Webchat with Jamie Oliver - 12.30pm Tuesday 12 May

[BojanaMumsnet]

We’re pleased to announce that Jamie Oliver will be joining us for a webchat tomorrow. No stranger to Mumsnet, the father of four, chef, author and campaigner is back as he promotes Food Revolution Day on 15 May. Jamie is campaigning for children to be educated about food, asking for practical food education to be part of the school curriculum across the G20 countries. You can read more about the campaign and sign the petition here.

Do join us on the day here for a live discussion from 12.30 tomorrow but if you can’t make it, leave your question for Jamie on this thread. As ever, please remember our webchat guidelines.

Thanks
MNHQ

[chocolateyay]

Do you despair of current eating habits - grazing, snacking, breakfast in a bar/bottle, ping and peel dinners?

I know you try hard but can this trend be reversed? British food used to be envied for the quality and variety of its fresh/basic ingredients - now its famous for 'meat' of questionable provenance. Now we are storing up a generation of health issues due to bad diet/overweight kids.

Do we need to start with the supermarkets, farms, importers, doctors, government, advertisers, schools...?

(DS thinks you are brill).

[26Point2Miles]

Hi Jamie!

great idea,but not enough info! I'd like to know more about how this 'food education' would be taught? what would/should be covered etc.

would it be aimed at older children too.....my own (5) kids ate well whilst I was in charge of the menu,but as soon as they have their own money and are off to college it all somehow goes wrong

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Hi Jamie - I absolutely agree that children need to learn the basics of cooking. I believe that, if someone learns the basic techniques and vocabulary of cooking (ie. when a recipe says dice this, rub this in, cream this, or saute that, or seal the meat - what does that actually mean), then they can pick up a cook book and follow the recipes far more easily than if they don't understand the terms or have the basic skills.

Do you see this working in tandem with other areas of the curriculum? Ie. maths lessons could look at basic budgeting - to show the children how best to spend their money, to get a healthy diet.

[Spirael]

Hi Jamie. Excellent idea, but I'm a bit worried the lessons might involve further demonization of food types (i.e. that all fat/sugar/salt is bad) instead of educating about how to use the different forms in moderation for a healthy, balanced diet. How would you get this message across?

I would also be interested to know whether the lessons would include teaching how to understand food labels, so young people can make informed decisions when facing food erroneously advertising itself as a healthy option.

[WorraLiberty]

Hi Jamie.

I think this is a brilliant idea. Will it also concentrate on showing kids exactly what goes into fast food, tinned hotdogs and cheap nuggets?

It's important to teach them to cook, but it's also important to show them what they're actually eating when they reach for junk food.

Years ago you did a great show on TV where you were on a big stage, and you showed some of the crap ingredients that went into these things.

I really wanted my kids to watch it (they were aged about 7 and 10 at the time), but sadly you kept swearing. This made me have to turn it off and I was gutted.

What little bit they did see though, was a real eye opener for them and they actually stopped nagging me whenever we passed a hotdog stand in the street

[26Point2Miles]

food tech is already on the curriculum though......how about nutrition? what the body needs and why. unfortunately I think there does have to be some form of demonization though,SUGAR I'm looking at you!!

[StrawberrytallCake]

Hi Jamie! I enjoy teaching my children the value of nutritional food at home. Do you think you would ever be interested in writing a children's cookbook? I've recently purchased the silver spoon for children and it has really inspired my 6 year old dd to cook and try things she normally wouldn't.

We have all of your books in this house and would certainly welcome a children's version!

[Suddengeekgirl]

Some of the school gate mums and me have noticed that the standard of school dinners has noticeably decreased since September - along side the introduction of free school meals for all reception and key stage 1 children. There's a lot more 'out the freezer, into the oven', stuff now which is a shame as last year (when we paid for dinners) there were a lot more home cooking/ fresh/ from scratch meals.

Do you think that the introduction of so many more free school meals has impacted on the nutritional quality of school dinners nationwide?

As a follow up pushing my luck possibly
Do you have information out there for school kitchen staff about how they can produce meals that meet the budget constraints and are nutritious?

Thanks Jamie!

[woo1980]

If you had only three ingredients to use to feed a gluten free family of three for dinner what would you use?

[JoanHickson]

Hi Jamie, can you please add some FODMAP friendly recipes please? If you are unfamiliar it is to help with IBS, we use it due to Ehlers Danlos syndrome and Postural orthstatic tachycardia syndrome, of deliciously Ella fame cold cabs, apple, peas and beans are out. Try keeping a child's diet interesting on that diet.

[SewingAndCakes]

Hi Jamie,

Will you be bringing out a vegetarian book soon? We're all vegetarian in my family but I'm struggling to get the kids to eat protein that isn't processed.... Thanks.

[icklekid]

Hi Jamie,

Had a fantastic time with my class last year for food revelation day they got so much out of it and loved food they had never tried before. Sadly don't work fridays post maternity leave can next years be on a Monday please?

[noushinkananian]

What's your point of view regarding Vegetarian? They say two portion of red meat a week is OK! Other's say there is no point of eating chicken and red meat since vegetarian live longer and are healthier than meat eaters. Also there is risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis and etc....What should we do?

[Littleham]

If you could choose a super power / super ability what would it be?

(mine would be time travel)

[Cauliflowersneeze]

Were you responsible for the demise of Turkey twizzellers

Is so , what was so wrong with them ? theywerelush

[LauraChant]

Hi Jamie! We are birthday buddies - I too was born on 27 May 1975.

I love your recipes but my absolute favourite is the fish tagine from 15 Minute Meals. It is bloody gorgeous (even if it takes me more like 40 minutes!). Do you have an absolute favourite recipe?

[itsonlysubterfuge]

I don't have a question, I just wanted to say that my daughter is 3 and loves cooking programs and we recently watched your Foodtube video with the Furi Moshi Monster and she absolutely loved it! She thought it was very funny. Thank you for the great video and I hope you do some other kid friendly type videos, we would be very happy!

Have a wonderful day!

[BoSho]

Hi Jamie,

Any tips on cooking for family members with different taste in food?

We're all vegetarian, and my (2 yo) daughter and I would happily eat Asian style, clean food, whereas my husband and son (4.5 yo) aren't keen, and would eat British stodge every day if they could.

I really struggle to find something the whole family will like without resorting to processed meat. Before the kids, we used to make lots of one-pot meals like lasagna, but the kids seem to like their food deconstructed, which makes it difficult to come up with good meals. Any ideas for ways to suit everyone?

Thanks! Keep up the good work. I'd also love you to write a family vegetarian cookbook please!

[LineRunner]

Do you think schools should supply the required food tech ingredients, given that a lot of parents simply can't afford to buy the groceries in order to supply '2tbsp of olive oil' and '50 grams of butter' etc, or at least offer to supply them for, say, a small donation?

My daughter's school once asked her to bring in about ten types of ingredients in teeny tiny amounts for a risotto. The whole lot cost seven quid. She took in about a tenth of that. But I still had to spent seven quid for one lesson.

[MmeLindor]

My daughter is 13 years old, and in her first year of high school cooking lessons, she's made soup 5 times. She's also made the most disgusting macaroni cheese EVER, which was prepared using dried milk powder. She brought it home and binned it.

I've been teaching her to cook at home, and she's even making YouTube videos to teach other kids, because we've found that the standard of teaching in schools is often so abysmal. In her report card this year, the teacher says she 'shows potential', because she is confident in cooking her own meals, which I think is a basic life skill.

My question is this - I've mentioned this in school but had no response. How do I go about pushing them to improve their home economics lesson?

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

Hello Jamie. I really wish you would do a vegetarian book, and also a tv series with/for kids.

My question is:
Where do you stand on the #wewantplates campaign? What is the daftest most original and unusual thing you've ever served food in?

Thank you

[diggerdigsdogs]

I'd love a Jamie kids cooking book too!

My teen step children are coming up to leaving home. What meals do you think are essential for them to learn before they do?

[TurnOverTheTv]

Hi Jamie, my 10 year old daughter Charlotte is steadily working her way through your books, and has made some amazing meals.

She auditioned for your new kids cookery programme with FreshOne productions in Manchester, but unfortunately didn't get through this time.

It's knocked her confidence a bit, do you have any words of encouragement t for her?

Much love!

[TurnOverTheTv]

Oh, and what's your favourite junk food treat? mine is a mashed potato sandwich with lashings of proper butter :-)