Join the Food Revolution

I know from Facebook that many people are following Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on ABC. I wonder why it took an Englishman to make us face up to childhood obesity and the unhealthy American fast food diet?

One startling realization in last night's episode was the lack of instruction in table manners American students receive. If schools are the great equalizer in our society, then everyone should learn proper use of fork, knife, and spoon. Not everyone is going to finishing school or taking ballroom dance lessons these days, giving rise to a growing movement for offering these social graces at school, especially in after school programs. It's very difficult to learn these manners, however, when students are reduced to using a spork as their only eating utensile. This signals a remarkable change in school cafeteria eating styles over the last forty years.

How can we join the food revolution? Having family meals together every night has been proven to increase student achievement in school. It also has other benefits, such as knowing what is going on with the children by conversing nightly. Not only can children learn how to properly use the fork, spoon and knife, they can also learn how to converse properly with others, not text during meals, and other social graces that can come in handy when applying for a job or interacting socially with future employers or in-laws. It's a life skill.

Another thing we can do is teach our children to cook. Kids love to cook, but grabbing a meal out with friends is so much easier. Face it, cooking is laborious and there is clean up afterwards. As in all endeavors, though, proper teaching simplifies things and brings more joy in improved skill. It's another life skill kids should learn.

To learn more, check out these websites. Jamie Oliver has lots of good ideas for recipes and "recipease", plus you can sign the food petition. I was kind of upset when the roller passes by Oklahoma...don't know if we don't have enough signed up to count yet or not. Sage Culinary Studio in Tulsa offers cookig lessons for children and teens.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution

http://www.sageculinarystudio.com/