If you haven't seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, I recommend you take a peek. There is no streaming TV in my house, but thankfully you can watch it the next day on hulu.
Last year, Jamie took on the processed food and obesity crisis in Huntington, WV (my mother-in-law's hometown) both in the community and the school lunch program. His mission is to get real, non-processed food into every home and school in America. This year he's taking on L.A, though to even more resistance than last year.
The two things that stood out to me:
1. His demonstration on Pink Slime, an additive/filler in most ground meat products in the U.S. that used to be used solely in pet food but then they figured out how to wash it in AMMONIA and serve it to humans. The truly crazy thing is that they don't have to label the use of the product, or even the ammonia. the FDA has declared it a process, not an ingredient. It makes me glad I haven't bought ground beef in quite a while.
2. Jamie, in an effort to healthy-up a fast food restaurant decided to try to replace the ice cream in the milkshake with greek yogurt. The owner said it was a wonderfully tasty smoothie, but that you can't call it a milkshake. Here's the thing: I kind of agree. Now, I would disagree with the fast food owner in that I see nothing wrong with replacing the milkshake with the smoothie, especially if its tasty and comes in classic milkshake flavors, but it's NOT a milkshake without ice cream. In the same way, Miracle Whip is NOT Mayonnaise and if you replace the butter in a hollandaise sauce, it's just not hollandaise anymore. I don't think Jamie would be doing anyone any favors by refusing to call a spade a spade. Just like i think Mrs. Seinfeld's hiding veggies cookbook doesn't do us any favors. Because, if the "milkshake" at Jamie's place is OK, then all milkshakes are OK, right? I think we'd do better to just teach an appreciation of veggies and healthy eating habits, than hiding wholesome foods like they're something to be afraid of.
Yeah, I agree with you on the pretending issue. I get my husband to eat spinach by breaking it in tiny pieces and making a salad with raisins and sunflower seeds on top . . . but he knows it's spinach. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnd, guess I'll have to read more about this pink slime thing!