Jamie+Oliver+Food+Revolution+Essay

The United States has been statistically proven to be the most unhealthy, obese country in the world. Obviously, it’s very important that our bad eating habits come to a halt. British celebrity cook Jamie Oliver has made a reality television show to prove just how true that statistic is.

What is the problem? School lunches. Jamie Oliver decided to come to America and try to improve the school lunch system here, since the United Kingdom did it and got some significant change. Jamie went to a high school in Los Angeles and gave a social studies class a simple quiz. This is a part of the episode: “One of the questions was, “Where does honey come from? A bear? A tree? Bees?” Almost all of the students got it wrong. Was it there fault? Absolutely not.” These kids and teenagers have been brought up like this all through school, so they had no idea what they were eating is wrong and unhealthy, because it was a routine thing throughout their life, not only at school, but at home too. “People travel well over an hour to buy fruits and vegetables, and in one of the communities where I worked, children had an 80% obesity rate.” Can you believe that? Another problem is that kids and teenagers aren’t being informed about healthy eating choices and habits. Also, the problem with school lunches is that they are mainly just processed foods, and re-heating the food. There is rarely ever a meal cooked from scratch with fresh ingredients, and that’s taking a huge toll on students all over the country.

You’re probably thinking, “We should fix this, but how?” If you aren’t thinking that, you would probably make Jamie start crying…anyways, what //is// the cure to obesity? Well, part of it at least, is the school lunch system. Another thing is helping children get informed about good eating choices when they’re little so they can get into the habit of it. Schools have already started changing their lunch meals to be healthier, and that’s definitely a start in the right direction. Jamie Oliver went and taught a cooking class at West Adams high school, and this was one of the results from the students: “Jamie taught us that not only rich people can eat healthy, in reality, anybody can eat healthy with just some thought - you don’t have to fry chicken in oil, you can put it in the oven and roast it with some herbs instead. When Jamie cooked for us, he really proved his point - you don’t need to spend a lot of time and money on food in order to make it healthy, you just need to be creative.” At least we’re getting somewhere on the road to a healthy nation.

When Jamie went to high schools and tried to change the meals there into something healthier, most of the students wouldn’t even eat it. Why? Like I said before, they aren’t used to it. “Student leader Duran described what he thought was a spinach dish as “Nasty. I couldn’t tell what it was,” while a piece of chicken was like a rock.” They aren’t used to eating a meal made fresh from raw ingredients, and they don’t like it. You can’t really blame them; it’s not their fault they were raised that way. But now, that has to change. If it doesn’t, our country’s obesity will continue to escalade to even higher numbers. “Thousands of outraged parents wanted me there, but I couldn’t get in the door.” Jamie said, because he didn’t want anyone thinking he didn’t try to succeed, and it was the district, not the people that were holding him back. Jamie wants to cure and help the obese children and teenagers, and teach them that they can make healthy, affordable meals without processed foods or reheating anything.

My opinion on the Food Revolution is that I agree with everything Jamie Oliver has to say and wants to do. I believe that the school lunch system needs to be changed to more healthy and contain more raw ingredients, fruits, and vegetables. If we don’t change this soon, the United States is going to be coming more obese than ever! I also agree that you should just go to the schools for this, but the parents of the children and teenagers, because they raised the overweight and obese kids! They need to be informed about healthy food decisions, and not reheat and eat processed foods for every meal they and their families make to eat. I believe that if we keep pushing the healthy eating habits on everyone, the United States will become a healthier nation. It just takes time.

In conclusion, I know that it’s going to take a lot of hard work for the U.S. to get totally changed into healthier habits and eating patterns, but we have to get there! Everyone needs to be informed how important a healthy, well balanced diet is, and stick to it. If not, the consequences will be even more detrimental as the years go on. I believe that Jamie Oliver will help more people than he has already, and I believe that the school district will change even more schools to healthier food, and finally, we will be a healthy nation.