I think this man is a hero to use this show to bring a very dangerous problem into the spotlight. Our schools are feeding kids garbage. Can any sane woman look at a serving of french fries and then at brown rice with vegetables and say the french fries are more nutritious? It’s cheaper to feed a kid fries than fresh veggies and rice? Of course not, but the USDA creates confusing guidelines for a reason. It is driven by economics and not nutrition. Proper nourishment should be first and foremost in our schools. Sad to say it is not.

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I watched the show and I liked it a lot. I’m a high school teacher and some of the food coming out of the cafeteria is pretty bad. Though we are in the southwest and notice that some of the cafeteria ladies throw in some good regional food now and then. During this week’s episode, I almost fell of my chair when the food services director said frozen/re-heated french fries were a vegetable!

Over the last few years, I’ve revamped our family’s meals and cook mostly from scratch. It’s taken work but it’s worth it. I am anxious to see how this season pans out.

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Mr Obvious

Go back to a History Book and read up Operation Barbarossa and the Siege of Stalingrad. The Soviet Army and people did more to blunt the German Army then we ever did in the west. They lost millions of people and had it not been for their sacrifices the war in the West would have gone much longer and been much more deadly for the Allies.

As for Jaime Oliver, I applaud his work and willingness to go out on a limb to help show that we can feed our children and ourselves much better if we put some extra effort.

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LOVE this show! And boy is something like this long overdue. I am so excited about his project, I only hope the “revolution” becomes contagious and catches on in school systems everywhere.

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I think the obvious gorilla in the lunchroom here (although not so to Mr. Obvious) is that it’s not Jamie’s war on Americans – it’s our fight to regain control of our health. We know more now about the effects of what goes into our mouths than ever before, yet we are fatter than ever. Jamie is helping to open our eyes because clearly, we have grown immune to it.

Personally, I was flabbergasted and ashamed that his brown rice needed to be replaced by bread to get the grains in and that pizza counted as 2 grains. Yikes! I was dying to tap Alice on the shoulder and go, guess what Alice – YOU’RE FAT.

Here’s to keeping the fatties out of the OR!

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Jamie should get a medal for what he is doing. The diseases caused by what we are feeding these children should be criminal. The shame of it all is that the corporate producers are more powerfull than the people that put the members of congress in the position they are in. We need to raise so much hell with our congressmen that they make the changes this fall to feed our kids properly in schools.

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Let me first say that the show is bringing up a very important issue, childhood obestity. The issue can not be blamed totally on the school lunch. Most cafeterias offer several choices to the students because if they don’t the kids will go off campus to eat.

The meals are required to have certain food components or nutrition standards. These are set by USDA. If the meal does not meet these requirements then the school lunch program does not get it’s federal reimbursement of $2.68 for a lunch served to a free student, $2.28 for a reduced price lunch and a mere .25 cents for a paid lunch. Of course they also received the money from the student. School Lunch programs are not subsidized by the school. They must program must operate on their own funds.

Steve questioned the cost of processed food vs. fresh foods. Fresh food is generally cheaper but it is the labor (salary + benefits)& equipment that drive the cost of fresh foods over the processed. Until just a few years ago the schools had a very difficult time keeping help in their kitchens, so they had to learn prepare meals with less help.

Until USDA makes changes to the “Regulations” than it will be an uphill battle. USDA does care and is making efferts to change, but with any government entity it takes forever. On a good note though the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is being review this year. These guidelines are by which USDA makes changes to the regulations. The First Lady Michelle Obama is a strong advocate for healthier meals. I think we will see some big changes in the next couple years.

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Think this show is to be commended. The dietary habits of this country are horrid & don’t tell me it is because Mothers work. They may not have worked outside the home 50 years ago but they toiled long & hard without all the conveniences that women now have. Nutritious meals were served & we did not all look like pumpkins on steroids. Jaimie I wish you great success. As one person said please keep working with Jason…..one child saved is worth 10,000 greasy hamburgers. Another thing, so what if he is British! I don’t see any red-blooded American that is committed & doing what he is trying to do.

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I’ve been watching this show on Hulu (and just finished re-watching episode 5). I’ve also read every article and every blog and every comment that I can find on the subject. The overall online response has been largely positive, so I believe that even if he fails in Huntington (which does not look like it’ll be the case), he will still succeed in changing the views and the knowledge of the people who watch the show. Kudos, and good job, Jamie.

On a different note: as for the complaints about his crying and everything… I think reality TV has made us a little too cynical, actually. Just because tears on reality TV are typically scripted and always played up by the powers that be, doesn’t mean that they can’t EVER be genuine. Jamie definitely strikes me as a sensitive person who wants to be liked, and cares deeply about what he’s doing. It was still painful for me to watch, for the same reason movies that make fun of nerds are painful for me to watch, but I never got the feeling that he was faking his emotions, and I definitely never felt that the other heartrending moments in the show (especially Brittany) were anything other than 100% genuine. It’s miles above other reality shows in that regard, and it just makes Jamie’s message much more powerful (all told, across the nation, more change will probably come about because of Brittany than anything that Jamie could ever personally do).

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[...] 9 PM EST (you can catch up on all of it on Hulu). A curious mash-up of reality show genres (“part celebrity-chef hagiography, part reality TV“) in which the much interviewed Naked Chef tries to reform the eating habits of the denizens [...]

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[...] at 9 PM EST (you can catch up on all of it on Hulu). A curious mash-up of reality show genres (“part celebrity-chef hagiography, part reality TV“) in which the much interviewed Naked Chef tries to reform the eating habits of the denizens of [...]

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Jamie Oliver is charismatic but knows next to nothing about food. He claims to promote whole foods, yet his school lunches always seem to include refined grains, never whole grains. He makes a huge issue over the fact that all the kids drink the chocolate and strawberry milks instead of the white milk, but neglects to mention that the milk is 1% milk (not whole milk). Producers add powdered milk to lowfat milks, and powdered milk is a source of oxidized cholesterol (super terrible for you). And of course the milk is pasteurized, which makes many of the nutrients unavailable and destroys the healthy enzyme content of the milk.

Its true that Jamie Oliver’s food is a huge improvement over what the schools had before. But that doesn’t mean that it’s really healthy either.

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