What happens when you bake 80 pounds sliced carrots, 2 quarts honey, 2.5 pounds butter, 2 cups lemon juice, salt and pepper? “Honey carrot coins” for 450 student lunches! Add to that fruit, some roast chicken and a whole wheat roll, and you have a typical “Jamie Oliver lunch” in Huntington, W.Va. Oliver’s television series, “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” reached a successful conclusion last week when private funding allowed every school to provide freshly made, healthy foods at lunch instead of fatty, highly processed foods.
But reality is more complicated than the fairy-tale ending we all hoped for. When Oliver returned several months later, the backlog of unused frozen pizza and chicken nuggets had led Huntington schools to relax the menu each Friday, and next year’s food order included these inexpensive, processed alternatives. The sugary, flavored milk choices were back. Some parents were packing Lunchables and other junk food for children who wanted to brown-bag it rather than eat carrot coins and fresh fruit.
Huntington’s April school lunch menu, available online, shows “junk food Fridays” still in evidence, and an alternative to “Jamie Oliver’s lunch” every day of the week. So Oliver didn’t so much revolutionize the menu as create a “separate but equal” lunch option. But if you look carefully at what is being offered students who do not choose Oliver’s lunch menu, you’ll see subtle improvements — all rolls are whole-wheat, and fresh fruit is prominent. In three weeks of menus, chicken nuggets and fish sticks appear only one time each.
What kids are reading
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre and data from booksellers. Information on the books below came from Amazon.com’s list of children’s best-sellers.
Children’s books on fruits
1. I Eat Fruit! Revised edition by Hannah Tofts (baby to preschool)
2. Tall and Tasty: Fruit Trees by Meredith Sayles Hughes (ages 9 to 12)
3. Fruits (Eat Smart) by Louise Spilsbury (ages 9 to 12)
4. Fruits Are Fun (What Should I Eat) by Amanda Rondeau (ages 4 to 8)
5. Why Do I Need To Eat Fruits & Veggies? by Johanna Pomeroy-Crockett, Carol Stern and Haris Ichwan (ages 4 to 8)
6. Cool As a Cucumber, Hot As a Pepper: Fruit Vegetables by Meredith Sayles Hughes (ages 9 to 12)
7. Yes, We Have Bananas: Fruits from Shrubs & Vines by Meredith Sayles Hughes (ages 9 to 12)
8. I Can Eat a Rainbow by Annabel Karmel (board book, baby to preschool)
Before I claim that the entire Huntington lunch menu has been upgraded, however, I should add that the nutritional analysis of each option, which should be accessible online, leads to “page not available.” It’s hard to judge the difference between Oliver’s spaghetti and meat sauce, and the “regular” lunch equivalent. What is absolutely clear, however, is that Oliver has done everything in his power to change the way children eat lunch in Britain and in the United States. He has spent the last five years fighting school bureaucracies and budgets in the U.K., and has just announced that he will donate his own millions to make sure 5 percent of all British elementary schools offer only fresh, unadulterated food.
He acquired the funding to convert Huntington schools, but they have to carry his initiative forward. He has created 29 easy-to-prepare recipes, available online (jamiesfoodrevolution.com), so that food service workers can serve 450 children a variety of tasty, healthy foods. The carrot recipe is one, and his “Beefy Nachos” contain the loving touches we would add ourselves: onions, cinnamon, cumin, chili powder, lettuce and two cheeses, added to 45 pounds of ground beef and 5 pounds of tortilla chips.
Compare his “Creamy Ranch Dressing” to the chemical-laden bottle in your refrigerator: nonfat yogurt, buttermilk, mayonnaise, mustard, spices, and only one half cup sugar for a 6 1/2 quart recipe (only 2 percent sugar).
Oliver has given us the tools to make change in our communities. Check out his online recipes, sign his petition and buy his “Food Revolution” cookbook. What began as “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” is now our revolution to embrace, at both school and home.
Erica Jacobs, whose column appears Wednesday, teaches at George Mason University. E-mail her at [email protected].
