Jamie Olivers rant about packed lunches.

[misdee]

LONDON (Reuters) - Jamie Oliver, the television chef famous for his crusade to improve school dinners, lashed out at parents on Thursday over the food they give to their children.

Speaking at the launch of his new TV programme, Oliver said 70 percent of packed lunches in were "disgraceful" and he would like to see them banned.

He said the decisions parents made regarding the diets of their children
were sometimes just plain wrong.
"I've spent two years being politically correct about parents but it's time to say, if you're giving your young kids fizzy drinks, you're an a*hole and a tosser," Oliver said.

"If you give them bags of crisps, you're an idiot. If you aren't cooking them a hot meal, sort it out."

Oliver said headteachers were too frightened of some parents to tell them what they should give their child to bring to school.

He was particularly critical of parents who give their children Red Bull an energy drink when they are tired, saying it was not much better than giving them a line of cocaine.

Oliver's new programme, "Jamie's Return to School Dinners", is a follow-up to his successful Channel 4 series on improving school meals.

That Carole Malone article is rubbish, and patronising in its assumption that all single mothers shop at the likes of Lidl.

For a start if you're that poor you're (probably) going to be on free school meals, so your child ought to get one hot meal a day in term-time at least.

And even if they're not - fresh ingredients are not expensive. How much is a head of broccoli, a bag of potatoes, a parsnip? It's not the fact that these things are expensive that stops people buying them and makes them get oven chips, burgers and gristle nuggets instead. It's the fact that their spawn will only eat oven chips, burgers and gristle nuggets because that's all they've ever been given since they were weaned.

Yes, Jamie is better-off than the people he's preaching to, and most people can't give their little darlings avocado and bruschetta, or whatever it is he gives them. But you can give them simple, fresh, good food on a budget. It's cheaper to buy a single cauliflower and a lump of cheese and make cauliflower cheese than to get a packet of Throbbing Gristleburgers and Smiley Faces with lashings of tomato ketchup. But of course, little Wayne won't eat cauliflower cheese.

And just about the healthiest thing to drink is water, which you can get out of the tap.

I wouldn't assume very poor people get free school meals UD. To get free school meals (or milk) you have to be either be on IS or to earn under about £13K and not be receiving Working Tax Credit. As anyone earning under £13K is entitled to recieve WTC, I am very hazy about who, not on the dole or on disability benefits, is actually entitled to free school meals. Certainly not the average working poor.

Maybe little Wayne's mother is 19 and Wayne is her second kid. Maybe she is second generation, non- working - neither her nor her parents ever had a job. The long forgotten underclass. Maybe Waynes mum left schl at 15 and never did cookery. She doesn't know how to make cheese sauce cos she was hardly at schl and anyway schl doesn't teach cookery anymore. I know who I feel sorry for.

In that situation I feel sorry for both Wayne and Wayne's mum. But the situation wil not get better if we try to pretend that it isn't a problem, because we are ashamed and embarased at the situation society has created that leaves 19 year olds incapable of cooking a reasonable meal.

Well said MB. Of course in that hypothetical scenario Wayne's mother can't be condemned or judged for not having a clue how to run a home and feed a child. But that doesn't make it OK for her child (and her!) to be living on shite and destroying their long-term health. Something needs to be done about it.

And unless we break the cycle Wayne may well meet and mate with someone with as few skills as his mum, and the cycle of deprivation continues.

It isn't enough to feel sorry for people left in this situation, we have to do something about it. I don't blame Wayne's mum, but I can't pretend that she doesn't have a problem, or that Wayen's off the Wall behaviour doesn't cause me to tear my hair out in school. (thereby cutting don'ty the time I actually have to teach wayne something about food an nutrition)

Interestingly enough I was on duty at break tome today, choices for lunch were;-

Sweet and sour pork (with added veg)
Spicy beans in tortilla wraps
Pasta and tomato sauce

and one other meat dish, can remember what that was.

Really not bad at all

I agree, something should be done. But I don't like the blame - and the tone of 'little Wayne won't eat anything else'.

i have to agree with alot of what jamie oliver says.personally my 4 and 5 year old dont ever get offered fizzy drinks, have chocolate rarely and certainly dont eat crisps etc everyday.im not perfect but i try to make sure that my children eat sensible lunches and good homecooked food.vegetables are fresh or frozen, not tinned and for lunch my son eats salad, ham sandwiches with brown bread, banana, scotch eggs, sausage rolls, other fruit etc and only has reduced salt crisps sometimes.he eats pasta and loads of vegeatables.i dont deliberatly go to extremes but i do think children eat alot of rubbish nowadays and i do my best to make sure that the food i give my children hasnt got a load of artificial colours etc in.its basic common sense in ym eyes and to be honest costs less than the fizzy drinks and chocolate bars that he's complaining about.well done jamie.

my friends child will only eat chicken nuggets, chips and the like of mcdonalds.when i told her that my son loves salads and pasta and vegetables etc she was shocked.if all your child has even eaten is 'crap' food then its all they will eat isnt it! my son hates mcdonalds and chicken nuggets.im on income support and dont spend alot on food each week but i mkaje sure there's always veg,salad,fruit etc on offer to them.its not difficult to boil veg in a pan.even people without cookery classes can do that!

mali, I suspect though that scotch eggs and sausage trolls are worse than abr of chocolate, which at elast has SOME nutrients in it? (If decent).

Just a thought there....

(An d I hoep you never give then in a buggy )

can i just but in and say to charlottecoudray (or whatever your name is!) that people on disability benefits do NOT automatically get free dinners. I think only people on IS get free school dinners, I am not enitirely sure but people on DLA do NOT get free school dinners automatically regardless of income

are all working class people called wayne aswell? this thread is quite bizarre

JO rocks! I just hope they ban crisps and chocolate in my DS1's School before DS2 attends. DS1 is a naturally healthy eater and is not swayed by peer pressure, DS2 however is and I can see a battle looming when he goes to School.

My DSs do have 'junk' at times but I would prefer to be in control of that for the time being.

Jamie's right. Irritating & sanctimonious, but right.

My ds school has been having a healthy eating 'push' since the beginning of the year. I actually think the dinners provided are great - as a Governor I've tasted them myself- all home cooked and nothing from packets. My problem is that ds won't eat a lot of the meals on the menu which is largely down to me having limited his choices when he was little. My Mom was hopeless at cooking and I have never really bothered to learn. Before kids, I was happy to live on convenience meals but I now understand how that affects my health. I know about the five portions and vitamins and additives now, it's just getting ds and dh to prefer the healthy option (and me TBH) I'm buying JO book and The Dinner Lady book to try the recipes - hope lethargy doesn't set in. I don't let the family eat crap stuff, it's just that my meals are boring and lack imagination in an effort to keep healthy, so you can guess that ready meals just taste so much better. Guess you can tell I'm no foodie!!!(blush)

peachyclairhasbadhair

how exactly are scotch eggs which are eggs and sausage meat in crumbs bad? how are sausage rolls bad? cheap ones maybe but not home made from proper meat.im not saying that all food is bad, just in moderation and some parents do feed their children 'junk food' everyday without preparing a proper meal for them.children learn from what their parents give them to eat.if they grow up eating proper nutritious food then that's what they'll eat, if they grow up on only junk then they'll only eat that

read carole malones article on sunday and agreed with her

also think cooking properly and from scratch should be introduced in schools
and encouraged by parents

Salt is my big issue with them, actually. Also, as the Bristol Diabetes website says, most sausages are between 20 % and 30% fat, with premium brands often the worst (www.brist.plus.com/dietmeat.htm)

Well I wondered, Fio. The criteria is that you have to earn less than £13 and a half and not entitled to WTC. Really don't know who earns less than 13K and doesn't claim WTC, because surely everybody is? So it sounds like they're saying only if you're on IS but they don't want to say htat, so I wondered if you were on some kind of disability benefit you got them. Can't track down anyone who works and is on a low income, who gets them.

Yes that sounds familiar. But if you earn below 14,445, you will be claiming WTC if you have children. So in effect, it means people on Income Support only, I think, but they don't want to say so for some reason.

I've just sat here and read about 30 messages all apart from one) completely in agreement with JO, as am I. I think it is fantastic what he is doing. The point missing in my view, is why the government doesn't regulate or stop the food manufacturers from making food with the 'nasties' in them,. For instatnce when I had my first child I was told he couldn't have strawberries and honey until he was 1 due to allergies, no fish until 6 months and x,y,z. I was totally new to motherhood and had no alternate advice, I went to the supermarket to buy a jar of baby food (in an emergency!) which when looking at the shelves had strawberrries in for a four month old then looking around another had honey in it, then fish bake at 4 months??. If these things are so bad for under 1 year olds why are the menufacturers able to make them! Half the problem would be solved if the 'nasties' in food wasn't so readily available.

agree woodmarie, the government has a lot to answer for

I went on a school trip lately and a kid on my table's lunchbox was full of sweets i.e. chewitts and lollipops plus cakes and a fizzy drink. There was fruit and a sandwich but guess what she ate? Another mum and I were in total shock I tried to gently coax her into having the sandwich and fruit but she just looked at me blankly

Not read the whole thread (don't have time ) but I think Jamie Oliver is great too.

We lived in London for 4 years (moved last yr) and my son went to primary school there in Greenwich. Greenwich was (I think) the first borough to recieve the JO meals and they were really yummy. I am lucky in that DS1 is a fab eater and will try almost anything. He loved the JO meals and still now at secondary school will always choose pasta/rice/proper meals way, way over pizza and chips! He will very occasionally have a homemade burger, but as he loves good meals will choose good stuff.

I do agree with Jamie. At DS's primary school, soooo much food was being thrown away without the children even trying it. It makes you ask the question, what do their parents actually feed them at home? If these children had what I call 'normal' food, ie spag bol, rice dishes, pasta dishes etc, instead of the chips and other frankly non nutrious food, then they wouldn't be so adamant not to try it at school.

I know a lot of children now are fussy, I have a 3 yr old who is incredibly fussy, but it is up to me to encourage good eating habits in him. JO is right, parents shouldn't be feeding their children this stuff all of the time. Sometimes is fine, but every day isn't!

You also don't have to be rich to feed your children healthly, you just have to be bothered to cook nutrious meals for them.

I say, well done Jamie Oliver

Me too - he's got everyone thinking and talking about it, which a politer turn of phrase simply wouldn't have done.

Exactly Georgie34, totally agree! He has made us as a family think about what we eat and he has improved the health of many, many children because of what he has done. Some of it has to sink in surely! (Though i don't think I am neccessarily a c**p mother for giving my child a bag of crisps, I just would be if all they ate was junk)