the change, and I'll believe it." That's our boy, Ryan (the one from lock-up). As parents, and adults, we do have the responsibility. We buy the groceries, we cook the meals (generally). This is our responsibility.
That's the whole show! Jamie still needs to raise his $80,000 to keep the lunch program rolling. Can you imagine...restaurant quality food in schools?
I know that there are people who just don't think about food. They eat because they have to, and they move on with the more important things in life. I must admit, I'm a little more on the Jamie side of things. I make food because I love to watch family and friends eat it. I love to see the look on friends' faces when I tell them that my daughter, Ming Wai, made the bread they are eating, because generally they assume it came from a supermarket bakery. Preparing food for my family is a priority for me. We organize our day around the meals, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. People might argue that focusing on food so much can lead to weight issues...but I think it's just the opposite. When food is forbidden, shunned or an embarrassing topic, I think that is when kids learn to hoard food, or develop unhealthy eating habits. It is my job to get at least three healthy meals in front of my kids every day, and teach them what to expect from their food, and how to get it for themselves. How to make those good choices.
How do you organize food in your houses? I loved the suggestions last week from you guys. This week, for lunch, my kids have been working on an enormous pot of pasta and broccoli that I cooked up. It's backfired a bit, as Siu Jeun (my son) is more interested in throwing the pasta around on the deck than he is in eating it. One friend (hi, Casey!) suggested that I serve finger foods - slices of bread, cheese, meat, fruit and veg. I love this idea because anything left after lunch can be put back into its containers, instead of being thrown away!
Episode 103 can be found here.
Food Revolution, Episode 2
Episode 102
Soo...here we go! I'm watching these, as I can, on ABC.com, and would love to hear your thoughts on these matters. Are you joining the revolution? Or do you stand by your Twinkies as Breakfast Food stance. (I totally just made that up.)
1. Defending himself on the radio...ouch. He's getting pounded.
We start off the episode with a very crabby DJ ripping on Jamie. Poor guy.
2. The grinding of the chicken....that is absolutely nasty. But I thought he said they didn't make nuggets here that way.
So, I was a little confused. He said he had this fool-proof experiment to get kids off their nuggets. Then he said that, luckily, in this country nuggets weren't made this way anymore. So...was he just trying to make gross nuggets so the kids wouldn't eat them, or was he trying to educate them as to how nuggets were made??
3. The. experiment. failed. I have chills. CHILLS y'all. THEY ATE THE NUGGETS. Knowing there were ground up bones and skin and gizzards in there.
Umm...yeah. After watching Jamie grind up an entire chicken carcass - bones and all- and then bread it and fry it...the kids still. ate. it. I have no words.
4. That pea costume...is cracking me up. It's so. bizarre.
The pea costume was just weird. Maybe if it didn't look so completely bizarre and...bouncy? I was really distracted by the bouncing.
5. I love the idea of getting the kids excited for their foods!
6. It still failed. Big. Fat. Fail. Nobody ate the lunch.
Jamie pumped the kids up, got them really excited about all the veg and fresh things...and...still, nobody ate his lunch. :-(
7. The Food Test. We eat healthy here, and I'm sure my daughter couldn't name off those vegetables. Granted, she's 3. Still...I don't really like this test. Five year olds just don't know the names of these things. Sorry.
8. Poor lady lied. Of course, she couldn't...she's a church lady. Still...there are signs that fast food joints were visited this week.
The sweet lady who has volunteered her family for a Food Makeover couldn't get through the week with the proscribed meals and menus. Change is hard!
9. That girl, Katie, is FOUR?! She's so tall!
The daughter in the Guinea Pig family. She would TOWER over my three year old!
10. Starting to scare the parents...he's in 6th grade, and he might already have diabetes.
So sad. One of their sons is only in 6th grade, and he already has some of the tell-tale signs of diabetes.
11. No doctor EVER says "complications of diabetes are terrible" right before he finds out, and tells the parents, if the kid has diabetes!!
I understand that diabetes is a serious diagnosis, but if I took my (fat) kid in for a physical, and the doctor sat me down and told me how terrible a positive diagnosis for diabetes would be...before he's given me my results...that's just cruel.
12. "When you hear that your son is morbidly obese, it kind of hurts. You helped put him there." BINGO. As mothers, we have a major responsibility...to not say 'yes' to every request the kids make. It's so hard, but it's our job. (Or whoever is the caregiver.)
13. More sugar in chocolate milk than soda. I did not know that.
14. That truck load of fat is NASTY.
Jamie loaded up a truck with enough fat to represent the fat consumed, by the entire school, in a month. It was a dump truck, y'all. A DUMP TRUCK full of fat. Ewwww...
15. Mrs. Blake saw a problem and she fixed it." Now they know their veg. Does it make them more likely to eat them??
The teacher in the classroom that failed the Veg Test took it up on herself to educate her kids. Several days later, when Jamie came back for a rematch, the kids aced it. I wonder if knowing all of that makes them any more likely to dig into a piece of slippery eggplant...
16. I'm gonna cook me some chicken stir-fry, yo!" Love it.
One of the sons in the Guinea Pig family (sorry - I'm awful with names, but you know who I'm talking about) has been taken under Jamie's wing. He wants to help him get some kitchen chops and, in the process, boost his self esteem. And now...he's going to cook some chicken stir-fry, yo!
17. "Kids. can. cook."
I do not doubt for a moment that kids can cook. Should all kids be allowed in the kitchen? There, I'm not so sure. To a certain degree, sure. My daughter, Ming Wai, is actually a great help in the kitchen and is party to almost all my baking projects. My son...granted, he's only 15 months old. Still, I can see it in his eyes - he'll be the kid that would rather throw than stir. Maybe he can be my official taste tester...
18. Not using a knife means you have no use for 'real' food. Hrm...I don't really agree.
I send a lunch at least 4 times a week with my husband, and there is never any need for him to use a knife. If an item needs cutting, I snip it up before hand. Otherwise, he runs the risk of flinging bits of steak or chicken all over the office while he's trying to cut it. In fact, MOST of the food I serve in this house does not need a knife. Maybe that's just the Chinese influence - I noticed, when I lived in Hong Kong, that the cook cuts everything into bite sized pieces before cooking it. If there's a bone in the way, they chop straight through that. That way, everything can be eaten with chopsticks or a spoon. So...I guess I have an issue with the over-generalization of the statement. However, that didn't stop me from serving pancakes to the kids the next morning, and handing Ming Wai a knife and showing her how to cut up her own pancakes!
19. Teachers in the lunchroom showing the kids how to use knives and forks...and getting them to eat.
I did like the idea that, in England, teachers roam the lunch room, correcting table manners and encouraging children to eat their lunches.
20. Alice is here for the money. Heh.
Alice, of course, is the Not-A-Lunch-Lady with a major attitude. (She prefers to be called the Cook.)
21. He gets to stay for a few weeks. Good news! Now, HOW is he going to stay in budget, and get the kids to like the food?
The full episode can be found here.
I'm really liking what I'm seeing. It does make me think, though...why is it that there are 450 children buying lunch every day?! How hard is it, really, to pack a sandwich in the morning? I have no plans to buy lunches for my kids when they're in elementary school. I've just always planned on packing it. The show does talk about healthy food at home, too, which is good...but I'm really curious as to why it appears that the entire school body is eating off red plastic trays at lunch time, instead of out of brown paper sacks...
Wouldn't that be a more interesting revolution?
Soo...here we go! I'm watching these, as I can, on ABC.com, and would love to hear your thoughts on these matters. Are you joining the revolution? Or do you stand by your Twinkies as Breakfast Food stance. (I totally just made that up.)
1. Defending himself on the radio...ouch. He's getting pounded.
We start off the episode with a very crabby DJ ripping on Jamie. Poor guy.
2. The grinding of the chicken....that is absolutely nasty. But I thought he said they didn't make nuggets here that way.
So, I was a little confused. He said he had this fool-proof experiment to get kids off their nuggets. Then he said that, luckily, in this country nuggets weren't made this way anymore. So...was he just trying to make gross nuggets so the kids wouldn't eat them, or was he trying to educate them as to how nuggets were made??
3. The. experiment. failed. I have chills. CHILLS y'all. THEY ATE THE NUGGETS. Knowing there were ground up bones and skin and gizzards in there.
Umm...yeah. After watching Jamie grind up an entire chicken carcass - bones and all- and then bread it and fry it...the kids still. ate. it. I have no words.
4. That pea costume...is cracking me up. It's so. bizarre.
The pea costume was just weird. Maybe if it didn't look so completely bizarre and...bouncy? I was really distracted by the bouncing.
5. I love the idea of getting the kids excited for their foods!
6. It still failed. Big. Fat. Fail. Nobody ate the lunch.
Jamie pumped the kids up, got them really excited about all the veg and fresh things...and...still, nobody ate his lunch. :-(
7. The Food Test. We eat healthy here, and I'm sure my daughter couldn't name off those vegetables. Granted, she's 3. Still...I don't really like this test. Five year olds just don't know the names of these things. Sorry.
8. Poor lady lied. Of course, she couldn't...she's a church lady. Still...there are signs that fast food joints were visited this week.
The sweet lady who has volunteered her family for a Food Makeover couldn't get through the week with the proscribed meals and menus. Change is hard!
9. That girl, Katie, is FOUR?! She's so tall!
The daughter in the Guinea Pig family. She would TOWER over my three year old!
10. Starting to scare the parents...he's in 6th grade, and he might already have diabetes.
So sad. One of their sons is only in 6th grade, and he already has some of the tell-tale signs of diabetes.
11. No doctor EVER says "complications of diabetes are terrible" right before he finds out, and tells the parents, if the kid has diabetes!!
I understand that diabetes is a serious diagnosis, but if I took my (fat) kid in for a physical, and the doctor sat me down and told me how terrible a positive diagnosis for diabetes would be...before he's given me my results...that's just cruel.
12. "When you hear that your son is morbidly obese, it kind of hurts. You helped put him there." BINGO. As mothers, we have a major responsibility...to not say 'yes' to every request the kids make. It's so hard, but it's our job. (Or whoever is the caregiver.)
13. More sugar in chocolate milk than soda. I did not know that.
14. That truck load of fat is NASTY.
Jamie loaded up a truck with enough fat to represent the fat consumed, by the entire school, in a month. It was a dump truck, y'all. A DUMP TRUCK full of fat. Ewwww...
15. Mrs. Blake saw a problem and she fixed it." Now they know their veg. Does it make them more likely to eat them??
The teacher in the classroom that failed the Veg Test took it up on herself to educate her kids. Several days later, when Jamie came back for a rematch, the kids aced it. I wonder if knowing all of that makes them any more likely to dig into a piece of slippery eggplant...
16. I'm gonna cook me some chicken stir-fry, yo!" Love it.
One of the sons in the Guinea Pig family (sorry - I'm awful with names, but you know who I'm talking about) has been taken under Jamie's wing. He wants to help him get some kitchen chops and, in the process, boost his self esteem. And now...he's going to cook some chicken stir-fry, yo!
17. "Kids. can. cook."
I do not doubt for a moment that kids can cook. Should all kids be allowed in the kitchen? There, I'm not so sure. To a certain degree, sure. My daughter, Ming Wai, is actually a great help in the kitchen and is party to almost all my baking projects. My son...granted, he's only 15 months old. Still, I can see it in his eyes - he'll be the kid that would rather throw than stir. Maybe he can be my official taste tester...
18. Not using a knife means you have no use for 'real' food. Hrm...I don't really agree.
I send a lunch at least 4 times a week with my husband, and there is never any need for him to use a knife. If an item needs cutting, I snip it up before hand. Otherwise, he runs the risk of flinging bits of steak or chicken all over the office while he's trying to cut it. In fact, MOST of the food I serve in this house does not need a knife. Maybe that's just the Chinese influence - I noticed, when I lived in Hong Kong, that the cook cuts everything into bite sized pieces before cooking it. If there's a bone in the way, they chop straight through that. That way, everything can be eaten with chopsticks or a spoon. So...I guess I have an issue with the over-generalization of the statement. However, that didn't stop me from serving pancakes to the kids the next morning, and handing Ming Wai a knife and showing her how to cut up her own pancakes!
19. Teachers in the lunchroom showing the kids how to use knives and forks...and getting them to eat.
I did like the idea that, in England, teachers roam the lunch room, correcting table manners and encouraging children to eat their lunches.
20. Alice is here for the money. Heh.
Alice, of course, is the Not-A-Lunch-Lady with a major attitude. (She prefers to be called the Cook.)
21. He gets to stay for a few weeks. Good news! Now, HOW is he going to stay in budget, and get the kids to like the food?
The full episode can be found here.
I'm really liking what I'm seeing. It does make me think, though...why is it that there are 450 children buying lunch every day?! How hard is it, really, to pack a sandwich in the morning? I have no plans to buy lunches for my kids when they're in elementary school. I've just always planned on packing it. The show does talk about healthy food at home, too, which is good...but I'm really curious as to why it appears that the entire school body is eating off red plastic trays at lunch time, instead of out of brown paper sacks...
Wouldn't that be a more interesting revolution?
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Food Revolution, Episode 1
I've been hearing various reactions to Jamie Oliver's show on ABC, Food Revolution. The basic premise is this: Jamie helped re-shape the food scene at the schools in his native England, and has now turned his sights on America. He has two children of his own, and is concerned about the obesity epidemic sweeping our two nations. He figures if he can at least get good food into the kiddies at school, they might grow up to cook good food themselves.
As a starting point for his revolution, Jamie chooses a small town in Virginia. This town has been named as the most obese town in our nation...which makes it a proper challenge for our healthy Englishman and his crusade.
I'm watching the show online, and I'll list a few of my observations here. I would love to hear what y'all have to say about this. Do you see anything wrong with serving pizza for breakfast? (I don't.) Do you see anything wrong with chicken nuggets and strawberry milk for lunch...and dinner? (Guilty, if Dad's out of town.) What do you serve your kids for lunch if they're at home? Are you like me? When they get hungry, I have about two minutes warning before Cry-mageddon breaks out and the world dies a slow (and noisy) death. That's exactly enough time to make a cup of instant ramen, or a plate of chicken nuggets...which is why we end up eating one of those two things nearly every day. I usually end up snitching a nugget or two to tide me over, and then eating something else while the kids are down for "quiet time" after lunch.
I'm really interested to see where this show goes. I'm assuming, since it's a Let's Get Healthy! type of show that he's going to meet some resistance, and then we'll be shown a few tear-jerking success stories at the end. Do I think he can change the entire town? No. Do I think he can change a few families, possibly saving their lives? Yes.
(If you'd like to follow along, the link to this episode is at the end of this post.)
So, Jamie is in Virginia...and he's meeting with some resistance. LOTS of resistance.
I'll share my thoughts:
1. I love pizza for breakfast. If prepared right, I don't see a problem with it. However...the pizza they're reheating for breakfast most likely isn't prepared with health in mind.
Jamie is absolutely stunned that they serve pizza for breakfast. What?! It's a bread, some protein, some cheese. Granted, sausage and mozarella isn't a healthy breakfast. However, with some tweaking, I think they could make a perfectly acceptable breakfast pizza.
2. "Everything's got crap in it." I agree. There's so much junk...and I know I'm putting in my kids.
Jamie is looking at labels on the food they serve. The lunch lady defends her boxes of food product. "See? The first ingredient is chicken. I'm fine with that." There are at least 20 ingredients after that that AREN'T chicken. Jamie is NOT fine with that.
3. "They're not eating what they're supposed to be eating. It's being thrown away." ~Jamie
The lunch ladies cooked everything from a box...except for the rolls. Those were made from scratch...and were universally thrown away by the kids, along with any fresh fruit they had taken. Chicken nuggets, and accompanying dipping sauces, never found their way to the trash bin.
4. The most obese city in the most obese region in the most obese country...in the world. (the pastor, describing their town, per a national health report)
Jamie sits in on a sermon by the local Baptist pastor, and is relieved to find a kindred spirit. The pastor, afterwards, sits down with Jamie and pulls out an album of the members of the congregation. On each page, he can point out at least one person who has obesity related health issues, or who has died in the past year from those issues.
5. The lunch ladies don't agree with him. They don't think it can be done, preparing everything from scratch every day.
Jamie wants them to stop buying packages of salad, and instead chop their own. He says it can be done just as fast as opening a bag. The five lunch ladies do not agree with him. Mostly Alice - she's giving him a hard time. She is kind of the head chicken in the coop, and is getting more and more fed up with Jamie telling her and the other women that their current lunches are bad for the kids.
6. Piling up all that food that the family eats is NASTY. All golden brown - all cheese, all fried.
Jamie visits a family from the Baptist congregation who has agreed to work with him. First he sits them down and chats for a minute...then pulls out a list of everything they eat in a week, categorized. The mom is duly upset...but he drives it home by taking her into the kitchen, and preparing every single thing they eat during the week, breakfast lunch and dinner, and piling i on the table. They first notice that it looks disgusting - pancakes, a dozen pizzas, fried stuff - and then they notice that everything on the table is golden brown. Everything is cheesy or fried! Not a speck of green to be seen.
7. I'd do anything for them...but I'm killing them.
Talking to Jamie after the whole food pile up thing. She wants the world for her children, but she now realizes that she's holding them back by feeding them food that will cut their lives short.
8. I love that they buried the deep fat fryer!
9. I LOVED the mom's prayer when she buried the fryer. So touching.
Jamie wants to bury the deep fat fryer, the most used appliance in the kitchen. As he's burying it, he jokingly asks the Mom to offer a word of prayer. She does...and it's beautiful.
10. This is making me think. I think our dinners are, in general, acceptable. Lots of raw ingredients...with a few jars of pasta sauce on hand for emergencies. Breakfast for the kids is almost always homemade bread with peanut butter or cereal with skim milk. Lunch...that's our weakness. We're playing all morning, and I need lunch that can be ready in minutes and WON'T force me to give the one year old a bath afterwards. That mostly rules out dinner leftovers. We have instant ramen or chicken nuggets...almost every day. N.A.S.T.Y. I can't eat that every day, so I either have leftovers, or eat something later while the kids are in their "quiet time".
11. It's interesting...the woman in charge of all the region's school lunches is not overweight...not in the slightest. She obviously doesn't eat what she's serving. But...all her little school-kids ARE overweight. Is there so much red-tape within the whole set up that she is FORCED to serve this stuff...rather than start from scratch, figure out the nutritional information in REAL food and serve that instead? I can see how nutritional labels would make it all easier...
12. Jamie thinks he's going to win - his fresh stuff against pizza. He's delusional.
Jamie sets up his food, head to head, against the Lunch Ladies' food: pizza vs. baked chicken drumsticks and green salad. Hrm. Sorry, dude. You're not going to win this fight.
13. "Have I seen women like Alice before? Yeah. Do they scare me? Yeah. Am I going to have nightmares about her? For a while." Ha!
Remember, Alice is 'head hen' in the lunch lady squad. And she is NOT a fan of Jamie at this point.
14. Processed foods won. Obviously.
Referring to the chicken vs. pizza contest above. *sigh*
15. And...he got it. Take away the bad choices - kids will take the "processed" choice. Every time.
Jamie realizes what he must do to "win" is to simply take away the pizza/nugget options. Tomorrow, it's all "his" food.
16. Disaster strikes - the local paper takes a bunch of Jamie's quotes and mixes them around to make him sound like some sort of pig-headed, patronizing brat of a chef. Now he's got to make it right.
The principal and entire lunch lady squad are LIVID. The article includes quotes like "their eating habits would make the hairs on your arms stand on end" and "their knowledge on nutrition is anemic." He was talking of a specific family that he had worked with, but the local paper has twisted it up to say that he was talking about the entire town. The residents, apparently, are accustomed to being portrayed as stupid and backward in the media...and now think that Jamie is just here to laugh at the fat, stupid Americans. Immediately following this discussion, a news crew shows up to interview Jamie and he tries to set the record straight - he is here to help, and he's here because he cares, and he thinks the residents of this town are wonderful, wonderful folk. The end.
17. Jamie has taken time away from his family...because he thinks he can make a difference. And he's trying. And nobody wants him here. He's following his heart...and he's trying.
Jamie starts crying. He's away from his two kids, and his wife, because he thinks he can help. I'm not sure how much of this show is gimmick. Why is an Englishman here to help us with this problem? Probably because he's already built a reputation around this sort of thing. Kind of like Alice Waters here...but we can still take him seriously, whereas Alice is portrayed as a zealot and irrational in our media.
My brain is whirling. This show...is great if you haven't started to take these steps. If you're already living a one-ingredient-to-a-package lifestyle...this might be good entertainment for you.
It's made me think - last year, my sister and I both had a contest to see who could lose their baby weight first. We very nearly tied. We did moderate exercise and cut out dairy, as both of us had children with varying degrees of NASTINESS after eating milk. (Seeing as how we were those kids' primary food sources...this meant that no dairy could pass our lips if we wanted to have happy days.) Looking back on it, I'm not sure if the weight loss was from cutting out the dairy...or if was simply because we were forced to make most things from scratch. As I recall, I ate a lot of vegetables, lean meat and white bread with peanut butter that year...and my food has never tasted better.
Even now, I'm still trying to make more things from scratch. Summer is coming, and I'm going to try to incorporate more fresh veggies into our diet. (This will be easier this year than in years past...as I expect my mother and sisters - both gardeners - to have more produce than they know what to do with. Heh. I have an idea.....)
If you haven't watched this, the full episode may be found here. I would love to hear your thoughts!!
As a starting point for his revolution, Jamie chooses a small town in Virginia. This town has been named as the most obese town in our nation...which makes it a proper challenge for our healthy Englishman and his crusade.
I'm watching the show online, and I'll list a few of my observations here. I would love to hear what y'all have to say about this. Do you see anything wrong with serving pizza for breakfast? (I don't.) Do you see anything wrong with chicken nuggets and strawberry milk for lunch...and dinner? (Guilty, if Dad's out of town.) What do you serve your kids for lunch if they're at home? Are you like me? When they get hungry, I have about two minutes warning before Cry-mageddon breaks out and the world dies a slow (and noisy) death. That's exactly enough time to make a cup of instant ramen, or a plate of chicken nuggets...which is why we end up eating one of those two things nearly every day. I usually end up snitching a nugget or two to tide me over, and then eating something else while the kids are down for "quiet time" after lunch.
I'm really interested to see where this show goes. I'm assuming, since it's a Let's Get Healthy! type of show that he's going to meet some resistance, and then we'll be shown a few tear-jerking success stories at the end. Do I think he can change the entire town? No. Do I think he can change a few families, possibly saving their lives? Yes.
(If you'd like to follow along, the link to this episode is at the end of this post.)
So, Jamie is in Virginia...and he's meeting with some resistance. LOTS of resistance.
I'll share my thoughts:
1. I love pizza for breakfast. If prepared right, I don't see a problem with it. However...the pizza they're reheating for breakfast most likely isn't prepared with health in mind.
Jamie is absolutely stunned that they serve pizza for breakfast. What?! It's a bread, some protein, some cheese. Granted, sausage and mozarella isn't a healthy breakfast. However, with some tweaking, I think they could make a perfectly acceptable breakfast pizza.
2. "Everything's got crap in it." I agree. There's so much junk...and I know I'm putting in my kids.
Jamie is looking at labels on the food they serve. The lunch lady defends her boxes of food product. "See? The first ingredient is chicken. I'm fine with that." There are at least 20 ingredients after that that AREN'T chicken. Jamie is NOT fine with that.
3. "They're not eating what they're supposed to be eating. It's being thrown away." ~Jamie
The lunch ladies cooked everything from a box...except for the rolls. Those were made from scratch...and were universally thrown away by the kids, along with any fresh fruit they had taken. Chicken nuggets, and accompanying dipping sauces, never found their way to the trash bin.
4. The most obese city in the most obese region in the most obese country...in the world. (the pastor, describing their town, per a national health report)
Jamie sits in on a sermon by the local Baptist pastor, and is relieved to find a kindred spirit. The pastor, afterwards, sits down with Jamie and pulls out an album of the members of the congregation. On each page, he can point out at least one person who has obesity related health issues, or who has died in the past year from those issues.
5. The lunch ladies don't agree with him. They don't think it can be done, preparing everything from scratch every day.
Jamie wants them to stop buying packages of salad, and instead chop their own. He says it can be done just as fast as opening a bag. The five lunch ladies do not agree with him. Mostly Alice - she's giving him a hard time. She is kind of the head chicken in the coop, and is getting more and more fed up with Jamie telling her and the other women that their current lunches are bad for the kids.
6. Piling up all that food that the family eats is NASTY. All golden brown - all cheese, all fried.
Jamie visits a family from the Baptist congregation who has agreed to work with him. First he sits them down and chats for a minute...then pulls out a list of everything they eat in a week, categorized. The mom is duly upset...but he drives it home by taking her into the kitchen, and preparing every single thing they eat during the week, breakfast lunch and dinner, and piling i on the table. They first notice that it looks disgusting - pancakes, a dozen pizzas, fried stuff - and then they notice that everything on the table is golden brown. Everything is cheesy or fried! Not a speck of green to be seen.
7. I'd do anything for them...but I'm killing them.
Talking to Jamie after the whole food pile up thing. She wants the world for her children, but she now realizes that she's holding them back by feeding them food that will cut their lives short.
8. I love that they buried the deep fat fryer!
9. I LOVED the mom's prayer when she buried the fryer. So touching.
Jamie wants to bury the deep fat fryer, the most used appliance in the kitchen. As he's burying it, he jokingly asks the Mom to offer a word of prayer. She does...and it's beautiful.
10. This is making me think. I think our dinners are, in general, acceptable. Lots of raw ingredients...with a few jars of pasta sauce on hand for emergencies. Breakfast for the kids is almost always homemade bread with peanut butter or cereal with skim milk. Lunch...that's our weakness. We're playing all morning, and I need lunch that can be ready in minutes and WON'T force me to give the one year old a bath afterwards. That mostly rules out dinner leftovers. We have instant ramen or chicken nuggets...almost every day. N.A.S.T.Y. I can't eat that every day, so I either have leftovers, or eat something later while the kids are in their "quiet time".
11. It's interesting...the woman in charge of all the region's school lunches is not overweight...not in the slightest. She obviously doesn't eat what she's serving. But...all her little school-kids ARE overweight. Is there so much red-tape within the whole set up that she is FORCED to serve this stuff...rather than start from scratch, figure out the nutritional information in REAL food and serve that instead? I can see how nutritional labels would make it all easier...
12. Jamie thinks he's going to win - his fresh stuff against pizza. He's delusional.
Jamie sets up his food, head to head, against the Lunch Ladies' food: pizza vs. baked chicken drumsticks and green salad. Hrm. Sorry, dude. You're not going to win this fight.
13. "Have I seen women like Alice before? Yeah. Do they scare me? Yeah. Am I going to have nightmares about her? For a while." Ha!
Remember, Alice is 'head hen' in the lunch lady squad. And she is NOT a fan of Jamie at this point.
14. Processed foods won. Obviously.
Referring to the chicken vs. pizza contest above. *sigh*
15. And...he got it. Take away the bad choices - kids will take the "processed" choice. Every time.
Jamie realizes what he must do to "win" is to simply take away the pizza/nugget options. Tomorrow, it's all "his" food.
16. Disaster strikes - the local paper takes a bunch of Jamie's quotes and mixes them around to make him sound like some sort of pig-headed, patronizing brat of a chef. Now he's got to make it right.
The principal and entire lunch lady squad are LIVID. The article includes quotes like "their eating habits would make the hairs on your arms stand on end" and "their knowledge on nutrition is anemic." He was talking of a specific family that he had worked with, but the local paper has twisted it up to say that he was talking about the entire town. The residents, apparently, are accustomed to being portrayed as stupid and backward in the media...and now think that Jamie is just here to laugh at the fat, stupid Americans. Immediately following this discussion, a news crew shows up to interview Jamie and he tries to set the record straight - he is here to help, and he's here because he cares, and he thinks the residents of this town are wonderful, wonderful folk. The end.
17. Jamie has taken time away from his family...because he thinks he can make a difference. And he's trying. And nobody wants him here. He's following his heart...and he's trying.
Jamie starts crying. He's away from his two kids, and his wife, because he thinks he can help. I'm not sure how much of this show is gimmick. Why is an Englishman here to help us with this problem? Probably because he's already built a reputation around this sort of thing. Kind of like Alice Waters here...but we can still take him seriously, whereas Alice is portrayed as a zealot and irrational in our media.
My brain is whirling. This show...is great if you haven't started to take these steps. If you're already living a one-ingredient-to-a-package lifestyle...this might be good entertainment for you.
It's made me think - last year, my sister and I both had a contest to see who could lose their baby weight first. We very nearly tied. We did moderate exercise and cut out dairy, as both of us had children with varying degrees of NASTINESS after eating milk. (Seeing as how we were those kids' primary food sources...this meant that no dairy could pass our lips if we wanted to have happy days.) Looking back on it, I'm not sure if the weight loss was from cutting out the dairy...or if was simply because we were forced to make most things from scratch. As I recall, I ate a lot of vegetables, lean meat and white bread with peanut butter that year...and my food has never tasted better.
Even now, I'm still trying to make more things from scratch. Summer is coming, and I'm going to try to incorporate more fresh veggies into our diet. (This will be easier this year than in years past...as I expect my mother and sisters - both gardeners - to have more produce than they know what to do with. Heh. I have an idea.....)
If you haven't watched this, the full episode may be found here. I would love to hear your thoughts!!
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