Jamie Oliver: this hero worship is just bizarre
Jamie Oliver is campaigning to improve school meals. They're crap, and it's about time they were sorted out. But the reaction to this has been to anoint him as some kind of mockney messiah. Take this from the Telegraph today:
"It is about one decent man's heroic battle against an uncaring, bureaucratic system; about the exploitation of dinner ladies and everybody else who has to struggle away on the front line in a country which no longer values leadership, principles and standards; about the corruption of childhood; and the loss of virtue."
Telegraph | Opinion | Outside the Westminster village, heroes struggle to make Britain better
Good grief! If only George Trefgarne were alone in his opinion. Here's Janice Turner in the Times:
"As celebrities start to invade the political process, either politicians will have to use the strategies of reality TV both to show their humanity and to drive their agenda. Or celebrities are going to start standing for political office: suddenly President Reagan and Arnie “The Governator” Schwarzenegger don’t seem so risible. Because while Tony Blair and Michael Howard grub around for women’s votes, Jamie Oliver already has our hearts."
If you want to change your life, vote for Jamie not Tony, 19 March 2005
This only reflects the low esteem in which our leaders are held. As Trefgarne notes, these little to choose between Tories and Labour, so all we get is personal, negative wrangling. But, unlike Jamie Oliver, when Tony Blair makes statements which overegg his case, he is accountable for them. Hardly anyone has pulled Jamie Oliver up for his egregious errors.
Hard to swallow, spiked, 18 March 2005
3 Comments:
Jeez geez, why are you so in favour of processed food? Listen, they spend enough each year, on the likes of C4, to more than counter any adverse press they may get from one programme!
Do you really have a problem with kids eating what amounts to meat + veg cooked fairly simply every day as against big macs etc?
Where is your logic?
I agree with Robert, lets sit around and treat people who use their fortunate celebrity status to try and improve the lives of unhealthy children with derision and that uniquely British "Heat Magazine Editor" style sense of humour, in fact lets ignore him shall we?
what's tnuc backwards Rob?
For the record, our children have never been healthier. I'm all in favour of eating more interesting food - and our kids should get that opportunity too. And we should be paternalistic and tell kids what is good for them. However, our diets, despite the rubbish that is often spouted, are actually better than they've ever been. A bit of historical perspective wouldn't go amiss.
But I am interested in the question: What is processed food?
Unless you're a macrobiotic fruitarian, you'll be processing food in one way or another. Most food is better peeled, mashed, sliced, peeled and/or cooked, both nutritionally and in terms of pleasure. So, in one respect, pretty much all food is processed.
So, presumably, what everybody means by 'processed' is 'industrially processed'. But people aren't usually rude about, say, baked beans, which are clearly highly nutritious and popular. So, it's easy enough to produce food on a mass scale that is both nutritious and tastes good.
So, 'processed food' presumably means things like Turkey Dinosaurs. But taking the less attractive portions of meat from an animal, mincing them all up and representing them is an age-old tradition which promotes efficiency and is fine, nutritionally speaking - from haggis, through meat pies, to fish fingers.
What people really mean by processed food is 'stuff you just heat up'. And that's a moral category, not one based on food quality or healthiness. It assumes an obsession with health is the proper attitude and those who don't fret in this manner, those dreadful oiks on the council estates, are just scum.
It is possible to eat an unhealthy diet - but it's pretty difficult. As long as you don't completely avoid fruit and vegetables, and eat plenty of meat and dairy products (by far the most nutritious things you can eat), - and don't eat considerably too little or too much - you'll be fine.
In fact, I would argue that mass producing good complete meals is a damn sight more efficient than people slaving over hot cookers on an individual basis.
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