Are you watching Jamie Oliver's school dinners?

[MunchedTooManyMarsLady]

Jamie's being given a run for his money. Loving it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This cropped up in a discussion that JO had with a gastroenterologist. His comment was that if what parents did to their kids insides was visible on the outside it would be seen as child abuse.

granted consitation can happen for a number of reasons. with my dd it was all psychological as her diet was and still is, excelleny (unlike ds but that is another story)

But far too many kids I teach are out of control and for some of these diet is a contributing factor. that, as the fact that their parents don't seem to give a flying fuck about their kids welfare in any meaningful way

my dd (7) gets teased in school for choosing the healthy option at lunch. Ringleader is daughter of GP who once fed my ds pasta and ketchup for tea on a playdate!!! I have never given my kids processed food at home but we do go to McD's the odd time just so its not a forbidden treat

I think my moment of absolute horror was the bit about children vomiting compacted faces because of their poor diet. Back to part 3...

Dinner Lady "boot" Camp looks good. They look so sceptical. I was so pleased at the way the kids turned around in their attitudes to the new food. I think Jamie deserves lots of praise for the way that he persevered despite dinner ladies, teachers, children and parents. Nora is wonderful the way that she has embraced the whole thing. I laughed at the dinner lady who said that it was all crap as she put the sausages in the pan. The roast turkey roll was hysterical.

SNAP to everything you just said MarsLady!

Talk about an uphill struggle. Grown women who can't cook pasta? Who've never eaten a green bean? Who think that lemon and garlic 'stinks'? Who are the kids here, exactly?

Is it any wonder that the kids don't want to change when the adults around them won't?

I think Jamie's fab! The dinner ladies are just the schoolchildren, older... Nora's great though - she'll get 'em into shape!

Add me to the list of people whose jaw dropped out of utter shock on learning that children vomit faeces due to their poor diets.

OMG - where do we draw the line on neglect and abuse.

I live in a pretty deprived area and so I am not immune to walking around ASDA watching obese parents fill their trollies up with shit but I am still shocked by what I am learning of people's attitudes from this JO programme.

I did not realise (and I don't think Jamie realised) that he was going to be fighting a battle with everyone. Why are those dinner ladies and parents so immune to accepting good advice. Why has it become acceptable to be defensive and rude when someone is trying to help you and do something good?

I despair.... really, really despair.

Renaldo - pasta and ketchup? Yuck!

every week I watch this programme and admire Jamie Oliver more and more for uncovering the scale of the problem but trying to do something about it. He's achieved more by this programme than any politician. I am such a fan now. I can't wait to see how he gets on with Charles Clarke next week.

There are rumours that Gordon Brown is going to increase the money available for school dinners - up 13p to 50p on average for ingredients - in the next budget!

That would be very good news!

great article in the Guardian with email address to lobby Ruth Kelly and ideas for action if you have a child at school.

Did I hear right on the news that the company making turkey swizzlers is removing them from production??

I was also shocked about the vomitting faeces. And the dietician (sp?) said that only one decent meal a day would sort that. Actually I think I am easily shockable because when the programme said that the dinner ladies had received no training I was thinking that wouldn't really be a problem because they only need to know how to cook basic things like they would at home. How wrong was I? No maybe not - it is shocking that dinner ladies can't cook. And they were very negative about the whole thing.

Thought it was great though (and a lesson to those of us with stubborn toddlers) how the school turned round through persistantly serving a small range of healthy options. However DH and I are now starting to worry about DS having school dinners in September.

Well dinner ladies don't really need to be trained in cooking do they - they are only reheating stuff at the mo aren't they?
I think it is bordering on criminal that the heads of these schools have been allowing this to go on for so long. What do they eat for lunch??

I assume there's an element of 'showbiz' to the programmes to make them entertaining as well as informative. (Not that I wanted to be informed about poor children vomiting faeces, but it certainly made the point 'fresh veggies are good').

Equally I imagine there were some, even many, of the dinner ladies who had no problem getting to grips with Jamie's ideas - however, I agree that I was shocked that some seemed to struggle with simple tasks like grating or just following a recipe. I imagine some of their hostility may have been to do with the camera being there, as well as feeling (understandably) out of their depth. But fair play to them for going along to the training session and hopefully once they gain in confidence they'll be less resistant to the fresh food.

I will say I am still concerned that even the new recipes must be being made with the cheapest ingredients in order to come in under budget. Okay, much better than eating those godawful turkey twizzlers (I've never even seen those!) but still battery-farmed chicken, etc. Still, I am not sure the world is ready for "Jamie's Organic School Dinners"

I'm not sure you can blame the Head teachers. Even thought they are the head of the school, they don't get to make all the decisions over these things. They also have a million other things to worry about.

Saw most of last night's but was engaged in Littlest Pet Shop for the first 5 mins. What's all this about regurgitating poo? WHAT???? HOW????

The Head Teachers HAVE to take the blame - the butt stops with them! They are paid well enough - this country is riddled with 'it's not my fault/not my job attitude!
if not them then who??

Well, at the Independent school where I worked, the Bursar had the final say over these matters.

Schools have become locked in catering contracts too.

Perhaps head teachers have had a desire for change and not known how to go about it. Surely it is the LEA who is to blame?

The Conservatives introduced compulsory competitive tendering in 1988 without setting nutrititional standards and that's where it started. The local authorities also bear responsibility. I don't agree that head teachers should bear all the blame - it's hard enough for them to get on top of teaching standards let alone nutritional standards.

Has everyone signed the petition yet? here

I just can't believe that the head teachers have been putting up with all the crap food without a peep.
I spose now that if they do nothing its going to be v. public knowledge!

tracy, i think the budget probably prevented them from even thinking about doing something else, plus they've already got a lot on their plate (pardon the pun)

ive been utterly appalled by finding out what goes into school dinners.how come the health watchdogs are always going on at us as parents to change our kids eating habits but they let the schools which they run get away with it?
my dds in reception and i try to get her to eat healthy as much as poss when at home.id never heard of a turkey twizzler before watching this programme and had never seen them in the shops but was so shocked yesterday when i went to tescos and saw them on special buy one get one free.
this needs changing now and with a general election coming up i think which ever party adds this to their campaign would get people voting for them.

Awww, please someone explain how you end up sicking a poo. I have to confess to being this sad but I am intrigued.