Jamie's School Genius

I'll admit to being a little sceptical when I first heard about this program. The key factor in my attitude was not realising how bad the food has become in schools these days. The food was never great at my school, but it was overcooked from fresh ingredients, every day.

When I learned just how trashy school food had become, I was suddenly very concerned. I really don't think our kids should be required to eat so called “Turkey Twizzlers” with a 30% turkey content - added to with fat and bread crumbs to bulk them out and make up the final 70%.

Watching the series, as repeated on channel four has been for me a moving experience. Seeing kids resist the fresh food at first, and then accept it when not offered a junk food alternative has been a revelation to me. Young people seem so sure about what they want - and yet they base their opinions on little more than marketing by fast food companies and peer pressure.

When they actually come face to face with real food, there is confusion for a while, followed by the dawning of a new day. We cannot expect our children to like food that they have not been required to eat. They will always fear the unknown and stick to the safe, particularly if the TV is screaming at them to eat the trash.

I can't say more than that, because I am not a parent, and I don't want to be unfair to those who are. What I can do is  most wholeheartedly support the school food  transformation which will, hopefully, spread across the whole country. If our youngest people learn to like great food, I believe there is hope.

Well done Jamie. Your Knighthood is almost certainly booked.

Comments

[Liz]

Speaking from inside the education system, the rot set in when control of school kitchens was taken out of the hands of schools and put out to tender by the LEAs under the instructions of the, then Conservative, government. This resulted in real kitchens being removed and most of the food shipped in to be reheated by the limited staff. The cook-chill method was later deemed to be unsafe and many kitchens were restored. However, in many schools, the dinners and kitchen are not the responsibility of the school and we have no say in what staff are appointed and little say in the food that is served. I just hope that there is some means of keeping a check that the new money produced, as a result of Jamie's kitchen dinners, actually goes to upping the quality of food offered to or children.

[AndyC]

Hear-hear to that.

[jac]

and thirded here... or do I mean hear?