Another celebrity chef crusade?

[Osem]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7390959.stm

I can think of a few restaurateurs who should be fined for being arrogant, loudmouth, patronising gits!

[Zeph]

What a nutter? What if I want an off-season meal?

[Russ B]

I had a lot of trouble taking Jamie Oliver seriously on his crusade but taking on board what Ramsey says will require a level of effort not normally found on this side of Jupiter.

Does he have a new book or DVD out or something?

[peanutkp]

Originally Posted by Russ B

I had a lot of trouble taking Jamie Oliver seriously on his crusade but taking on board what Ramsey says will require a level of effort not normally found on this side of Jupiter.

Does he have a new book or DVD out or something?

The F-Word starts again next Tuesday.

[handyman]

Originally Posted by Osem

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7390959.stm

I can think of a few restaurateurs who should be fined for being arrogant, loudmouth, patronising gits!

But his main restaurant is a French restaurant. It has Foie Gras on the menu amongst other ingredients that are imported from France.

[Damien]

Mr Ramsay said he had already spoken to Prime Minister Gordon Brown about outlawing out-of-season produce.

Super, yet another badly thought out law that he can pass

[handyman]

Originally Posted by Russ B

I had a lot of trouble taking Jamie Oliver seriously on his crusade

That I don't have an issue with, we should all have access to cheap quality food but the cheap crap food prevents it.

Also the school dinners things is bob on, filling the kids full of artificial colourings and processed food does nothing for their concentration and health.

[Russ B]

Originally Posted by handyman

That I don't have an issue with, we should all have access to cheap quality food but the cheap crap food prevents it.

Also the school dinners things is bob on, filling the kids full of artificial colourings and processed food does nothing for their concentration and health.

In theory, it was a good idea. But instead of slowly intergrating healthy food on the school menu it was all dumped en-masse. The kids weren't prepared for it and they just didn't want it.

[Incognitas]

Originally Posted by Russ B

In theory, it was a good idea. But instead of slowly intergrating healthy food on the school menu it was all dumped en-masse. The kids weren't prepared for it and they just didn't want it.

Then we as parents and teachers must teach them Russ.

I'm with JO about school dinners because I've seen the difference it can make to get children of crap food.

Ramsey possibly has a point but frankly it is us who stimulate this buying out of season by taking the quick route to our nearest supermarket and buying Spanish strawberries long before there are any British grown strawberries in the supermarket.

When did anyone here last check the country of origin of the fruit and veg they are buying?Who actually buys British?

[Russ B]

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Then we as parents and teachers must teach them Russ.

You're missing the point - there was no build-up for many schools with the changes to the menus, in a lot of cases the kids turned up one day and suddenly the foods they liked were replaced. When it comes to food kids aren't usually so quickly adaptable. I can't find the link at the moment but one health expert said the changes should have been slowly introduced, giving the children time to get used to the changes.

I'm slightly biased as I cannot stand anything about Jamie Oliver but I couldn't help feeling his campaign was little more than a publicity stunt for many.

[handyman]

Originally Posted by Russ B

In theory, it was a good idea. But instead of slowly intergrating healthy food on the school menu it was all dumped en-masse. The kids weren't prepared for it and they just didn't want it.

It was not so much healthy food as proper food with no nasty additives, with so much of schools catering outsourced the quality of the ingredients (if you can call Turkey Twizzlers ingredients) has taken a hit.

If kids were given basic good grub such as Shepherds pie, Lasagne, pasta it would be a step forward.

There's no way to avoid the fact that if you outsource something then quality becomes a cost factor that never gets justified. Outsource-rs work down to the lowest price, in-sourcing generally makes the best of a given budget.

[Incognitas]

Originally Posted by Russ B

You're missing the point - there was no build-up for many schools with the changes to the menus, in a lot of cases the kids turned up one day and suddenly the foods they liked were replaced. When it comes to food kids aren't usually so quickly adaptable. I can't find the link at the moment but one health expert said the changes should have been slowly introduced, giving the children time to get used to the changes.

I'm slightly biased as I cannot stand anything about Jamie Oliver but I couldn't help feeling his campaign was little more than a publicity stunt for many.

I had two children.The eldest decided at 18 months that she wasn't going to eat another vegetable(or fruit).She stuck to it through thick and thin and despite everything I tried(and boy was I sneaky about what I tried).Now she is 24 she keeps telling me the vegetables that she now eats(she has a vegetarian partner).

So I think I know how slow it can be.

The youngest ate everything I gave him and still does at 20..bless him.

The fact is even your expert will have to admit that something HAD to be done and it wouldn't even have happened if JO hadn't bothered.Slow or fast it needed pointing out.

[Russ B]

Oh yes, something certainly needed to be done. But not by the fish-lipped, fat-tongued mockney idiot.

[Saaf_laandon_mo]

Whatever Jamies motives behind the school dinners campaign I think it was a great attempt to introduce healthy eating in schools. Unfortunatey his food was not as cheap as school budgets allowed and wasn't there something about the government not making available the money to schools that they had originally pledged for school dinners? Tha attitudes of a lot of parents to his campaign didnt help either.

I personally like Jamie, I think his heart is in the right place - 15 being a good exapmple of how he has helped less proveledged kids get into something they really want to do.

[RizzyKing]

I totally agree Russ that it was as much about publicity for JO as anything else, but... it did have a beneficial aspect to it if only all publicity stunts did and something did need to be done about the shiocking standards of food that were being served to ouir kids. What i love about experts is they are always right and always know exactly how things should be done after they have been done. Experts are always right in hindsight hell so are most of us in all aspects of our lives but a good thing was done whether in a right or wrong way.

As to Mr Ramsey i sort of agree with him on his basic premise but he loses me at the whole ban\fine part of it. It would be nice for us all to go back to seasonal foods but i do rather think that ship has sailed and until off season food becomes prohibitively exspensive won't dock again anytime soon.