Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC, debuts 3/26

Hi- Jamie Oliver has been making the rounds of the talk shows to plug his new program on ABC. He went to Huntington, West Virginia, which has a high rate of childhood obesity, and tried to educate people about healthy eating. He spends a lot of time detailing how unhealthy the school lunches are in this town. I saw him on Anderson Cooper tonight, and they showed a clip where he talked to a group of elementary students, and showed them some ripe tomatoes, and one of the kids thought they were potatoes. He also showed them an eggplant, and a beet, and nobody knew what they were. The show is going to be on for 2 hours 3/26 from 7:00-9:00pm, and I think that it is going to be on several other weeks afterwords, but I am not sure. Hope this helps, Nancy

I was very impressed by the first 2 hours of this show, or more specifically, the effort that Jamie Oliver is undertaking, which is daunting. As one can probably imagine, he's up against a lot of resistance trying to get people to change their multi-generational and life-long eating habits. There's a good deal of 'shoot the messenger' going on, as well. From what was shown, the local media have gone out of their way to nitpick some of the things he's said, while essentially ignoring the underlying truth and importance of his message. In fact, it almost seems as if they're eager to dismiss the message entirely because of a few critical quotes from Oliver. Meanwhile, 50% of the adults in Huntington are obese.

The first 2 hours largely centered on changes Oliver's trying to make with the school lunch program at one elementary school. There are myriad barriers to getting this done: complacent school cooks who don't want to change, administrative red tape, USDA guidelines, lack of parental support and children who have been indoctrinated to choose processed food over real food for their entire lives. By the end of the second hour, he was able to fight through all of the barriers to the point where he's at least going to get another couple weeks to keep trying. His goal is to implement changes at every school in Huntington. Since this was taped and is, in reality, probably long since over, the eventual outcome is probably known. My guess is that there's no effing way he succeeded 100%. It seemed that some locals were never going to let some guy from England tell them anything about anything.

There was also quite a bit of focus on one specific family, who Oliver is trying to help. Everyone in the family is very overweight and they essentially eat nothing but fried and processed foods. Seeing what they ate during the course of a typical week (piled up on the kitchen table for dramatic tv effect) was startling. It seemed that the only things they actually cooked were donuts and tortilla chips, which they fried up in a countertop deep fryer. In another made for tv moment, Oliver takes the fryer to the backyard and buries it, while he and family have a brief 'ceremony.' He eventually ends up taking the entire family to the hospital, where they are screened for diabetes, which already runs in the family.

Through it all, Oliver seems to have one ally -- Pastor Steve -- who has seen many in his congregation die and become ill with obesity-related health problems. He understands that food education is critical and as the series continues, I'm guessing that Pastor Steve will be an important part of J.O. getting his goals accomplished, because the community does know and trust him. After week one, the principal, school district food director and school superintendent all seem to be at least somewhat supportive of the effort Oliver is making. Perhaps they understand that they'll have to do this eventually and having Chef Oliver do it amounts to some cost-free consulting. Maybe they actually are more on-board than that. I suppose time will tell.

In any case, I really admire the message and the effort being made here. It's startling and depressing how little some people know about food and nutrition. In one moment, 5-year-olds are not able to identify tomatoes, potatoes and a bunch of other basic produce. Yes, because this is commercial tv, there's obviously a goal beyond education and altruism but it's clear that Jamie Oliver really cares about this cause and has committed to doing something about it. Spending (I believe) 4 months away from his family is no small thing and really shows how committed he is to food education.

I'll be following this series and hope that it can create/add to some momentum already being made in this country about where our food comes from, what we eat, how we feed our children and how food and health are so closely linked.

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I wonder how much of the negative reaction to this show is based on the perception of how it looks for a Brit to come in and basically tell a bunch of Americans that they are unhealthy and fat. For what it's worth, I think the message is a good one and what I have seen of the show is definitely eye-opening, but just wonder if the negative/knee-jerk reaction would have been lessened had this been a US food personality (and particularly a "down-to-earth" type to overcome any type of elitist vibe/perception).

Matt wrote: For what it's worth, I think the message is a good one and what I have seen of the show is definitely eye-opening, but just wonder if the negative/knee-jerk reaction would have been lessened had this been a US food personality (and particularly a "down-to-earth" type to overcome any type of elitist vibe/perception).

Good point! I truly think that someone like Tyler Florence would have been better received by the population of Huntington.
He is more likable, and therefore more likely to be trusted.

The one thing that really disheartened me was the resistance by the staff to provide, and the inability of the children to use knives. You mean to tell me that a 6 or a 7 year old has NEVER eaten a meal that required the use of a knife?

Hi- Thanks Ronnie for the good summery of the program. I looked at the comments on Oprah's website concerning her program with Jamie. There was one woman who was very critical of the way Jamie treated the morbidly obese family. This poster says that a lot of morbidly obese people got that way because of lousy genes. It was obvious that this one family got that way at least partially because they eat a lousy diet.

I found it unbelievable that those kids did not know what a tomato was. I am not sure if having an American come in to change the town would have been any better received. According to the Oprah show, the radio host, did finally change his mind about Jamie when he saw the extra large casket. Jamie is definitely one of those "in your face" personalities though. Hope this helps, Nancy

cito wrote:

Matt wrote: For what it's worth, I think the message is a good one and what I have seen of the show is definitely eye-opening, but just wonder if the negative/knee-jerk reaction would have been lessened had this been a US food personality (and particularly a "down-to-earth" type to overcome any type of elitist vibe/perception).

Good point! I truly think that someone like Tyler Florence would have been better received by the population of Huntington.
He is more likable, and therefore more likely to be trusted.

Maybe true (maybe not) but this is something that Jamie Oliver thought of and an issue that is obviously important to him. This is specifically why he's the person who's involved with it. I don't think someone else hosting was ever really an option, unless someone else had come up with the idea and been willing to put in the hours to make it happen. That said, I did wish throughout the show that J.O would stop mentioning that he's from England and just focus on the issue at hand. I think he'd have more success if he took that route. He doesn't need to constantly remind everyone that 'he ain't from around here.'

cito wrote:The one thing that really disheartened me was the resistance by the staff to provide, and the inability of the children to use knives. You mean to tell me that a 6 or a 7 year old has NEVER eaten a meal that required the use of a knife?

No lie. I found this unbelievable, too. Jamie's point about the school actually being an ideal place to teach kids how to use knives and forks was a good one, though.

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NFriday wrote:There was one woman who was very critical of the way Jamie treated the morbidly obese family. This poster says that a lot of morbidly obese people got that way because of lousy genes. It was obvious that this one family got that way at least partially because they eat a lousy diet.

And let's face it, if this family didn't agree to participate, he wouldn't have been in their home in the first place. But I watched the show and he made absolutely no comment about it being their fault. In fact, he said the exact opposite, telling the mom that it wasn't her fault and that she was a good mother.

Eating conveniently and healthfully while keeping to a tight budget is very hard. It'll be interesting to see if he can fashion a program for this family that will actually work for them. But I also worry about Jamie's knowledge base. He knows these folks are morbidly obese and that at least someone in the family has diabetes, yet he taught the son how to make a pasta dish. Sure it's better than processed crap but still not a very good choice for someone who needs to be mindful of his blood glucose level.

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For what it's worth, I think the message is a good one and what I have seen of the show is definitely eye-opening, but just wonder if the negative/knee-jerk reaction would have been lessened had this been a US food personality (and particularly a "down-to-earth" type to overcome any type of elitist vibe/perception).

I don't necessarily disagree with this, but keep in mind that this is a "reality" series produced by Ryan Seacrest of American Idol fame, not an ABC documentary. These shows are often edited to amp up the drama and conflict.

Making food that is 1) healthy and 2) cheap and 3) fast is difficult. You can usually get 2 of the 3, but the 3rd is hard, whichever one you're aiming for. Adding in our inherent inertia and resistance to change, this has to be a hard sell.

Hi- Jamie Oliver has a petition you can sign on his website, that I believe is going to be presented to Obama, encouraging the federal government to promote healthy food in the schools. Here is the link:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/petition

They have a map which tells by state how many people have signed the petition. Over 22,000 people have signed it so far. California by far has the largest numbers of people signing it. Mississippi and West Virginia have one of the smallest number of people on board. Mississippi is supposed to have lots of people with heart disease and diabetes. I should warn you that they do ask for your email address when you sign the petition.

They also mention on his website, that a nonprofit clinic in Huntington has taken over the kitchen that he set up in downtown Huntington, and they are going to start offering healthy cooking classes there. Apparently they had to spend money to bring it in to code. You think that ABC would have given them the money for that. This clinic is also going to begin holding farmer's markets. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- I just checked Jamie's website, and they are up to 109.000 signatures on his petition, including over 1,300 from West Virginia. They also have the recipes he used in the Huntington schools. Hope this helps, Nancy

If anyone's interested, the shows doing very well for ABC in the ratings, pulling in the best numbers its had in several years in the timeslot.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/27/tv ... -abc/46281

Early reports are that Jamie's lunch program is not-so-successful (so far). Apart from the arguable condescension in a Brit telling Americans what they should do (isn't that why we had a revolution?), but there's a certain cluelessness in trying to serve the kids such mystery-meat dishes as shepherd's pie, a dish that probably 0 in 10 West Virginians are familiar with, and beans and sausage. Not to mention their milk consumption went down as the only offering was skim after Jamie took hold of the dairy crates.* Look, I'm all for making school lunches healthier, but I don't think Jamie Oliver is our man. I hope he's able to make some realistic changes, but who knows? Maybe this is all supposed to be just good TV.

*Pardon the anecdote: I hated milk as a kid (still won't drink a glass straight), but when my school started offering chocolate milk in 3rd grade, I started drinking it. Offering only plain milk (which was at least whole) prior to that did not get me to drink it. As an adult, I still consider skim milk to be one of the lowest forms of dairy products.

aschie30 wrote:Early reports are that Jamie's lunch program is not-so-successful (so far). Apart from the arguable condescension in a Brit telling Americans what they should do (isn't that why we had a revolution?), but there's a certain cluelessness in trying to serve the kids such mystery-meat dishes as shepherd's pie, a dish that probably 0 in 10 West Virginians are familiar with, and beans and sausage. Not to mention their milk consumption went down as the only offering was skim after Jamie took hold of the dairy crates.* Look, I'm all for making school lunches healthier, but I don't think Jamie Oliver is our man. I hope he's able to make some realistic changes, but who knows? Maybe this is all supposed to be just good TV.

In one of the episodes I saw, the kids wouldn't even eat chicken, slaw and brown rice. Even apples went uneaten and were being thrown away, too (some whole). I think, regardless of who the messenger is (which I do think is ultimately irrelevant), this is going to be an uphill and largely unwinnable battle. I personally don't see any condescension here because the message is so inarguable but it's clear that many of the residents of Huntington, WV feel it strongly. Too bad they don't seem nearly as passionate about what they eat, at least at the moment.

Maybe if they'd referred to the Shepherd's Pie as Smothered Pot Roast, it would have been better received.

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Too bad about the apples and chicken, but I'm not surprised that brown rice or slaw didn't go over; my sense is that neither the schools nor Jamie, for that matter, is going to get the kids to try anything drastically new. I doubt that any of these kids have ever tried brown rice. It's brown, and chewy. Healthy, yes, but I can't imagine that it's very appetizing to kids. Why not start with white rice? Better than fries.

I've got absolutely nothing against the British (I think they're great, actually) but Jamie is going to have to adjust his sensibilities if he's going to get through. Maybe smothered pot roast sounds more familiar to an American's ears, but it's still unidentifiable plop-on-a-plate, and probably won't convert the kids. (Remember how much we loved our schools' chicken a la king? )

aschie30 wrote:Too bad about the apples and chicken, but I'm not surprised that brown rice or slaw didn't go over; my sense is that neither the schools nor Jamie, for that matter, is going to get the kids to try anything drastically new. I doubt that any of these kids have ever tried brown rice. It's brown, and chewy. Healthy, yes, but I can't imagine that it's very appetizing to kids. Why not start with white rice? Better than fries.

I've got absolutely nothing against the British (I think they're great, actually) but Jamie is going to have to adjust his sensibilities if he's going to get through. Maybe smothered pot roast sounds more familiar to an American's ears, but it's still unidentifiable plop-on-a-plate, and probably won't convert the kids. (Remember how much we loved our schools' chicken a la king? )

I take back what I said earlier about condescension because, on second thought, that has to be an innate part of any outsider coming into a community and telling them what's best for them, no matter how noble the outsider's intentions. Still not sure it's any worse coming from a foreigner, though.

You raise an interesting point about school lunch programs. We love that our son's school doesn't have one, per se. Kids bring their own food or parents can pre-purchase outside lunches from a set schedule of restaurants that prepare and deliver food to school daily. The bottom line is that families largely control what their kids eat everyday at school.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:[In one of the episodes I saw, the kids wouldn't even eat chicken, slaw and brown rice. Even apples went uneaten and were being thrown away, too (some whole). I think, regardless of who the messenger is (which I do think is ultimately irrelevant), this is going to be an uphill and largely unwinnable battle. I personally don't see any condescension here because the message is so inarguable but it's clear that many of the residents of Huntington, WV feel it strongly. Too bad they don't seem nearly as passionate about what they eat, at least at the moment.=R=

I know this won't be popular but I think these folks are a lost cause. I don't think it's Oliver's fault.

From the NY Times:

In 2006, West Virginia started rewarding Medicaid patients who signed a pledge to enroll in a wellness plan and to follow their doctors’ orders with special benefits, including unlimited prescription-drug coverage, programs to help them quit smoking and nutrition counseling. Those who did not sign up were enrolled in a more restrictive plan that, among other things, limited drug coverage to only four prescriptions a month.

The program, by many accounts, is failing. As of August 2009, only 15 percent of 160,000 eligible patients had signed up. Patients with limited transportation options were having a hard time committing to regular office visits. And experts say there is no evidence that restricting benefits for noncompliant patients has promoted healthy behaviors.

<sigh> Oliver gets an A for effort. Whatever he's done in WV, he can't make their lives any worse.

pairs4life wrote:I know this won't be popular but I think these folks are a lost cause. I don't think it's Oliver's fault.

From the NY Times:

In 2006, West Virginia started rewarding Medicaid patients who signed a pledge to enroll in a wellness plan and to follow their doctors’ orders with special benefits, including unlimited prescription-drug coverage, programs to help them quit smoking and nutrition counseling. Those who did not sign up were enrolled in a more restrictive plan that, among other things, limited drug coverage to only four prescriptions a month.

The program, by many accounts, is failing. As of August 2009, only 15 percent of 160,000 eligible patients had signed up. Patients with limited transportation options were having a hard time committing to regular office visits. And experts say there is no evidence that restricting benefits for noncompliant patients has promoted healthy behaviors.

<sigh> Oliver gets an A for effort. Whatever he's done in WV, he can't make their lives any worse.

That's partly why Oliver was in West Virginia. This is interesting -- there is evidence that wellness programs with incentives are largely successful. (For instance, an incentive-based program would offer subsidized health club memberships, and the more you use them, the more they're subsidized, to the point where they're free.) This plan has has a punitive component, which tend not to be successful. Perhaps that has party accounted for its failure.

It seems like they are stubborn, set in your ways people. They are also apparently limited by poverty, given that the lack of transportation played into the failure of this wellness program. It seems like changes really need to be home-grown, instituted by people close to the community, who understand the community. Some people might be reached in this community. I don't believe in lost causes.

Hi- They had an interesting article in today's New York Times food section about school lunches, and the possible changes in the federal guidelines. The federal guidelines for school lunches get overhauled every five years. This time around they are considering requiring school lunch programs to limit milk sales to skim and 1%. The article also mentioned Jamie and his new TV show.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/dining/31lunch.html?ref=dining
Hope this helps, Nancy

It's just strange to me. I did grow up before chicken nuggets and my sister & I adored fruit & fruit juice(not fruit punch). My parents placed no limits on it. I think that's why we gravitated to good for you foods that taste good. I didn't like many vegetables, it just so happened I liked the nutritional powerhouses, collards, cabbage, fresh green beans, & sweet potatoes. I can't imagine being a kid living on processed food.

What was striking is the family in the show, the wife actually cooks. I certainly grew up thinking of deep frying as real work. My parents hated, it so french fries, fried chicken, and fried fish were treats (probably less than 10 x in a year). It just seems odd to spend time cooking and come out so nutritionally unsound consistently. They also clearly spend a good deal of money on the food, assuming it isn't from some food bank.

I'm also floored that the daughter is only 4, I thought she was about 8 or 9.

Hi- There is an article in today's New York Times concerning a program that was implemented in 2006 in New York City, giving people financial incentives for making positive changes in their life.

The program which is funded by private donations, pays poor people who regularly attend school, visit the dentist, and attend parent-teacher student conferences etc. The program is being disbanded because of spotty results. Apparently they had a hard time getting people to sign up for the program, even though there was a chance of getting out of poverty by actively participating in the program. They got paid $100 every time they visited the dentist, and the children received $100 a month if they regularly attended school, and got good grades.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/nyregion/31cash.html

Hi- I think that trying to turn the kids onto shepherd's pie and brown rice is a lost cause. I actually make a vegetarian version of shepherd's pie on occasion and enjoy it. It is a good way to use up lots of veggies in your fridge, but I eat much healthier than most of the kids at that school do. When I was growing up we did not even have a deep fat fryer, and we always had lots of fruit and veggies. Hope this helps, Nancy

pairs4life wrote:It's just strange to me. I did grow up before chicken nuggets and my sister & I adored fruit & fruit juice(not fruit punch). My parents placed no limits on it. I think that's why we gravitated to good for you foods that taste good. I didn't like many vegetables, it just so happened I liked the nutritional powerhouses, collards, cabbage, fresh green beans, & sweet potatoes. I can't imagine being a kid living on processed food.

Yes. Apparently, kids are perfectly capable of developing good eating habits but they generally don't get there on their own.

pairs4life wrote:What was striking is the family in the show, the wife actually cooks. I certainly grew up thinking of deep frying as real work. My parents hated, it so french fries, fried chicken, and fried fish were treats (probably less than 10 x in a year). It just seems odd to spend time cooking and come out so nutritionally unsound consistently. They also clearly spend a good deal of money on the food, assuming it isn't from some food bank.

Totally agreed with this. The last thing I expected too see was any cooking going on. Instead, there was cooking going on . . . but probably the worst kind.

To your other point, I wonder what percentage of the family's budget was being spent on food. What price convenience?

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Hi- They are rebroadcasting the third installment of Food Revolution at 2:00pm today, 4/03 on channel 7.

What did everybody think about the third installment? It seems like he was much better received at the high school. It is a shame though that Rhonda told him that his meal did not have enough fruits and veggies to meet federal guidelines, and so she had the cooks prepare french fries.

I know that it is a uphill battle to try to make the meals more healthy, because the schools do not get paid enough for subsidized meals, and the schools are forced to use government surplus food commodities that they receive for free. Most of these surplus food commodities they receive are high fat dairy products, such as butter and cheese. The federal government does not buy excess amounts of fruits and veggies for distribution. There were apples in Michigan that did not get picked last fall, because the farmer knew that he could not sell them at a profit. If all they can get is 10 cents a pound wholesale for the apples, then there is no way they can make a profit on those apples.

BTW- I heard that the schools in Huntington are back to only serving chocolate and strawberry milk, because the kids would not drink the skim milk Jamie tried to serve them. People thought that chocolate and strawberry milk was better than no milk. Hope this helps, Nancy

I enjoyed last Friday's episode and am looking forward to tonight's episode but beyond the basic concept (admirable) and the ultimate, long-term outcome (yet to happen), most of the rest of this is going be typical reality tv -- all about the editing -- so, I'm having a hard time getting too invested in it. I've read a bunch of stories in the press over the past 2 weeks about the the program. Depending on which stories you read, this is everywhere from failing miserably to succeeding wildly. There's a lot of agenda-ism going in.

Where will Huntington be in a year, 2 years, 5 years? Will there even be a way to accurately measure the effectiveness of JO's effort? Whatever ultimately happens over the long haul is really all that matters. I do hope there will be an obvious way to gauge what effect, if any, the Food Revolution has on Huntington but I don't think it'll happen over the duration of this show and I don't necessarily trust the people who are making the show to present it accurately.

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I have slightly lower expectations. I think the show could succeed as a window into nutrition problems and how difficult it is to change things.

cito wrote:

Matt wrote: For what it's worth, I think the message is a good one and what I have seen of the show is definitely eye-opening, but just wonder if the negative/knee-jerk reaction would have been lessened had this been a US food personality (and particularly a "down-to-earth" type to overcome any type of elitist vibe/perception).

Good point! I truly think that someone like Tyler Florence would have been better received by the population of Huntington.
He is more likable, and therefore more likely to be trusted.

Interesting you mention Tyler Florence by name. A few years ago ABC aired another reality show dealing with similar issues. It was Shaq's Big Challenge and featured Shaquille O'Neal working with children in Florida to get them to exercise and eat healthier. One aspect of the show featured Shaq bringing in Tyler Florence to make changes to the food offered in the school cafeteria. Florence ran into the same obstacles Jamie Oliver is experiencing in Huntington: resistance to change, budgetary/time restrictions, etc.

Hi- I like the way that Jamie was able to convert Ron the DJ, and he even got the lunch ladies, including Alice to attend one of his cooking classes. I think that there are two more segments left. I realize that things need to change in the school lunch program, but I believe that the federal government only plans on increasing subsidies 7 cents per lunch. It is hard for a school district to come up with a lunch that is healthy, and that the kids will eat, and is affordable. Hope this helps, Nancy

Jamie's visit to U.S. Foods made me wonder if the government really is the bottleneck slowing change in this case -- for, I got the impression that the huge food distributors like them would be happy to sell schools fresh foods instead of heavily processed foods, as long as the schools buy it. They just want to make money. And the schools seem to want to buy healthy food to the extent that they can afford it. But the FDA's nutrition regulations combined with the government's lunch subsidies and the processed food companies' ability to offer the lowest prices seems to make it financially impossible for the schools to get what they want for their children. And there don't seem to be enough regulations on the junk food companies to prevent them from offering their products at such low prices with the discounts and kickbacks that they offer -- so nothing is going to change until the government does.

Does that seem like a sound way to think about the issue here?

i<3pizza wrote:Jamie's visit to U.S. Foods made me wonder if the government really is the bottleneck slowing change in this case -- for, I got the impression that the huge food distributors like them would be happy to sell schools fresh foods instead of heavily processed foods, as long as the schools buy it. They just want to make money. And the schools seem to want to buy healthy food to the extent that they can afford it. But the FDA's nutrition regulations combined with the government's lunch subsidies and the processed food companies' ability to offer the lowest prices seems to make it financially impossible for the schools to get what they want for their children. And there don't seem to be enough regulations on the junk food companies to prevent them from offering their products at such low prices with the discounts and kickbacks that they offer -- so nothing is going to change until the government does.

Does that seem like a sound way to think about the issue here?

Well, it seems that an angle which may change this has now come to light:

Mary Clare Jalonick @ AP wrote:Too fat to fight? Many American children are so overweight from being fed french fries, pizza and other unhealthy foods at school lunchrooms that they cannot handle the physical rigors of being in the military, a group of retired officers say in a new report.

National security is threatened by the sharp rise in obesity rates for young people over the last 15 years, the group Mission: Readiness contends. Weight problems are now the leading medical reason that recruits are rejected, the group says, and thus jeopardize the military's ability to fill its ranks.

Report says school food making kids unfit to serve

Oy

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