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.

But surely, if you don't have the time or money to do packed lunches well you have the option of cooked lunches which are now mostly a lot better?

I don't get what you are saying.

A good packed lunch does not need to be expensive or time consuming. There are free school meals for people who really cannot afford it as for the rest of us its our responsibility to feed our kids well.

but how long does it take to
1)spread some (decent) cream cheese for example with bit of salad on 2 slices of brown bread (bought instead of white)
2) bung a piece of fruit/raisin box into sandwich box
3) add fruit juice (as opposed to fruit shoot/ribena whatever)
4) add (decent) yogurt & spoon??

Honestly don't see why people think it's somehow quicker to give them crap food

but where are these people who put 'crap' into lunch boxes? not round here and i see tons of lunchboxes

i dont get it either mischeif.

or a carrot sliced into batons. (my dd1 favourite treat lol). or a handful of cherry tomatoes if your kids like them.

if my dd3 carries on with her current eating habits, then her packed lunches will be very adventourous.

I agree with LadtyTophamhat. I know I made mistakes with DS1 with his food earlier on and am paying the price for it now but we are getting there - albeit slowly - with him trying new foods etc.
I think JO seems to forget that most parents in this country are not as a) as bright as him b) not as rich as him and c) don't have the time to do what he claims we all should be doing.

I thought his school dinnners prog was good but I did think he should have tried to bring the changes in gradually and perhaps made changes to the things the children were used to eating rather than suddenly expecting them to eat competely different foods that they weren't used to.

well, i still don't see why it should take more time. I don't think it does, it just takes a change in shopping habits.

I think schools have a responsibility to educate parents on what they will and won't accept for packed lunches. Although I understand that some parents won't change putting fizzy drinks in etc.

Where? I worked in two schools. One in Derbyshire, top of the league type. One in Doncaster, in special measures. Both had packed lunch option and a lot of what was in it was rubbish. I saw it daily. This was secondary but even so. Kids don't need fizzy pop at school. They don't need rubbish full of e numbers and sweetners. It does affect behaviour and this is really noticebale after lunch times.

today is Funday Friday at dd1 school, its pizza and chips for lunch. thats the one day a week they have 'junk' (homemade pizza btw) and they are allowed to bring crisps in as a snack.

What infuriates me is that there are parents who have stopped sending kids to cooked lunches because they think they are rubbish now after seeing the JO programmes, yet they send there kids to school with sh** in there packed lunches, have seen it with my own eyes. Our Schols had to put dinners up by 10p due to a fall off of numbers since the programme and they served healthy home cooked meals from the start. Its defiantely the parents that need educating! Granted not all of them, I'm sure we are all perfect but there are plenty out there that could do better!

I like the idea of getting parents into schools that have made the change (either vefore or after JO's programme) to come and eat with the children - really raising awareness of where things have changed and what the food is like now.

I do appreciate what JO is trying to do - and has had the guts to stand up for what he believes in and try to make a difference.

HOwever most schools no longer teach cookery and healthy eating is only just beginning to creep in (as a result of JO campaign no doubt).

But some parents have never been taught how to cook themselves or what a reasonably healthy diet is. By just ranting about them or slagging them off saying 'they should know' is really not any help at all.

I never got taught cooking at school or about healthy nutrition. My parents taught me these so I can bring up my ds on a reasonable diet and I know what I'm doing when it comes to food.

By not teaching children these things you are getting more and more generations that don't know/don't think its important. You need to tackle these b4 these problems go away.

my daughters lunchbox was crap today but no red bull
but its none of his sodding business. he ought to spend some time with his own kids and stop dictating to other people

my daughters lunchbox was crap today but no red bull
but its none of his sodding business. he ought to spend some time with his own kids and stop dictating to other people

I have become a big fan of Jamie Oliver. At least he's used his time and profile to make a difference on a relatively 'unsexy' issue. What a top bloke to manage to push this kind of issue to the top of the agenda - he shamed the government over it.

But he does not aim his criticism at mothers who are doing their best(and it's not just mothers), just lazy parents who are not thinking about what their child is eating. He's aiming it at everyone and raising the profile of these issues that are vitally important to the well being of the nation. And he has approached the government re school dinners with some sucess.

And I'd guess he probably does spend a fair amount of time with his kids and he probably even does make their school lunches. JO has a history of putting his money where his mouth is(15) so we have no reason to suspect he is being hypocritical on this issue

If he makes you feel uncomfortable about what you are feeding your kids maybe it's time for a rethink?

Imo the secret to sucessful childhood nutrition is balance, treats should be just that, treats, not everyday lunch.

I like the way he's trying to take the attraction away from processed/convenience food. In the past, on occasion I have been guilty of giving in to pester power over some crap snack food (cheesestring anyone?) because my kids have spotted them in the supermarket and said everyone has them. Well done JO for doing something to help us parents and kids see these foods for what they are-- not a harmless bit of a treat, but overpriced junk.

My dd1 has started secondary school this week and although she's taken a packed lunch with her (v healthy) I'm horrified to find that pies, sweets, chocolate bars and fizzy drinks are all available to buy at break. Yesterday she guiltily confessed to spending 40p on an iced bun. I said that was fine, as an occasional treat, but then she was musing over breakfast what to buy today. It's an argument I just don't want to have with her every day.

he just gets on my nerves ...can you tell?

We have fruity friday today, all snacks must be fruit. To be honest healthy snacks are encouraged for the rest of the week and children are shamed into bringing them by the random giving of stickers for those with healthy snacks. My dd is a healthy snack Nazi!

and I had no food in the house and dont need any more guilt,,,,,,,,

.... only at school though!

Haven't read the whole but read his comments and I don't see he has said anything wrong.
We moved to Italy last year. Part of the reason was we found it difficult and horribly expensive to feed our children decent meals in comparision to hear. I.e food they is fresh, local, seasonal and without being mucked about with.

I personally don't understand why a small child (infants school age) is given the choice of what to eat and is expented to make healthy eating choices in school. Here they get 3 courses and can eat as much of each course as they want. They aren't allowed packed lunch, if they don't eat school food they have to go home. My son is dreadfully picky but eats at school, because he has no choice on what to eat and is hungry. Each meal is fairly plain but all organic, local, seasonal and well cooked. The sweet is mostly fruit. Fried food and sweet cakes etc are only permitted on festas (about once a month). An example of a meal would be, pasta with olive oil and parmisan, the second is either meal or fish depending on the day with freshly cooked veg and bread and finally fruit. The vegetarian (few and far between) don't eat the meat but so do many of the other childrenchoose not to. The teachers serve and eat with the children in the canteen. Italian children will not eat food that is not cooked well generally so it has to be done well. The children are all well feed and happy with it and I as a parent am happy because I know what they are eating isn't rubbish.

I have seen, having worked in schools, what parents send in lunch boxes. Believe me if they could buy and send chocolate crips many would. The most nutrious part of the lunchbox meal is the bread holding the chocolate spread together. Even the cheese tends to be the processed stuff. The children see what their friends are having and want the same, its horrible.

The other problem I found with food when living in the UK was parties, mostly sweet stuff. I like going to childrens parties in Italy because they have pizza, red and while and little tasty sandwiches for about an hour and half and then the cake comes (the cake is a big cream cake normally with small slithers of sponge very few colourings). Often thats it but sometimes you get a few sweets and cakes but the norm is the first option. My children come home happy and have had fun but I'm not peeling them off the ceiling after all the sweets and chocolate and e numbers they have consumed. A much nicer experience for me froma purely selfish point of view.

Haven't read the whole but read his comments and I don't see he has said anything wrong.
We moved to Italy last year. Part of the reason was we found it difficult and horribly expensive to feed our children decent meals in comparision to hear. I.e food they is fresh, local, seasonal and without being mucked about with.

I personally don't understand why a small child (infants school age) is given the choice of what to eat and is expented to make healthy eating choices in school. Here they get 3 courses and can eat as much of each course as they want. They aren't allowed packed lunch, if they don't eat school food they have to go home. My son is dreadfully picky but eats at school, because he has no choice on what to eat and is hungry. Each meal is fairly plain but all organic, local, seasonal and well cooked. The sweet is mostly fruit. Fried food and sweet cakes etc are only permitted on festas (about once a month). An example of a meal would be, pasta with olive oil and parmisan, the second is either meal or fish depending on the day with freshly cooked veg and bread and finally fruit. The vegetarian (few and far between) don't eat the meat but so do many of the other childrenchoose not to. The teachers serve and eat with the children in the canteen. Italian children will not eat food that is not cooked well generally so it has to be done well. The children are all well feed and happy with it and I as a parent am happy because I know what they are eating isn't rubbish.

I have seen, having worked in schools, what parents send in lunch boxes. Believe me if they could buy and send chocolate crips many would. The most nutrious part of the lunchbox meal is the bread holding the chocolate spread together. Even the cheese tends to be the processed stuff. The children see what their friends are having and want the same, its horrible.

The other problem I found with food when living in the UK was parties, mostly sweet stuff. I like going to childrens parties in Italy because they have pizza, red and while and little tasty sandwiches for about an hour and half and then the cake comes (the cake is a big cream cake normally with small slithers of sponge very few colourings). Often thats it but sometimes you get a few sweets and cakes but the norm is the first option. My children come home happy and have had fun but I'm not peeling them off the ceiling after all the sweets and chocolate and e numbers they have consumed. A much nicer experience for me froma purely selfish point of view.

I love him and I think he's right.