Jamie Oliver...Thoughts Please

I think he is so awesome! most people "care about school lunches" but he really takes it to the next level. And he makes it fun too!

I love that he is trying to educate people about "real" food. I think he needs to start with parents and not school systems. When kids go home, they usually have a plethora of foods to eat that are not healthy.

I like his cooking more than his 'revoloution'. He does a show in the UK called 30 minute meals and they all look delicious. No nonsense meals with fresh (mainly) healthy ingredients, brill.

I don't know if you've tried making any of his "30 minute meals" but it certainly takes me longer - but I still don't hold that against him!

I've done a couple, with modifications, but I'm not really bothered about it either to be honest, its just yummy food!

I love that he is trying to educate people about "real" food. I think he needs to start with parents and not school systems. When kids go home, they usually have a plethora of foods to eat that are not healthy.

I think what he is trying to do is get the kids eduated now and right off the parents as they are just too dumb to see they killing themselves with the sh** food the shovel in.

Adults will watch the program they may think twice about what they doing to there kids.

I've just started watching both 'Revolution' (up to Ep3) and the Hollywood one (Eps1&2), and I have to admit to being shocked....but I suppose that's the point. I was shocked when he did the UK version too! They are not going to show the parents who do provide their kids with healthy food, and who make healthy choices for themselves, are they?

I think change has to come from several areas, without blame being attributed to any one area. Everyone's hands are tied to an extent - from the person controlling the budget for the entire city/area, to the parents. I agree that the parents should be feeding their kids healthy foods but I also understand that not every parent knows what is healthy, so as with any form of education, it's more successful when parents and schools work in tandem. What I don't understand however, are the parents who were aware their kids were being fed rubbish at school, yet still let them have school food. Presumably it's not obligatory, that parents can provide their children with their own food?

The last school I worked at was on the brink of ditching school meals altogether because practically none of the children wanted them because the 'food' was dire. My Head had the brilliant idea of firing the catering company and sending home a questionnaire for parents and children to fill out, stating which kinds of foods they'd like to see on the school menu. It worked really well, and the cooks were happier because they got to make real food (plus were paid a better wage by the school, compared to what they received from the catering company), the pupils and parents were happier because there was decent food, and we were happy because we had pupils who were healthier and easier to teach! In fact the only people who weren't happy were the catering company! :laugh:

I really like Jamie (have done since the very first Naked Chef series) but I do worry that while his intentions are undeniably good, these programmes have a tendency to portray the American public as though they are uneducated and uncaring. I don't think it's Jamie's fault per se - more the producer and editor going for the sensationalist angle. And it may well be that a great deal of Americans *don't* really know much about nutrition, just as there are a great deal of British people who don't. In fact, I'd say that in most reasonably affluent nations, similar issues occur. However, I also know lots of Americans who are really health-savvy, so it sort of grieves me to see this kind of thing going on.

I also think it's all very well for Jamie to say "Should be, could be, ought to be", and in principle, I agree with him, but I'm not fond of the whole barging-in-and-telling-people-how-to-run-their-lives thing. Again, I don't for one minute believe that there wasn't a shedload of groundwork done beforehand, but the programmes do seem to be edited to show optimum resistance, frustration and jobsworth-ness (I know it's not a real word!). But I suppose if that's what it takes to get the point across....

Regarding the actual content of the programmes - I was gobsmacked when those children said they'd still eat not-really-chicken nuggets, even after almost vomming at the process they go through! And I was speechless at the whole ammonia thing. But then, I was also rather surprised that the elementary school children didn't use knives and forks, or know what the veggies and fruits were. I found it a bit of a culture shock TBH! And both programmes had me in tears on several occasions...because I do get a bit emo over suffering.

I really hope there's a happy conclusion to both of these series - I've seen the Revolution website where you can hover over a map of the US to see how many people have signed up in your state....it seems like an awful lot of people have, so I am optimistic that good things are beginning to happen.

His american show gets shown over here too and its funny how much he plays up to the american audience! Never ever says 'god bless' to anybody in his UK shows, yet practically ever person he meets gets a 'God bless brother!'..and that winds me up a bit, its fake.

Yes! That is soooo irritating! Be yourself, Jamie!

"And it may well be that a great deal of Americans *don't* really know much about nutrition, just as there are a great deal of British people who don't."

..But you Brits sure do make the world's best junk food. Yorkie bar, anyone?

Everyone knows that the Lion Bar and/or Picnic car rule them all. The One Choccie, as it were.

I've always found him off-putting. I think the premise is a good one. He irks me to no end, however. Having watched both the UK and US versions of Kitchen Nightmares, I can only imagine how they've added the "ADD" element to the US version. Ugh. Like showing the entire show recap after every commercial. Yeah, because we can't remember what we just watched during the previous 10-15 minutes.

Personally I think he is a bit of a knobber.

I love Jamie Oliver. Always have. My only complaint is that he does, as aforementioned, play up to the american audience a bit. I prefer his British-audience material over the stuff aimed at americans.

I really like Jamie, from the first episode of The Naked Chef that I ever saw. I have almost all of his cookbooks and the few great things I make, are from his books. I think he's trying to do great things. I hope he succeeds.

I've loved his style of more rustic cooking since I first saw him. I loved the setup and style of the kitchen and his gardens. He's cool, witty, smart. And I recently downloaded one of his iPhone apps... totally loved his quick lesson on three types of chopping with a knife. He promotes local, organic... "clean" foods it seems. Like his accent of course, being an American. And his idea to revolutionaize kids' school lunches is definitely a good one... how he manages to do it and if it actually will work... we'll see

You love his accent!? Hes got a lisp! It's terrible over here he gets ripped for being borderline downs syndrome because of his speech hahaha. Hes almost as bad as super nanny, who is totally 'unasseptabull'.

For my lunch at secondry school I would buy a Yorkie bar and a packet of McCoys , a slice of pizza from the restaurant and wash it down with a can of Irn Bru. Makes me vom just thinking about it now.

He is one of the most important people of our generation, not the only one, but definitely one of the most important.
He has seen a health issue that is effecting such a large group of people and instead of shrugging his shoulders he is having a go at fixing it.
Yes the shows are sensationalised, but that is for the greater impact and I cant begrudge him that if it makes people stop and think about what they are eating and what they are feeding their families.
Good for him for having a crack.

I love him! I actually haven't seen his regular program & only saw first few episodes when he went into the schools here in the US - I no longer have a tv, and never watched much when I did. But I thought it was fantastic - I think that most of our modern societies across the world have pretty horrible diets. There might be exceptions (and I might want to move there, lol) - and many areas are improving with education (funny what it takes to go back to eating the whole foods that our ancestors ate).

Even before I saw my own recent, drastic health changes, I cringed whenever I saw kids drinking those sugary dye-colored drinks, or fast food. The adults who love them, don't realized how they're setting their kids up for health disaster in the future.

My recent weight loss has totally changed the near constant knee pain I was having... could hardly walk a few blocks... had the cane nearby 'just in case'.... and the few stairs up to my first floor apt was nearly killing me. Now, I'm walking much, much more, the knee pain is almost totally gone, and the stairs don't scare me anymore!! (not to mention the threat of knee surgery, haha) AND - I actually have energy.

I really felt his frustration, too. Couldn't believe it when he whipped up the raw chicken, bones, skin & all - and they still wanted to eat it!! Yuk!!

So for all he's doing (I really need to watch him on the computer when I have the time), he's one of my heroes!!

At the end of the day Jamie is running a business. His food awareness is a good thing considering the easy availability of fast foods and quick fix meals in the UK and America.
It makes people aware... that is if they watch his programs!
From my point of view, while we are currently staying in a country where the society wouldn't know what to do with fast food, I would say that we are sitting with a healthier situation.
We grew up with taking our lunches to school. It was much healthier and on sport days you packed extra lunch to carry you though.

Society has changed over the last couple of years... If people need to be re-educated about food and food choices in one generation then that is sad... I know when I have made a bad food choice, so why wouldn't parents realise the same thing?
I guess TV is societies way of re-educating the populations... Oh well, if it is working then go for it!
If it is Jamie doing it, or some other person and they attract peoples attention then good. They are doing what needs to be done :-)