Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution: SEASON FINALE- "Anarchy in Brown Paper Bags"

The American Revolution lasted from 1763 until 1781. The French Revolution was from 1789-1799. Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? Six episodes. Yes, season one of the Food Revolution is only six glorious, hour-long episodes documenting Jamie's three month stint in Huntington, WV to get people on the right track with their kids eating habits.

What happened in those three months? You can check out my other Oliver related posts, but in a nutshell Jamie worked on one elementary school, one high school, one public kitchen, one family, one radio DJ, and one hospital administrator. There are 27 total schools in the Huntington area. Jamie has his work cut out for him.

He is feeling good about where everything is before he leaves- he has family in England that needs some attention- and decides to throw the city of Huntington a Food Revolution Festival. Everyone that he has encountered on his journey is there, and money man Doug Shields presents Jamie with an $80,000 check to provide "sustainable food systems for all schools" and a $50,000 check for Jamie's Kitchen, which Jamie renames Huntington's Kitchen. Even mega country music group Rascal Flats performs for free because they believe in the revolution.

Jamie says goodbye to Huntington and hello to a cross country media blitz. He promotes the revolution on Oprah, Rachel Ray, Larry King, and David Letterman. He wins a TED prize for all of the work he has done and continues to do.





So, we can close this chapter and wait until next season, right?

Cut to April 12, 2010. A very sleepy Jamie gets off a plane, back in Huntington. Things in Huntington have taken a nose dive and Jamie has come back to try to stick his finger in the dam.

The problem? The USDA food that RD Rhonda had ordered for the 2009-2010 school year is becoming a massive stock pile because they have been serving Jamie's food in the schools. Rhonda wants to start "Processed Food Fridays" where the chicken fingers and pizza will be served only one day a week. Parents aren't buying the school lunch, and packing their children's meals. "Well, that should be a healthy option!" you might be thinking. Jamie discovers Lunchables, chips, cookies, candy, high sugar drinks, even MCDONALDS in the kids lunches. The pink and brown milk has returned.

WHAT HAPPENED?

The USDA creates the options that public, government funded schools must eat. Rhonda even says, "It's really cheap." Only $3 can buy an entire case of food that feeds a dozen kids. So what exactly are the USDA guidelines for the school lunch program? According to the website:

"School lunches must meet the applicable recommendations of the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommend that no more than 30 percent of an individual's calories come from fat, and less than 10 percent from saturated fat. Regulations also establish a standard for school lunches to provide one‐third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories.
School lunches must meet Federal nutrition requirements, but decisions about what specific foods to serve and how they are prepared are made by local school food authorities. "

1995? 15 years ago? Haven't things changed? And the Food Pyramid is all well and good, but I don't know how colored milks fit into that pyramid. And now for the conspiracy theory portion of my blog: The government wants us to be sick because everyone except the sick benefit from the money that is spent to try to keep us well. If we were healthy and well we would only have to worry about the REAL illnesses (cancer, MS, etc.) and not health related illness (obesity, type 2 diabetes).

After Jamie observes the brown paper bag situation and senses that the parents and other schools need to be informed and involved, actively involved in their children's health, Jamie utters something I never thought I would hear," I NEED ALICE."

Lunch Lady Alice has become a supporter of the revolution and realized that cooking fresh instead of frozen was not as hard as she had once thought. Jamie and the band of lunch ladies load into the car and drive to other schools to spread the word and invite everyone to a Revolution BOOT CAMP. Jamie needs to spread the word to not be afraid of change.

The boot camp, held at Pastor Steve's church, has an amazing turn out of teachers, principals, lunch ladies, parents and kids who want to learn. It is sad to see the amount of overweight families in the crowd. . .but also awesome because this is when true change can occur. Jamie urges everyone to "not give up on their kids". He also talks to Rhonda and convinces her to cancel her order for next school year's processed food and promises to help her swap out the stock pile of crap for healthy food. The USDA needs to change, and next season I think we will be seeing Jamie moving higher and higher up in the ranks to see that a lasting change can be made.

"This is not the end," Jamie promises. Are you convinced? Make sure to sign the petition and talk to your schools and your kids. GET INVOLVED.

I support the revolution.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution: Cows Don't Produce Pink Milk

(Strawberry Milk by Ryan Smith)

Things are going well for Jamie Oliver in Huntington, WV. He has won over DJ Rod. He is known by the high school kids and elementary kids as Mr. Pea. He is making real head way!

One snag: Huntington's number one employer, Cabell Huntington Hospital, and it's person in charge Doug Shields, still need some convincing. If Jamie can make sure that Doug is on board he can get the financing necessary to sustain the program he has started. First Jamie has to convince them that not all reality television is bad. I have this conversation with my co-workers all the time. . .

Doug Shields hems and haws about Huntington being the "fattest city in America"- the survey and statistics were for five counties. Not just Huntington. HELLO! Huntington is there in the middle of it! Jamie didn't make up the statistics- the government did. He is actually trying to help, and they are just worried about their image. Not about the health of their community.

They ask Jamie "What help do you need?" and Jamie answers flatly, "$100,000." I expected that scene from the movie "Waiting for Guffman" where Corky St. Claire asks for money for his play.





The hospital "fat cats" seem to want to weigh his request. Now Jamie has to prove to them that his revolution is really working.

First Step: Changing the high school. Jamie calls a school assembly to apologize to the students for shutting down the french fry line. He tells them he wants them to be able to make the choice on their own. If they chose his food, he will be able to stay in the schools. If not, he will leave. He knows that teenagers, if told not to do something, will fight against it even more.

With fingers crossed, Jamie goes to the cafeteria. The line for his food is so long that the lunch ladies have to open a second line to keep up with the demand. The students have spoken. They are ready for change. Jamie gets to tell Rhonda, the RD, that he was a success! He wants to take over all four lunch lines and offer four different healthy choices. She agrees. "That's massive. That's epic!" he crows.

Second Step: Check on the elementary school. That means having to see his old nemesis, Alice. God, she is the WORST! I wonder if she is watching this and feeling like a heel. There are a lot of positive changes: The kids are using silver ware, the teachers are making sure the kids are eating their meals, and the food is fresh. Bad news: The pink and brown milks have reared their ugly, sugary mugs. Jamie counts the amount of kids that are drinking the sugar milk, and then goes to talk to Rhonda. She says the government just wants kids to drink the milk and get the calcium, regardless if it is sugary or not. Stoopid government.

One class going through the line only takes the white milk because their teacher told them that the white milk was the right milk. KIDS NEED TO BE TAUGHT THAT BEING HEALTHY IS THE RIGHT CHOICE! If you tell them, they will listen.

Jamie goes back to the high school for his big four line debut, only to be hit with some deep fried news. The fresh chicken he ordered for making BBQ chicken didn't arrive: Instead, the old school chicken fingers were delivered instead. Jamie has to think fast and decides to do Sloppy Joes instead. He is concerned that if the wrong food is sent to the school that the schools won't know what to do to fix the situation. But the four lines do well! Everything from nachos to macaroni were home made from scratch, down to the Ranch dressing. Jamie says his final goodbyes to the high school and his cooking gang, leaving on a high note.

Jamie's next stop is US Food Service to get to the bottom of where all the processed food comes from and what his options are. He meets Mark, who is the director and really nice guy. He wants to offer the schools healthier options and actually has those options available. All the school district has to do is CHOOSE the healthy stuff. The schools are buying the unhealthy things because they are cheaper. Cheaper=fatter. Jamie wants to work with US Food Service to get the right foods and under budget.

It is time to meet Doug Shields at the elementary school. . .so Jaime must make sure that everything is perfect! That means Alice is under control, the milk is under control, Rhonda is being helpful. Rhonda actually called the milk company to pick up the flavored milk, and even the delivery milk man says, "More sugar in flavored milk than there is in soda." Everyone knows!

To butter Doug's bread, he sends a local mobile food truck to the Huntington Hospital to fire up delicious and healthful lunches to the workers. The bison burgers looked amazing. . .my mouth is watering while I'm typing this. Doug seemed impressed with Jamie's efforts, and agrees to meet Jamie at the elementary school during the lunch rush. Now it's all up to Alice to not ruin it all.

Excited and scared, Jamie meets up with Doug at the school. All the kids laugh and smile, the healthy nachos are being eaten, the white milk is being drunk: It's going well! Even the school principle tells Doug that the children are BETTER BEHAVED with the new less processed menu. Then Doug goes into the kitchen to meet the lunch ladies. . .and they meet Alice. She sizes Doug up. She sizes Jamie up. She says some things the children won't eat. . .but Jamie has good ideas. The clouds opened up and a little ray of sunshine came out, forcing Alice's heart to grow three sizes bigger.

Jamie says goodbye to the ladies. . .and hopefully hello to a big fat check! The Revolution Continues!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution: 1,000 People Cooking

More adversity in Huntington, WV for our poor chef Jamie Oliver this week! He makes a bet with crusty DJ Rod from the Dawg 93.7 radio station that he can get 1,000 people to cook in one week. The DJ is VERY confident that Jamie is going to fail. I'm confident that Rod and lunch lady Alice are married.

Jamie's first step: make a flash mob. Of course, that's everyone's first inclination when they need to solve a bet. Where to find a group of people that like to make a huge stir, be on television, and dig foreign guys? Marshall University. We the help of a choreographer and a tasty wok recipe, Jamie and a group of college students decide to put together a routine to get the citizens of Huntington fired up.

Very toe tapping and catchy! I love the girl who is grooving out and then realizes all the people around her are apart of the scene. It's this sense of fun and whimsy that seems to catch on, and Jamie's Kitchen is soon visited by eager participants that want Rod the DAWG to lose his bet.

The show closes off the streets around Jamie's Kitchen and hosts a cook off. All sorts of folks show up to cook and get their photo taken for Jamie's 1,000 people cooking board. We even have visits from the obese family that Jamie is helping, Pastor Steve, and some of his high school cooking group. Then Rod the DAWG shows up. He is not cooking. But he is surprised that people were actually interested and excited to be apart of the effort.

The most exciting part? Alice the lunch lady shows up with a bunch of other people from the elementary school to learn to cook. Is she softening up? Maybe I'll have to retract my bitchy comment from last post.

Jamie very wisely realizes that he needs all naysayers on his side to make a real difference, so he invites Rod to meet him for an intervention of sorts. At the local mortuary we are shown the darker side of the food revolution. Because Americans are dieing of obesity related causes, the mortician's are having to order coffins that are the size of queen size beds. They have to use a truck to transport the coffin to the cemetery because the casket won't fit in a hearse. The plus size casket won't fit in a traditional plot, so people are having to purchase two plots like airline seats. Even cremation is more difficult- the larger people have so much fat that they burn more slowly, like a candle. Creepy thoughts that I have never even thought about! Rod seems truly shocked.

Then Jamie takes him to the Kitchen to talk to the people that Jamie has already touched. The high school girl who's father died after he had gastric bypass surgery, the plus size teen who has liver issues and has been given 5 to 7 more years to live, the mom who made her kids donuts for breakfast and now the kid is showing symptoms of diabetes. Rod tears up after hearing their stories, and realizes that his crass comments about Jamie and his revolution weren't helpful. If anything, they were harmful.

Rod turns it around! The next morning they do their radio show at Jamie's Kitchen, and Rod is actually the 1,000 person to cook with Jamie. I really thought that Rod was going to be an adversary the entire season. I'm glad that he turned it around. Really, if he can get Rod to see the light, maybe Alice will follow suit. But the clip from next week shows she is still causing trouble. . .I'll keep watching to see.