Mmm... muckraking

April 28, 2005

The NY Times last week profiled celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, his campaign to reform school lunches in Britain and the television program about the campaign: Look Who's in the School Kitchen, Dishing Out Advice.

Based on Jeremy's recommendation, I also went out and found torrents to download the series, Jamie's School Dinners. While I have yet to watch through the entire series, what I have seen is certainly interesting, with a clearly defined goal, cohesive narrative structure and developing characters.

While the British are not particularly well-known for their culinary feats, the descent away from nutrition is a major problem in America, too. While the muckraking Super-Size Me and Fast Food Nation have brought the issue of fast food and nutrition to the public consciousness, neither Spurlock or Schlosser were in a position to do more than point out the problem. Oliver has worked to make British children eat healthier diets.

The Guardian: Cool dinners: "Jamie Oliver was so appalled by the state of school lunches that he decided to sort them out.… It's not easy providing pukka tucker for 37p a head."

eGullet: jamies dinners

Related: Market Failure on the Long Tail, New Food Pyramid Unveiled. Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and POlicy.