Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution has come to a close and the internet is buzzing. There are a lot of blogs and commentaries analyzing, criticizing and/or praising the show and Oliver’s efforts… so I thought I would add my 2 cents 
Personally, I loved the Food Revolution. It was simply good TV. Shocking food scenes, a well intentioned underdog, feel good moments. My family has been tuning in every Friday for the last few weeks. We watched incredulously as he showed us a week’s worth of one family’s processed food in a greasy pile on their kitchen table. Our hearts broke for the mom who tearfully expressed her desire to make a change so her kids can live longer, healthier lives. He later buried their deep fryer in the back yard. We all groaned when he made chicken nuggets out of a bloody, nasty chicken carcass and cringed when the kids, having watched this process, still raised their hands when asked if they’d eat them. And who can forget french fries classified as a vegetable per the USDA??
School lunch is an issue that I have skirted primarily by packing lunches for my kids. There are no healthy vegetarian options for children in schools and I don’t consider cheesy breadsticks to be a reasonable meal! This Lincoln, NE sample school menu is pretty similar to the choices that my kids have, I am guessing the choices most of the nation’s kids have. And Oliver’s show open my eyes into how very processed the food is – from the frozen nuggets to the weird packaged mashed ‘potato’ pearls, it’s really revolting what we slap on trays and serve to our kids nationwide, day after day.
I have to admit that as I watched (at least initially) I was asking too many questions that came from being a vegan. Where were the veg options? What’s with the frozen veggies? I gave him kudos on the campaign against flavored milk, but I questioned why there were no non-dairy drinks – stuff of that nature. What I failed to realize until one very interesting episode, is that many people have never even prepared a fresh meal –cooking something in their own kitchen, something not processed. The episode I am referring to is the one where Jamie is on a crusade to teach 1,000 people in Huntington how to cook on a bet with the DJ. After a pretty cool cooking flash mob on the Marshall University campus, Jamie takes his cooking lesson to the streets. In one scene, an older woman cooked up her stir fry and proudly announced that was the first thing she ever cooked. Wow. Forget veg options – there are people who have actually never prepared a meal … I assume living their entire lives eating stuff out of cans, boxes, drive-thru or restaurants. This was an eye-opener to say the least.
As a veg/vegan, I cook for my family most nights. In fact, I bemoan the fact that we have fewer prepared, easy options because of our dietary choices. FR opened my eyes to how far the consumption of processed, prepared food has really gone in this country (and, as Oliver points out, in Great Britain). And I know he’s opened the eyes of many others across the nation.
The show ends with Oliver returning to Huntington after a 3-month absence. He is faced with many concerns including kids dropping out of the school lunch program (opting instead for brown bag lunches filled with processed grub), budget issues and stockpiles of the standard school lunch fare that needs to be consumed – creating a “processed food Friday” program. A disappointed Oliver tells viewers that “this is not a happy ending” and indeed viewers (and bloggers) are left questioning how successful Oliver really was in Huntington, WV.
I think FR has raised awareness and brought attention to a critical issue: the massive and widespread consumption of nutritionally-devoid, fat, sodium and chemical filled processed foods. FR shows viewers that it’s really not hard or expensive to make simple meals at home. There is no longer denying the fact that we are feeding our children some of the worst foods every day as part of the public school system… all in compliance with USDA regulations that leave most of us scratching our heads. Most importantly, people are talking – conversations, awareness … internet blogs, twitter, facebook, an online petition to make school lunches better …momentum. The full impact is yet to be seen but I think these things have the power to lead to change.
