# Jamie Oliver on American food: US Dept. of Agriculture guidelines.



## Caveat (14 Sep 2010)

Only saw some of this and may have picked this up wrong but it seems that US Dept. of Agriculture guidelines (or even legislation?) has certain criteria that must be fulfilled for school dinners.

One of which seemed to be that 2 "breads" must form part of the meal. So Jamie's relatively healthy non-processed option failed as he only provided one type of bread whereas the pizza/deep fried brigade were fine because they had pizza bread + garlic bread (or something) ?!

Oh yeah, and the junk pushers also passed on the "grain" requirement as there was a sprinkling of something grain-like on the pizza crust.


Please someone tell me I picked this up wrong. Are these guidelines really this dumb, literal, non-sensical and inflexible??


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## TarfHead (14 Sep 2010)

I watched that programme a while back and, yes, you did not mishear what was claimed. The interpretation of what constitutes nutrition is off the wall.


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## pixiebean22 (14 Sep 2010)

Saw an ad for this the other evening and jamie was crying (can you blame him) when they served pizza for breakfast in one of the schools to young kids, absolute madness!


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## Pique318 (14 Sep 2010)

According to Fast Food Nation which I read a few years ago, there are more safety regulations (concerning the presence of e-coli etc.) on the meat in petfood than there is on the meat in school dinners !!


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## liaconn (14 Sep 2010)

Most of the kids on the programme had pizza for breakfast, chicken nuggets for lunch and chicken nuggets again for dinner.


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## carpedeum (18 Sep 2010)

I watched the first episode of Jamie in Huntington West Virginia on Ch4 the other night. He's gone up in my opinion. The way he handled the radio DJ was class. He's much more genuine and people friendly than those other idiots such as G****n R****y that just 'eff and blind theit way through kitchens. I thought he handled the scene with the obese family very well, especially the obese, but, sound 12 year old lad who was suffering greatly and just needed someone to help him. The mother was a good mum, but, just did not know how to cook with healthy ingredients. 

He gets a bad press - ashamedly I used to fall for it too. I got a present of one of his books. Easy idiot-proof recipes with no mystique. His pragmatism about using local available ingredients takes the pressure off !


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## sunrock (18 Sep 2010)

Whats wrong with pizza for breakfast.
I am sure a lot of schools around the world wouldn`t mind geting junk food like chicken nuggets.I got no food given to me in school.
People should concern themselves more with hungry children in school.


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## ajapale (18 Sep 2010)

Is it true to say that as Irish people we just don't do school dinners?


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## micmclo (18 Sep 2010)

Pique318 said:


> According to Fast Food Nation which I read a few years ago, there are more safety regulations (concerning the presence of e-coli etc.) on the meat in petfood than there is on the meat in school dinners !!



Brilliant book, one of the best I've read
It's covers everything, the history of fast food, urban sprawl, crime, worker saftey and food contamination

It's not some propaganda book, everything is researched and references given

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Food_Nation
http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0060938455

The film with Greg Kinnear, Bruce Willis and Avril Lavigne was awful though


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## RMCF (18 Sep 2010)

His motives might be admirable, but he's is an annoying git.


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## Graham_07 (18 Sep 2010)

I saw this and what came across most to me was the entrenchment and stubbornness to even consider that someone else might have an idea that was better than what was being done. OK, everywhere you will get the "who does he think he is coming in here to tell us what to do", but the notion of pizza for breakfast, chicken nuggets for lunch and then more of the same at home, just did not seem to be a problem for anyone on the program. He looked at the menu and saw that potato that was to accompany lunch and said, " ok I guess we'll better start peeling potatoes then". and the chefs laughed at him saying they had something better called [broken link removed] Just add water and you get instant mash, just make sure and whisk it quick and empty the bowl fast or it sets like concrete.  What I noticed most  was the only fresh item on the plate was the bread roll which was made from dough each day. Most of the kids threw it in the bin at the end. He suggested fresh chicken drumsticks marinaded and when the fresh, uncooked meat came into the kitchen the look on the chefs faces was priceless. You'd think they never saw raw meat before. 
I did feel sorry for him as there was not even a glimmer of acceptance from any of the school people that his ideas might be healthier.   The US Dept of Ag guidelines meant that he could not substitute rice for bread in his dinner as he didn't have 2 breads for the day. I must say at the end of the program I felt like saying to him just leave them at it.


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## Caveat (18 Sep 2010)

RMCF said:


> His motives might be admirable, but he's is an annoying git.



+1

My wife thinks I'm being unfair and that it's just overexposure and that he's a nice guy but I'm having none of it.


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## haminka1 (19 Sep 2010)

Graham_07 said:


> I saw this and what came across most to me was the entrenchment and stubbornness to even consider that someone else might have an idea that was better than what was being done. OK, everywhere you will get the "who does he think he is coming in here to tell us what to do", but the notion of pizza for breakfast, chicken nuggets for lunch and then more of the same at home, just did not seem to be a problem for anyone on the program. He looked at the menu and saw that potato that was to accompany lunch and said, " ok I guess we'll better start peeling potatoes then". and the chefs laughed at him saying they had something better called [broken link removed] Just add water and you get instant mash, just make sure and whisk it quick and empty the bowl fast or it sets like concrete.  What I noticed most  was the only fresh item on the plate was the bread roll which was made from dough each day. Most of the kids threw it in the bin at the end. He suggested fresh chicken drumsticks marinaded and when the fresh, uncooked meat came into the kitchen the look on the chefs faces was priceless. You'd think they never saw raw meat before.
> I did feel sorry for him as there was not even a glimmer of acceptance from any of the school people that his ideas might be healthier.   The US Dept of Ag guidelines meant that he could not substitute rice for bread in his dinner as he didn't have 2 breads for the day. I must say at the end of the program I felt like saying to him just leave them at it.



chances are, they never saw raw meat in their lives /except for maybe a burger for the bbq/


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## Staples (20 Sep 2010)

He's right of course, but it's not always enough to be right.  He can be a bit smug.  His interest in improving kids' nutition is genuine but going to to the media in advance and effectively slagging off the way Americans have been doing things for gernerations is not the way to ensure their cooperation. 

And crying like a girl because they won't listen to him doesn't do much for his reputation either.


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## Sunny (27 Sep 2010)

Just watching this now for the first time. It's shocking!


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## Purple (28 Sep 2010)

I like him. I think he’s a very genuine person who could just stay at home doing the odd cookery programme and writing (or endorsing) the odd book and have a very nice easy life with his wife and his kids and his millions. Instead he does things that are not easy, that might fail and that leave him open to criticism and ridicule and he does them for largely altruistic reasons. It’s a pity there aren’t more people like him.

I also agree completely with what he’s saying. I see people every week in the supermarket filling their trolleys with processed junk that’s high in salt and fat because they are too lazy to cook properly for their children. We mightn’t be at the stage yet where a classroom full of 7 year olds don’t know what a cauliflower or a potato looks like but we’re not far off.


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## Sunny (28 Sep 2010)

I should clarify that the US school meals programme is what I found shocking together with the amount of kids who lost relatives to obesity. I actually like Jamie. Much better than Gordon.


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## Ceist Beag (28 Sep 2010)

Purple said:


> I like him. I think he’s a very genuine person who could just stay at home doing the odd cookery programme and writing (or endorsing) the odd book and have a very nice easy life with his wife and his kids and his millions. Instead he does things that are not easy, that might fail and that leave him open to criticism and ridicule and he does them for largely altruistic reasons. It’s a pity there aren’t more people like him.
> 
> I also agree completely with what he’s saying. I see people every week in the supermarket filling their trolleys with processed junk that’s high in salt and fat because they are too lazy to cook properly for their children. We mightn’t be at the stage yet where a classroom full of 7 year olds don’t know what a cauliflower or a potato looks like but we’re not far off.



Big +1 Purple, I hugely admire him for what he does ... and he's a genius in the kitchen.


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## Caveat (28 Sep 2010)

Loved the senator's face last night back in the kitchen when the hispanic kind of guy spoke up - basically implying that there has to be political change - his perma-smile dropped for a split second and he looked as though he was about to say "why you little punk....you...you.."

The other amusing/shocking aspect to the programme was that french fries are "a vegetable" now....


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## JJ1982 (29 Sep 2010)

This is slightly off toipic but this type of eating just stays with people as they get older.

I visited a friend in Iowa in 2006 and was shocked at the food to be honest. Everything came in batter, we went to a chinese and I ordered chicken satay and the chicken was battered. Great for a once off but Im so serious when I say everything was in batter. Anyway one day she says, lets drive to Debuque there is this place that serves the most AMAZiING tender pork loin, its to die for. An hour later we get there and we are served flat battered burgers, I was shocked. 

I can only imagine how Jamie Oliver must feel when he is faced with that in schools. Does anyone remember when in one of his British shows, a mother was sending chips through the gates to her son cos he wasnt getting them in his lunch while Jamie was there? Mental


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## MeathCommute (29 Sep 2010)

Sunny said:


> I actually like Jamie. Much better than Gordon.


 
I find Jamie very, very condescending. At least Gordon is just straight-out insulting, so you know where you stand !


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## Caveat (30 Sep 2010)

MeathCommute said:


> I find Jamie very, very condescending.


 
Yeah me too. He does that furrowed brow, pursed lips, serious nodding thing and it just looks false.

Which is a pity because he means well and is a force for good generally.

Come to think of it, an awful lot of TV chefs are very irritating. The only one I can think of that I can tolerate at all is Anthony Worral Thompson.

Ramsey needs slapping, Marco is a caricature & Gary Rhodes gives me the creeps.


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## Thirsty (30 Sep 2010)

Surprised no one's mentioned Nigella!


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## Caveat (30 Sep 2010)

Mmmmm...Nigella.....

What. A. Woman.


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## Purple (30 Sep 2010)

Thirsty said:


> Surprised no one's mentioned Nigella!


Yea, I was thinking that when Caveat wrote;


Caveat said:


> The only one I can think of that I can tolerate at all is Anthony Worral Thompson.



Personally I would rather look at Nigella than an escapee from Middle Earth but each to their own.


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## Caveat (30 Sep 2010)

lol


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## BONDGIRL (5 Oct 2010)

Yummy Jamie


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## Caveat (6 Oct 2010)

BONDGIRL said:


> Yummy Jamie


 
Please tell me a _jamie_ is a type of food....?


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## Betsy Og (6 Oct 2010)

I think Jamie is grand (trying to find non-bromance adjectives!). In the early days, when I didnt see much of him, it was all cheeky chappie bung a bit of this that and the other in and its wiki etc. etc.

Last year though I really enjoyed the US tour show, the good food for kids thing is worthwhile, his training of young kids in the restaurants (15) is also a positive initiative. 

Ate at his restaurant in Cornwall, great food, loads of it, pretty good value. Cant say I've ever seen the condescending thing.

Hate all the Gordan Ramsey intimidation, same goes The Apprentice (though entertaining), Dragons Den.... all of which are based on the principle "Novice, without any guidance and under artificial pressure, makes hash of it on first attempt", well quelle surprise. All these ego based "successful businessmen" are turning people off entrepreneurship and giving very bad example to managment. As a book I'm reading so classicly said of the self-congratulatory books (grinning ego on the cover), they should all be entitled "If only you were me you'd be this successful". 

On a Nigella note, yer wan Catherine who does the Italian cooking on RTE nearly inspired me to revive the "Fancy anyone a bit leftfield" thread !


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