"Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" TV Show

I just watched the two episodes of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. I will admit that I was dreading it. Almost to the point of making myself sick. As you all know, I want to improve the reputation of the lunch lady and I was feeling that this show was going to put us in a bad light. Which it did in some part, but I do think that it wasn't all bad. And, I am glad I watched it.

Some of the things I loved about the show:
The lunch ladies, especially Alice, the no-nonsense lunch lady who gave Jamie the hardest time. Everybody knows a lunch lady like Alice. I bet she has been in the business for 20 some years and is working hard and doing the best she can with what she has to serve. Even though it sounded like she wasn't the acutal boss at this school, certainly she is the "real boss". I loved how she told him how she felt, yes she could have used less sarcasm, but realistically, everything she said was truth!

I was glad it showed the kids reactions to the food Jamie served. I was afraid it would show the kids as loving everything he was trying to do because in reality, it wouldn't go that way.

I loved that it showed Jamie's emotions when he was given a hard time. YES, I know it is TV and he is a chef but he is also an actor. Was it real emotion? Seemed so to me, but I did like that it showed the emotions of the lunch ladies and Jamie. It was obvious that the lunch ladies were not actors, you could feel and read everything they were thinking on their faces. It would be the same thing I would have been thinking and saying.

That's just a few things I loved.

One of the things I didn't like was the look on Alice's face when Jamie said "how long have you been a lunch lady". She didn't like that term at all. HELLO! That is what the kids call us. I urge all lunch ladies everywhere to embrace, yes embrace the term "lunch lady". Why fight something that has been going on since the first school lunch was served. I bet even cave men called some woman "lunch ladies". If we can embrace the term and make it a term of endearment, instead of term that when we hear we feel belittled, the reputation will change. I simply must get a hold of Alice and try and help her with this. (I can't wait to send her a copy of my book when its published). A "lunch lady" is a woman who serves lunch. A "cook" is somebody who cooks. A "welder" is somebody who welds. WHY O WHY do some dislike the term? WHY O WHY the stigmatised? One thing for sure is that each and every one of those ladies love those kids. It was obvious that they want the kids to eat what they serve so they serve them what they want. Don't we all do that? Yes, I guess we need some tough love in school food service. The trick is to gradually start introducing them to the healthier foods and options. Not come in and drastically change everything they know about there lunches in three days. But that wouldn't have made a good TV show.

Most of us have had the experience of having somebody come in at our job and are told that we are "doing it wrong" or "could be doing it better" or "wants to change everything". How many of you like that? Its happened to me many times. You shake your head and say "go for it, if you think you can do better, go ahead". Which is what the school district and the lunch ladies did. I think Jamie could have done a much better job of speaking with the lunch ladies and the school district about what he wanted and why he wanted to accomplish what he had hoped to. Maybe there was some of that which wasn't in the show. Who knows? But nobody wants somebody to say "I can do better than you", especially when you have been doing your job for many, many years. It makes you feel angry, sad, sarcastic, and can break you heart. It was no wonder the lunch ladies felt the way they felt. And most of us feel, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". However, in reality, it was broke as Jamie said since the statistics proved it.

It showed Jamie coming in at 7:40 AM. HA!!! Those lunch ladies had probably already been there for an hour or almost an hour by then. Jamie said "oh, the kids are already eating breakfast". Yes of course they are already eating. He had almost missed the whole process. Come on Jamie, get your butt up earlier if you want to see the kids eating breakfast. The lunch ladies would have respected Jamie much more if he would have been there when they opened the doors.

One thing you love about kids is they don't usually edit what they say. I liked the experiment Jamie did with the chicken, cutting all the mostly usu able pieces of chicken then pureeing the carcass, making it look like a chicken nuggets, and the kids wanting to eat it. That is truly reality! How many of you really want to know what is in the food you eat. Generally, I don't. I love my beef and never watch shows about how beef comes to my dinner table.

I think the show accurately portrayed Rhonda the Food Service Director and I was glad they showed how much red tape/paperwork is involved in a school lunch. Rhonda was sincere, and respectful of what Jamie wanted to accomplish. But, she was also realistic. It was going to be tough to cook fresh products with the budget they had and in the time allowed with their labor costs. Cooking fresh products is time-consuming. You all know that! That is why there is so much processed food in the market place. Nobody has time for it. Not us the lunch ladies or you the parent. Peel potatoes?? I was like, "no freaking way". We use Potato Pearls in our school district and I admit, I buy them at the store myself. The labor costs associated with preparing fresh foods would increase the budget and would ultimately affect the schools district budget in whole. Let's say he could make the fresh raw foods for cheaper, but labor would still increase. He mentioned olive oil many times. I don't think there are many school districts out there who use expensive olive oil. We don't have it in our schools. Should we, maybe, but can we afford it? I don't know.

Obviously this district is not a wealthy one. It did not show they selling snacks or giving the kids a choice of what's to eat. In our school district we give them FIVE choices and I agree with Jamie wholeheartedly, it is too many choices for elementary school kids. Three choices would be all that I think would be appropriate this age group. I loved when Alice said "ask them which choice they want and go faster?". She laughed when he said "yes". From experience I will tell you that when you ask a kid what they want, especially elementary kids, they don't say quickly I will take chicken or pizza. They look at you and say "what" and/or" I don't know, or give no answer at all. They are just too young to absorb the questions in an environment of loud noise, surrounded by their peers, and be able to quickly say "chicken" or "pizza". They love to tell you "well, I had chicken yesterday" or "my mom said I can't have pizza today because....... " on and on they will go. It would rarely ever be a simple answer. Sorry Jamie, the lunch ladies were right about that.

It showed many breakfast kids which probably means they have a high free and reduced population of kids. Selling snacks to make money for fresh products and extra labor costs wouldn't fly there. I didn't see packers at the school. I would have liked to know if they have a lot of packers. When you have a high free and reduced population, the majority of the kids do eat breakfast and lunch through the school served lunches. I would have liked more details about the school district in general. I know that most wouldn't need that information. Maybe I can goggle that and find out.

The lunch lady said that they cook within the guidelines of the USDA (Jamie didn't even know that term, YIKES). If you get government reimbursement for the lunches you sell, you must serve within the government guidelines. Jamie's needs to take his cute little butt to the government if he wants to change things. There is already a "revolution" going on in school nutrition. Lunch ladies have been rallying Capitol Hill for years, way before Jamie Oliver and Ryan Secrust, (its produced by Ryan Secrust) ever thought of this new reality show. School districts need more reimbursement to cover the costs of fresh products. Congress doesn't want to hear that! If Jamie hopes to improve things, and I hope he can, then he needs to do more than have a show on TV. When Jamie was sitting with Rhonda, the Food Service Director, and said "I just want to put food in the kids mouths" I laughed. He thought it was that easy to say, "oh lets cook fresh and cook whatever I want". It doesn't work that way in the good old USA. Red tape my friends! Paperwork is a big part of our lunch lady job.

I agree with Jamie about why would you serve rice and need a roll too. I think we serve way too many starches on our menus. I remember way back when, the Weight Watchers diet used to go by categories instead of a point system. You were allowed 3 breads a day, 5 fruits, 5 veggies, 3 proteins, or something like that (my memory isn't as good as it used to be). In the bread category was potato, peas, corn and any starchy vegetable. Some days on our menu we have mashed potato (yes the infamous potato pearls) peas, and a roll. Way too many starches. We all know those products turn into fat in our bodies. I learned that at Weight Watchers probably 30 years ago and it still stays with me to this day.

Jamie obviously doesn't know our health and safety rules in our country. Pouring broth or whatever it was he drained into the hand sink is a "no no". Using his hands in our County, is a "no no", even though I agree with him. Gloves are only as clean as where the gloves have been. I hate using gloves unless I am actually mixing some kind of food.

The part where it showed Jamie's showing the parents the fat and food that the school district was serving said volumes. There were NOT many parents there. They said they serve 450 kids a day, there was nowhere near even 1/2 those parents there. This says the parents are not all on board with the changes to be made. The ones that were there said "YES we want to change" but truthfully there was not that many parents there. It all starts at home. Jamie was right though. If he can get the parents on his side (such a sin that there is "sides" on this issue)things will change. In our district all it takes is one parent to call and complain about something and we will get a note that says "no more" of that product. It just happened in our school district. Twice a year we serve funnel cake. (Jamie would have a fit I know). It is usually one of the biggest selling items we have. NOTE I said twice a year! Well, one parent called and said that their child received a bad BMI for their kids because/and/or we have the nerve to serve funnel cake (again twice a year). Now, no more funnel cake. So for sure, Jamie is right! Get the parents on board and things will change.

One things lunch ladies everywhere hate is "waste". No lunch lady enjoys seeing the kids throw out their food or throwing away food that the kids don't take. It showed all that chicken Jamie made that the kids didn't take. I know that hurt those lunch ladies even though I am sure secretly they wanted to prove that the kids would take their offering instead of his.

We are so lucky in the school district that I work. We have been gradually introducing fresh products for years now. We have Wellness Committees that oversees what we are serving. Do I think they go a little to far at times? Yes indeed! Do I think kids are obese because of the meal(s) they eat at school? No, at least not in our school district!

So, that's what I thought of the show "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution". Yes school food services needs some help. If Jamie can get it for us, GREAT! I warn him "don't talk the talk unless he can walk the walk". He said he has to change the school lunches in six hours. He can't stop there! Have I changed my opinion about my job since watching the show. Probably. I hate to admit that. But why fight something that's going to happen and is probably true. Yeah, I have been fighting all the wellness stuff, but maybe, no more. One thing I know for sure, its a great time to get my book out there! With school lunches in the media, now is the time. So, I guess I better stop here and finish up my book. Get my Query letter to the publishers out there, take advantage of the press. What's that saying, there is no such thing as bad publicity?


School lunches rock! Ahhh, all is well.