Challenging a fast-food culture

 
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As celebrity chef Jamie Oliver returns with Return to School Dinners, this appears to be a pertinent time to return to the original series Jamie’s School Dinners which caused a nationwide re-think over school dinners. The four-episode documentary series starts with Jamie at Kidbrooke School, Greenwich (the first comprehensive school in the UK), whilst looking to influence policy at a higher level. When first broadcast it led to the national ‘Feed Me Better’ campaign. Jamie, disgusted by the ‘piles of processed junk’ children were eating, demonstrates a passion for improving the quality and nutritional value of school dinners across the UK. After the Second World War there has been recognisable devolvement of responsibility – and reduction in funds – for school dinners, leading to a focus on cost-cutting speed and convenience rather than on quality food. This series follows Jamie’s dream for a ‘better, cooler, cleverer, healthier nation’.

In the first episode in the initial series, Jamie identifies a number of problems which need addressing: the lack of nutritionally balanced food (where the only vegetable on display is a small tub of peas which can’t be given away); the limited funds of 37p per child (contrasted with Jamie feeding his daughters organic chicken and vegetables at roughly £3.50 each); the lack of time, equipment and training for school dinner ladies; and the lack of nutritional awareness of the children and their families who want burger and chips. The return series also focuses on the loss of school kitchens in the Thatcher era.

Jamie’s first task is to help the school dinner ladies with their current meal preparation – essentially box opening. He carries out a scientific analysis of the typical contents of a school dinner – low on nutrition, high on additives – using an effective visual style to demonstrate how it affects the schoolchildren’s concentration, immunity and general health. Jamie then takes over the kitchen, causing anxiety amongst the dinner ladies as they come to terms with the changes and increased workload. Jamie himself tries to create recipes within the budget of 37p per head (as any overspend has to come from other funds within the school), but this takes him outside his comfort zone. He’s more used to creating a recipe then pricing it; lacking inspiration, he compares himself to David Beckham trying to play football in sandals. We see a humbled Jamie, more used to being in demand, and his disappointment as the children ignore his meals, put off by the too-visible vegetables and going for the familiar.

In the second episode, deciding that children need to be reached earlier, Jamie visits a Durham primary school (statistically the unhealthiest county) where he starts his now famous tirade against the ‘turkey twizzler’. Companies providing the food claim that, ‘we’re just giving them what they want’, but Jamie argues that we often don’t know what is best for us and need guidance. The children are far more familiar with fast-food branding than with basic vegetables, and their lunch boxes are full of chocolate – so it’s clear that the parents need re-educating as much as the children. Jamie experiments with a number of formats to encourage the children to try new foods: using a reward system, dressing up as sweetcorn, writing a song, and getting the children involved in choosing and cooking their own food.

In the third episode, despite despair that 80% of the children in his initial school are refusing his food, Jamie decides that he needs to make the whole story more newsworthy by taking over the Borough’s kitchens. He organises a culinary boot camp for the school dinner ladies – although at many points this appears to be flying in the face of disaster as parents allow their children to withdraw from school meals, providing them with unhealthy packed lunches or passing takeaways through the school fences. A few months later, most are now taking school dinners. But Jamie is determined to catch the minority, as the ones who are most resistant to the message are most likely to become obese. In the fourth episode Jamie comes up with his ‘Feed me Better’ campaign – a plan to include food awareness in every subject. He uses shock tactics to scare the children by demonstrating what goes into processed food, and he clearly impresses Charles Clarke, the then Education Minister, who professes ‘100% commitment’ to Jamie’s campaign. Two days later, however, Ruth Kelly takes over from Clarke and the commitment disappears.

At the end of the series Jamie set up a petition which received 271,000 signatures within a short space of time, and Tony Blair promised £280 million to help fund improvements. In the return series Jamie meets Alan Johnson (the most recent Education Minister) and Blair, who congratulates Jamie on making good arguments and promises further monies.

Following the success of the series and the ensuing public debate, many people have changed their attitude to nutrition and healthy eating – for home meals as well as school dinners. Other campaigns in regards to school dinners were already ongoing by various nutritional bodies and charities, but the 'Jamie Oliver effect' took this to another level. Celebrity, usually used to sell expensive goods, is here used for the benefit of humanity. Noticeably, Jamie (who is working within his area of expertise), rather than the food, is introduced to the children. Following the success of the campaign, Jamie was named 'Most Inspiring Political Figure of 2005' in the Channel 4 Political Awards. The series also made a star of Nora the dinner lady, who is now making 'celebrity appearances'. In return series, Jamie notes that this is 'not the Jamie Oliver show' – others need to get involved at every level as he has a family to look after – but he also promises Nora that he will not give up his involvement in the campaign.

The BBC has described Jamie Oliver as 'evangelical' in his campaign, and he has truly demonstrated passion and conviction in everything he does (not just says). Jamie has never made any pretence that he is inspired by Christian ideals, but we can learn much from him. Some biblical parallels are obvious – as in Daniel 1:12-13 when Daniel negotiated with the official in charge to give them a healthy diet of vegetables and water. Ten days later they looked healthier and better nourished than those on the King's diet of rich foods and wines. As God's creation, we should be taking on board the messages surrounding Jamie's campaign as we are called to have respect for the body that God gave us. As 3 John 2 indicates, God is concerned for both out spiritual and physical health. We should not neglect or indulge our physical needs but discipline the body so that it's fit for God's service. We can also learn much from Jamie's approach and commitment. Although uncomfortable, fearful and out of his depth, in both the series Fifteen and Jamie's School Dinners, he has gone ahead anyway – even taking risks such as re-mortgaging his house for the series Fifteen. It is clear that pursuing this campaign has not been a bed of roses for Jamie Oliver, his family, the dinner ladies, school heads or the pupils, but the campaign has continued. However hard life is, “God . . . knows what you have done; he will judge your actions” (1 Samuel 2:3, NLT).

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