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.

on a personal level, I'm not a fan either. But don't see that as a barrier to thinking that what he says is absolutely spot on.

I'm always going on about healthy eating at home, and if my kids hear that message repeated in the media they're much more likely to take it on board. Otherwise they'll just regard it as more ramblings from the mad old witch in the kitchen.

Mrs Flo, perhaps if you had you would have a different outlook. I don't know about noe but if you had seen what goes on in school everyday as far as food is school you would have been very shocked I think.

I admire him for the effect he has had on public awareness of food issues and on our policy makers. I have considered moving country to get away from the appalling foods which are available here. Good on you, MP, for making the move. I have read a lot about school meals in Italy and envy you so much - local, organic ingredients and balanced, freshly-cooked meals. It is the peer pressure which worries me here, when many of the peers are eating processed foods - and the easy avaialability of junk food in corner shops, vending machines etc.

huge at Orlando's "mad old witch in the kitchen". This is how I feel most evenings!

Sorry piffle, missed that post as I was on my soapbox at the time.

I'm horrified by the things my daughter is able to buy in secondary school. This time last week I was in control of the choices she was able to make, but as of last Tuesday she's in an environment where every kind of junk is freely available. Maybe after a few weeks the novelty will have worn off and she'll be able to exercise more restraint but right now she wants it all. In primary school they had a healthy eating policy and the only break-time snacks allowed were fruit. I know more freedom is appropriate in secondary school, but it's totally at the other extreme.

That's why I admire JO for trying to change things from the top. As parents our battle is individual and exhausting, and easy to concede in favour of more immediate issues. Go Jamie!

I think he does have to be so in your face and lpoud about it. It is the only way to get people listening and talking, and taking an interest. Doesn't this thread reflect that? Comments made today - thread with approx 100 messages a couple of hours later. That is awareness!

No one else will do it. So good on him. I still don't get why it is such a bad thing that he cares.

MrsPop - DD's school doesn't do choice either. Theyy all have to stay. They get two courses. Only choice is veggie option for main, and then dessert is a pudding or fresh fruit. All are cooked fresh on site every day. All are proper food, not processed junk. DD is trying them for the first time today, but we have spoken to people who have been there already and they all rate the food well. The teachers eat with the children and are happy to do so.

This is the system I remember from when I was at school. Kids didn't whinge and whine, neither did the parents. You just got on with it and eat what you were given, or left what you didn't like.

DD's school are only allowed healthy snacks to be taken for breaktime - veg or fruit recommended. No nuts allowed. DD is eating even more fruit and veg than she does at home as a result.

you cant convert the converted though

and marypop maybe you are right!

but the more people who come out and say this IS how I feed my children anyway, it lets people who are dithering or not wanting to feed their kids better ask for information and let them know that yes this is how many people prefer to eat.
I would happily give up my time free to demonstrate cooking and nutrition within my ds's school, in an aftrschool club or something

DS has a packed lunch which usually consists of:

Wholemeal bread with the best sliced chicken I can find and a drink of orange juice.
Sometimes raw carrots
maybe a penguin.

All he ever eats is the sandwich and some of the OJ. He has food issues due probably to severe food allergies to 101 foods.

As a matter of interest is it any of his business what parents give their kids. Fair enough debate what the schools give. He doesn't know individual parents circumstances. For example I would give DS crisps and choc in his lunch for added calories cos he is very thin. He know that proper food must be eaten before any 'junk'. Personally Red Bull is inappropriate for kids IMO but it's not my business is it?

We were lucky when lived in the UK, lived in the country. So at home I bought meat from the slaughter house, veg from the farmers and the tinned stuff from the supermarket BUT I know I was lucky. Even then though I knew in school the food was revolting. I think one of my turning points was when my DD at 5 told what she was eating. We had jut returned from 6 weeks in Italy and my children were happy calm and health, DD told me she'd had turkey twislers things (I didn't know what they were but wasn't happy) and my DS developed eczema 3 weeks after being at home. Since living here it has disappeared.

Hulababy, that school sound great.

agree, piffle because as a society we do need to be converting the unconvertable!
Dont' mean to sound sanctimonious, but we're going way beyond having the time/luxury to worry about causing offence or being politically correct. So many more kids are obese or overweight now and they're getting ill from it and will become iller and more dependent on the state as adults as a result.
That affects and has a financial cost for all of us.

Do we really want to carry on spending billions (and I do mean billions) each yr of NHS money on entirely preventable obesity-related illness??

thats what I think drosphilia!! My daughter HAD to have a high colrie diet for a while, pies, butter cream, as many calories in one mouth full that you can imagine, it would have made his toes curl

and piffle that is actually a good idea, why dont you offer your services?

that would be high calorie

Drosophila, I understand your problem.

The problem is that many people don't consider the food they are giving their children. I have had children in UK school with a packed consisting of

a chocolate spread sandwich
a chocolate drink
a bar of chocolate
some sweets
and then a packed of crisps.

This has not been a one off but a every day thing. That child is definately going to have a whole host of health problems if not behavioural problems. Surely that not just the families problem but the problem of everybody?

because I'm not "qualified" Fio and they need to insure me to work on the school grounds.
I have produced the best maths student in yr 8 FFS
Trust me

my dd has low fat absorption and needs high sugar intake

This is easily remedied by one bag on white chocolate buttons a day, after a meal.
this way I avoid having to lace all her food with rubbish

I agree with Carmere's post.

I find packing the school lunch box a bit of a chore as I'm always trying to think of new things and lack imagination. I try really hard though and if Jamie can inspire me with some new ideas I'd have another reason to thank him.

He's given me some great recipes for my dinner guests and I've eaten some great food at mates through his books.

He has made a difference and made the government cough up, even if only a bit and made schools and parents think a bit more.

And now he's doing his bit for the packed lunch brigade.

If you don't like it, don't get involved, don't watch, fine. But like Carmerre said if you get really defensive about his suggestions then perhaps thta's because you aren't providing the best food, that you can given the time, effort, money etc, for your kids and if that makes you feel guity then so be it.

Buying brown rather than white bread costs no more money or efort.
Buying low fat cream cheese is no more hassle than chocolate spread and jam.
Buying carrot batons and dips is no more effort than crisps and a biscuit.
Chopping up a cucumber and bits of cheese will hardly break the bank or exhaust you.
Water or juice is no more tricky than picking up a fruit shoot.
A yoghurt is just as easy as a cake or bicuit.
Dried fruit in yoghurt rather than crisps.

If chikdren weren't introduced to sweets, crisps etc, theyt wouldn't want them. if we all gave out kids fruit instead they wouldn't even think about only wanting crisps.

I'm looking forward to maybe learning something from his programme and would welcome soem new ideas.

My dd is tiny too (is humilated to be wearing age 8 shirts to secondary school) so obesity is not one of my concerns. However, I am concerned about what buying an iced bun and a fizzy drink at break is going to do to her blood sugar/concentration levels for the rest of the day. And her appetite for the healthy lunch I've given her.

Here you go Thomcat! jamies pack up ideas

Have you spoken to the school Orlando? I thought these type of things were being banned?

And my DD. having Down's syndrome, will have a tendancy to gain weight easily when she is older. Therefore I've tried as hard as I can to eat as healthy as poss, without totally depriving her.
We still have pizza and chips and sausage rolls etc but she also always has fresh veg, fruit, water, etc. I've never given her sweets, she doesn't seem to know they even exist. And her packed lunch reflects all of that.

ohhh thank you for that holidaymum

I think he's right. He's obviously not aiming his comments at people who might occasionally give the odd fizzy drink or packet of crisps, or people with special circumstances such as SN, but at those people who feed their kids crap as a regular diet for no reason other than that they can't be arsed to find out what they should be feeding their own children. It always astonishes me at the sheer ignorance and benightedness of the sorts of families who appear in Honey We're Killing the Kids and they need to be told that no it's no OK to give your kids this shit every day and bleat about how they won't eat anything else. So what if his life is different from mine? How does that stop me taking the 10 minutes every morning to make up a nutritious packed lunch for 2 children?

I think if a HV or GP took this sort of tone, it would be out of order (undermining rather than supportive) but from a celeb chef, it's perfectly acceptable. People get messages in all different ways and this is one of them.

I thought so too holidaymum. I was gobsmacked when she told me yesterday what was available to buy at break.

I think what was banned was the vending machines placed in schools by outside companies who make a huge profit from them. Maybe if it's provided by the school in the canteen it's a different matter.

Just seems irresponsible to me.

Cost just cannot be a valid reason.

Wholemeal loaf = 48p (/5 for the week) = less than 10p; add a few pence for some spread
Apple = 20p
Ham = £1.80 a pack (/5 for week) = 36p
Yogurt = 25p

(Water is usally a free drink at school)
Or a carton of fruit juice = 65p for 3 = 22p

So what is that? £1 at the most?