TV chef Jamie Oliver’s crusade to bring healthy food to Great Britain’s schoolchildren has been hailed all over the place. The Channel 4 Political Awards named him the Most Inspiring Political Figure of 2005. Tony Blair cited Oliver’s work while introducing increased funds for school meals. And Oliver’s been named as a member of the Order of the British Empire.
Now quite a few British parents are calling his efforts “rubbish,” arguing that it’s Oliver’s healthier meals that are causing a plummeting interest in school lunch throughout the country. According to a story in the Evening Standard:
Demand for lunches has slumped almost 20 per cent in secondary schools since his campaign to banish junk food. …
Figures released yesterday by the School Food Trust showed nearly two-thirds of secondary pupils are shunning school meals. Take-up last year was 37.7 per cent—against 44.9 per cent two years before.
A photo in the story shows parents passing food to students through a playground fence, a courageous revolt against the tyranny of the healthy eating habits that Oliver and his government cronies would like to impose upon the UK’s young people.
Now, it makes a certain amount of sense that when you raise kids to eat hamburgers, fried “Turkey Twizzlers,” and chips, you’re going to see some negative push-back when you change over to light pasta dishes, fresh vegetables, and fish. But is that Jamie Oliver’s fault? Not really—pushing healthy food on junk-food eaters will always be an uphill struggle, and numerous reputable studies have shown that healthier school meals pay academic and physical dividends.
But for an alternative viewpoint on Oliver and his good works, you may wish to turn to a recent blog post on the Devil’s Kitchen titled “Seriously, Jamie Oliver Is a Complete Cunt.” A choice excerpt:
It is very telling of the simplistic outlook of Mr Oliver that he thinks by restricting the choices available to people, he will fundamentally change their behaviour. Because kids won’t go looking for junk food outside of school if they can’t get it in school. Perhaps this is another reason why he got on so well with the uber fascist, Tony Blair.
I have no first hand experience whatsoever of the food in English schools- I am speaking only from what I saw in the shows that followed Jamie trying to improve the quality of the meals. I think he is doing something very worthwhile, and I think they need to give him a few years. As he says, eating habits are not that easy to change – and these need to be changed not only in the schools, but also in the homes. When they showed what a lot of these kids ate at home, well, it was less than impressive – scary actually.
I think it is a really good thing that he is trying to do, and should get everyone’s support.
Personally, I think it’s insane to spend taxpayers’ money on junk food, which leads to health problems in the future and therefore a greater drain on the economy of the nation. In other words, if students are going outside the school to get their chip butties – well, fine, that’s where they should be getting them. Crappy food isn’t being outlawed, just not subsidized. Kids can read lousy books, too, but we expect them to learn about the good stuff at school. I don’t see why food should be any different.
Turst me, the food in English schools was AWFUL. Almost as bad as some of the crap we Americans feed our students.
“Perhaps this is another reason why he got on so well with the uber fascist, Tony Blair.”
Can you say ‘over-reaction’? Can you say ‘inane and histrionic’? Give me a break!
Secondly, of course the number of school lunches eaten are down, assuming previous to Oliver’s efforts they were high in sugar, fat or salt. Those things taste really good, so when you moderate them, the food will suffer in comparison until your palate is trained to appreciate the new, lower levels. (I know; I’m on a restricted sodium diet.)
I wish Oliver well in his efforts.
The backlash against healthier food choices in English schools started quite some time ago. I just spent a few years living in Europe and I remember an article about British moms stuffing hamburgers and cigarettes through the school fence for their kids who didn’t want vegetables, salads, pasta, fish, etc.
I’m no fan of Jamie Oliver, but I think he’s done some good work.