British chef Jamie Oliver that is. I think he is just so cute. And, he's on a mission, to reform America's eating habits. You can find a clip from his new show Food Revolution here: http://www.tv.com/video/33755/jame-olivers-food-revolution--premiere--clip-one
I'm going to set my DVR to capture every episode. What I found particularly interesting in the clip, was not only the pizza for breakfast, but the reaction of the locals to Jamie's efforts.
Apparently Jamie didn't have a lot of success in Huntington, WV: http://www.slashfood.com/2010/01/19/americas-fattest-city-makes-the-naked-chef-weep/
ReplyDeleteI've seen the book that goes with this series, but didn't buy it because there wasn't much in it that would appeal to my family, though I did think it might be much more appealing to people in Great Britain. While I don't know specifically what Jamie offered to those people, I think it could be part of why they weren't so receptive to what he brought to the table.
Over the past 3-4 years I've read at least two articles in the New York Times that address a problem that the food professionals don't see. They're offering up a solution that people don't want. Don't get me wrong, it's not that people don't want to make changes; it's that the changes being offered don't appeal.
I'm as interested as you in eating in a way that promotes health. I am, however, sick to death of reading/hearing about healthy food, healthy recipes and eating healthy. Healthy food has a bad reputation. At best it's often seen as being as tasteless as cardboard or unappetizing rabbit food. At worst, swill for the compost heap.
I think food professionals, recipe developers and so on create recipes that appeal to foodies, but not the average person. Part of this, I think, is because many of the professionals are in metropolitan areas and deal with more people who are interested in that sort of food. But outside those areas (and even within them), the average person isn't interested in gourmet "chef food," they just want simple, tasty home cooking.
You and I are both fond of Michael Pollan. He doesn't encourage us to eat "healthy" food, but to eat food. Food promotes health; edible food-like substances don't. There are many, many ways to eat food that will promote health -- and all can look like what we're used to eating. If people are shown that they can eat the kinds of food that they like, it won't be expensive or time-consuming and will taste equally as good or better than what they've been eating, I think that they will consider making changes. Not only that, but food is more satisfying (physically and emotionally) than edible food-like substances, so they may well eat less, lose weight and further improve health.
These have absolutely nothing to do with this post. They fit better with the school lunch blog or those about finicky kids.
ReplyDeleteHere's some interesting reading:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1967060,00.html
http://www.schoolfoodpolicy.com/?s=school+lunch+in+France&x=4&y=10