Jamie Oliver's 'Food Revolution' Premiere Recap

Aw shucks. Jamie Oliver's much awaited Food Revolution LA-style sure got off to a rough start. Especially for a guy armed with a simple question: Why can't we do better when it comes to school lunches for our kids?

Before the show even gets underway, Jamie lets us in on a big problem -- the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has refused to give him access to schools. He's been denied.

"They will not let me into any school," says Oliver. "That means war."

Read the whole story

Comments

[kettler]

12:44 PM on 04/18/2011

I think we need to rephrase the problem. LAUSD is not feeding children for 77 cents per meal. They are POISONING children for 77 cents per meal and it should be criminal.

[MochasMom]

12:46 PM on 04/16/2011

Those school "lunches" the parents brought into to show Jamie were horrifying. Is it any wonder there is an obesity epidemic, yet some people just can't undesrtand why....

And thank GOD the government of Canada does not allow ammonia to be used in food processing. I am so grateful to live in a country whose government actually regulates what food processors are permitted to do. I will never eat ground beef in the United States again.

[mikala]

05:56 PM on 04/14/2011

Why are so many Americans afraid of the truth no matter what it is about?

[Yorksgal]

05:01 PM on 04/14/2011

Jamie has good intentions. If anyone has read his Revolution cook-book he explains he tried this in England and had a bad start with parents not wanting their children to eat healthier. But he persevered and won them over, even getting them to try out recipes.

If Jamie can get one family to think about what they are eating and that family pass on what they have learned, and so on - then the program will have been well worth it.

[Hopethisworks]

03:57 PM on 04/14/2011

The part about the processed pink slime that they put in so called food was disgusting.

[I-am-correct]

02:12 PM on 04/14/2011

Great intentions in the show. Most useful reality show on tv..BUT... it's all staged folks.

[cccoyote]

03:12 AM on 04/14/2011

Disappointing to see how few turned out form the sugar bus demo.

Parents cannot look at a mere two ingredients (beef and sugar) of school diets and deduce why health issues and obesity are on the rise.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_Products

The product, "Lean Finely Textured Beef", is a derivative of fatty beef trimmings which are warmed and put through a centrifuge to remove fat and treated with ammonia to ki !! bacteria when a pH of 10 is reached.

Beef Products Inc. is a major supplier to McDonald's, Burger King and the School Lunch Program

[cavegal]

08:36 AM on 04/14/2011

Yep, most people aren't too concerned with what they are eating!!

[Donna Cosimano]

01:37 AM on 04/14/2011

I SAW the Sugar bus! Amazing - and disgusting. And for me; a sense of shame. I practically Live on hard candies; from stopping smoking & no teeth. I need a Veg O Matic to make my own V8, with minimal salt.

Keep Soldiering On, Jamie!

[cyoohoos]

05:18 AM on 04/14/2011

Gotta fan that

[lotusgirl]

09:25 AM on 04/14/2011

I recommend a VitaMix. I have one and use it all the time. It's expensive, but they never break down. I've known people who owned them for 10+ years with almost daily use. It's worth the investment!

[Chuck Bluestein]

11:27 PM on 04/13/2011

Jamie was trying to create an alternative to the store's milkshake without using ice cream. But health food stores have healthy ice creams that are made with healthy sweeteners and coconut or soymilk instead of milk. They would taste very similar to a milkshake. Also the Boca burgers have no real meat but in Texas, people thought that they were real burgers. I got one in a resteraunt and I had to questiion them and see if they gave me a real meat burger by mistake. Maybe Jamie is just trying to make these things from scratch, but it is not working that well.

[kylesgrandma]

09:32 PM on 04/13/2011

As Oprah so famosly stated. I will never eat ground beef again, unless I grind it myself.

[Pleroma]

08:05 PM on 04/13/2011

Worse than West Virginia. But larger money streams to be corrupted.

[KevinFitzz]

06:24 PM on 04/13/2011

For my birthday today, my wife took me to Rudy's Hideaway in Folsom for fresh dungeness crab. Yowie is it ever good. And me wifey too.

[O K Ali]

05:47 PM on 04/13/2011

I couldn't wait for the second season to start, if only to learn healthier ways of making the foods I love. Poor Jamie didn't realize the uphill climb he was in for. I bet the people in Huntington are whopping it up when he paid them those compliments.

[baxtron]

03:32 PM on 04/13/2011

Missed 1st episode. British and West Virginia show were awesome. The cost is available for the schools to purchase govt cheese. They have chosen to go with cheese powder.

[nps ca]

03:15 PM on 04/13/2011

I understand LAUSD didn't want to do this as they budget 77 cents for meals, but come on, there are suppliers in the LA area who would partner with LAUSD with outside pressure (e.g. Jamie) to cut prices on some key ingredients and stretch the 77cents further. Refusing to even engage with him doesn't even bring that option. School lunches are terrible nationwide; LAUSD should be willing to at least engage and be FIRM on the "we have 77 cents to work with - and that's it - help us"...

[lotusgirl]

09:27 AM on 04/14/2011

The cost tells us what we value, doesn't it? I wonder how much is spent on the meals for prisoners?