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Photo: ABC
Aw shucks. Jamie Oliver's much awaited Food Revolution LA-style sure got off to a rough start. Especially for a guy armed with a simple question: Why can't we do better when it comes to school lunches for our kids?
Before the show even gets underway, Jamie lets us in on a big problem -- the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has refused to give him access to schools. He's been denied.
"They will not let me into any school," says Oliver. "That means war."
So starts the famous chef's familiar drumbeat. He takes to the airways on co-producer Ryan Seacrest's radio program and eventually welcomes a crowd of parents and kids to Jamie's LA Kitchen where they unload gobs of unappetizing, highly processed, plastic wrapped meals culled from their own schools.
"It's worse than anything I had seen before. This is not reality TV. It's a campaign. Will you help me?" he says.
The gross-out factor gets underway quickly when Jamie gives the kiddos a lesson on beef. First, he brings in the fluffy stunt cow and spray paints the retail value of each cut of beef to explain where the tasty meat comes from, but then Oliver introduces us to "pink slime." Made from trimmings that frequently go to rendering plants to be made into pet food, here, Oliver takes them and tosses the fatty scraps into a washing machine which acts as a centrifuge, spinning out the last bits of meat. He then washes it in a mixture of ammonia and water, and explains that this product -- which is really a meat thinner, and thanks to the USDA, doesn't need to be listed on the packaging -- is in 70 percent of the ground beef products on the market. (Hurl!)
Next up is a trip to the school board meeting, where Jamie hopes to use the three-minute public comment period to convince a stodgy looking seven-member school committee to let him do his magic in one school. Though he's told the director of food services (who just happens to be sitting in the back of the room) is willing to speak with him, he gets shut down again, and is left standing outside the meeting room talking with the school district's communication flak and to a crazy guy who's talking about some bizarre "7th seal". (At least the nutty dude seems to get the message that this is about advocating for healthy food.)
Jamie then turns his attention to Patra's Burgers, a family-owned fast food joint owned by Dino Parris (the big-named fast food chains wouldn't let Oliver anywhere near them). Things don't go well here either. Dino won't take anything off the menu, balks at the cost of grass-fed beef patties (factory-made burgers are cheap), and argues with Jamie over what constitutes a real milkshake.
"I'm exhausted," says Oliver. "Mentally I feel thrashed."
Except he's headed for more when he shows up at the California School Nutrition Association meeting and starts disputing what's being said in a session on "Keeping Flavored Milk From Dropping Out of School". Oliver's point? That schools shouldn't systematically give kids sweetened milk during the midst of an obesity crisis.
And to emphasize the message, he brings out a school bus, in front of a tiny crowd, and fills it with one week's worth of LAUSD added sugar -- 57 tons of it -- filling the bus and creating little sugar mountains along side it. But with so few on-lookers for the stunt, the chef ends the episode discouraged.
"We're treading water. We're getting locked down left, right and center. Huntington felt human. This is cold-shoulder stuff," he says. "At this point, I don't know how I'm going to go on. I'm going to go home, give my girls and my boy a cuddle and think about tomorrow."
Come here, Jamie...we've got a hug for you too, dude.
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4-13-2011 @11:51AM Michelle said... I think Jamie is a gem! He is trying to enlighten parents and children to think more carefully before taking anythng into their bodies. He wants to ensure the children of this country are only ingesing whole foods that support proper nutrition and health, that translates into the obesity epidemic being reduced or eliminated. Also, with proper nutrition, we are setting our children up to perform at a higher level both physically and mentally, while reducing their risk of early onset of serious lifstyle diseases, like heart disease and diabetes. To witness his level of caring and concern for our US children is remarkable.
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4-13-2011 @12:21PM Joan Mason said... And to witness the apathy in Los Angeles ( and on HuffPo) is equally remarkable!
4-13-2011 @12:21PM Joan Mason said... And to witness the apathy in Los Angeles ( and on HuffPo) is equally remarkable!
4-14-2011 @11:17AM Just A Human said... I watched the show last night. It's sad that the news reports consistently about our obesity epidemic in the U.S., but so many of us in America just refuse to change. I couldn't believe the school system totally locked him out, not even giving him a chance to see what he could do. For a lot of very poor children, their school meals are the only big meals (or perhaps only meal period) they get all day. To not provide children with wholesome, nutritious foods is dooming them to weight issues, health problems and performance problems. But I guess that's what the big-wigs of our country want: unhealthy and stupid citizens who won't say boo about anything.
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4-13-2011 @1:49PM G Ashley said... It's all about the money, It always is. We keep building cancer centers and talking about "cure for cancer." The powers that be don't really want a cure for cancer, this is big business. We need to find out what is causing cancer and the best place to start is with our food source and supply.
Look at all the food contamination that has happened in the last few years with foods and products that come into the US. Our government leaders have destroyed the farmers and farm families of this country. We just don't get it and we don't want to get it. I hope that Jamie Oliver does not give up on this. The truth is so sad and dangerous we are willing to continue to look the other way even when our own children and grand children's health and well being is on the chopping block.
If this was some story about and actor, muscian or sports figure that was destroying their health and life, we would be all over it.
Thanks you Jamie Oliver and Ryan Seacrest for at least trying.
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4-13-2011 @1:52PM James Stoecker said... I am a fan of Jamie Oliver and thoroughly enjoyed his Food Revolution series in Huntington, WV. But I am not so sure, after watching last night's initial episode in Los Angeles, that we are really getting the straight scoop -- or just a Jamie-eyed view of LA. I have lived in Los Angeles for a number of years and many times it just seems like life on a movie set. So I am not so sure that LAUSD shut Jamie out of the schools because they are opposed to healthy lunches. I think it may actually have something to do with shielding the children while at school from show business. Life here is distracting enough without all the fuss of a reality TV show filling the halls of our elementary schools. Now if Jamie were doing all this without the cameras rolling, it might be a different story. But he necessarily wants to make a show of it -- and maybe the LAUSD is on to him and are actually thinking of what is best for the children.
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4-13-2011 @2:46PM Karen said... You're right. They're objecting to filming in the schools, not to Jamie's message of healthy food.
4-13-2011 @2:20PM Julie said... I am constantly amazed by American's resistance to trying something that might be good for them, something different that might actually improve their quality of life.
So, Jamie don't give up!
Good to know---There are some places that are trying....Portland Public Schools, although not perfect, is making an effort to provide healthier, real food. It enlists local farms once a month to supply an in-season ingredient for the lunch menu. One school, Abernathy, has it's own garden which, I believe provides some of the items for lunches there. Other schools have demonstration gardens involving kids, teaching them how to grow things in a hands-on way which may inspire more interest in what they are eating and where their food comes from. These are usually run by parent volunteers and have the added advantage of tying into classroom studies in science, writing or whatever.
I think the key to changing school menus is best done by getting parents interested and involved.
Keep trying and eventually,little by little, good ideas will take hold.
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4-13-2011 @10:17PM Robert Alaniz said... Statement from Janey Thornton, Ph.D., SNS, Deputy Under Secretary,
Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, United States Department of Agriculture on the quality of food at LAUSD:
“I’m very impressed by the improvements the L.A. Unified School District has made—from staff training to dramatically improving the quality of their school meals. And their menus for next school year are already ahead of the new healthier meal standards recently proposed by the USDA. The district staff has worked hard to meet this benchmark while maintaining affordable food costs. I look forward to their continual progress in showcasing excellence and setting a high bar that will challenge other districts across the country.”
Jan. 21, 2011
4-13-2011 @2:25PM Carol said... Thank you for a thorough and thoughtful recap of a great episode. I just wanted to add that the 57 tons of sugar for one week in the LA schools is for FLAVORED MILK ALONE! This does not even begin to take into account all of the other sugar being given to the kids.
GO JAMIE!!
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4-13-2011 @4:18PM Decorina said... Pink slime? Really? EEEEEEEUUUUUUWwwwwwwww.
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4-13-2011 @8:48PM JP said... I can see why the LAUSD does not want Jamie to bring cameras to their schools. This would shed a rather unfavorable light on the junk they are feeding the children. The childhood obesity epidemic is not isolated to L.A. or California. It is a global problem that will not go away unless radical change occurs soon. This epidemic will effect all of us by way of higher healthcare and health insurance costs.
This generation is expected to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. I believe there is a direct link between the obesity epidemic and the diseases associated with obesity. In this age of information, I find it hard to believe that some people are unwilling to look at the big, fat elephant in the room. These kids deserve a chance for a healthy future and I admire Jamie's courage to fight for their health. Who else is going to speak for them. The children are our future.
Take a look at these stats and then tell me that these numbers are acceptable. http://www.jpzalternatives.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Risks-of-Obesity.xls
Sign Me
Searching for a solution
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4-13-2011 @10:13PM Robert Alaniz said... The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health 2008 Obesity Trends Report recently reported that after increasing steadily of obesity from 18.9% in 1999 to 23.3% in 2005, the most recent data show that the percentage of obese children in Los Angeles County has stabilized over the last 2 years.
The report also states that an important and contributing factor to this stabilization includes LAUSD having made major changes in school nutrition policies and programs, such as banning sales of unhealthy beverages like sodas on campus, and implementing improved food and beverage nutrition standards.
4-13-2011 @10:14PM Robert Alaniz said... The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health 2008 Obesity Trends Report recently reported that after increasing steadily from 18.9% in 1999 to 23.3% in 2005, the most recent data show that the percentage of obese children in Los Angeles County has stabilized over the last 2 years.
The report also states that an important and contributing factor to this stabilization includes LAUSD having made major changes in school nutrition policies and programs, such as banning sales of unhealthy beverages like sodas on campus, and implementing improved food and beverage nutrition standards.
4-14-2011 @11:19AM ddhh said... I really like this guy but he has a huge problem with his approach.
He needs to address the dollars and cents of the issue.
This is coming from someone who runs 3 restaurants.
It is unbelievably cheaper to serve chicken nuggets than baked whole chicken.
Good healthy food often costs more but always will drive labor up because it takes more to labor to prepare.
He might explain with real data that eating this stuff will end up costing society more cash in the long run because we will end up having to take care of all these, mostly lower income, people who will be overweight, have diabetes, and countless other problems related to their habitually poor diets.
Yes, it is a moral issue but also one that makes good economic sense.
It makes no sense to take the Mickey of out of some school principle that simply does not have the funds to revamp the program. Of course they don’t want them there; they have no power to change anything. They don't even have enough cash to pay the teachers.
Until he sells this idea that it makes good economic sense to serve healthy food and figures out a long run cost effective solution, he will continue to be frustrated.
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