https://www.jamieoliver.com/features/jamies-plan-to-tackle-childhood-obesity/
Greece is a country which is famous for its Mediterranean cuisine, but never before had I realised that this was actually a blessing given to me. The realisation came after I came across an episode of Jamie Oliver's "ministry of food". I coudn't believe my eyes when I saw that most of the British kids' diet consisted of burgers, chicken nuggets, pizzas, chips and other junk food stuff. They were exposed to this kind of food on a daily basis and when offered fresh food by Jamie they rejected it with expressions of revulsion on their faces.
After Jamie's hard effort to persuade parents and teachers that kids were in need of fresh food, a number of them agreed to be taught how to cook healthy food using some simple steps. They in turn, would have to teach several other people who would in turn teach others and so on and so forth.
Not all people embraced the idea with eagerness. However, those ones who tried it reported that the behaviour of their children together with their school performance were very much improved and that was due to the change of their eating habits.
After his very successful “ministry of food” in the UK, Jamie Oliver was determined to go further and decided to change the Americans’ bad nutritional habits by organising a “food revolution”. As a starting point he chose a school in Huntington, Virginia. The picture there was daunting. There were kids who didn't even know what a potato or a tomato looked like.
The obstacles Jamie had to overcome were greater than the ones in the UK. However, once again, he managed to get his message across and make people realise that "we are what we eat". A healthy diet is the key to a healthy life.
I just hope there were more people out there like Jamie. He was a true inspiration and we as educators should make sure that Jamie's voice be heard. After all, education is not only teaching grammar and vocabulary...
Read more about his efforts here:
Watch a video here:
