Jamie Oliver

Our recent post on Jamie Oliver covered his acceptance speech for the prestigious TED prize.  The speech says volumes about Mr. Oliver and his dream.  Today we cover just a few of his achievements to date.  Let’s take a look at what motivates this young chef to help so many people.

James Trevor Oliver, born May 27 1975, was born into kitchen life.  His parents Essex pub (which you can visit today) was his playground and at age 16 he left school to attend Westminster Catering College.  After working several outstanding restaurants in England and the rest of Europe he was discovered by TV producer Pat Llewellyn and “The Naked Chef” was born.  The show was a hit.

Now a celebrity, he was asked by Tony Blair to become Britain’s ‘Food Tsar’, and approached by Nestle and Coca-Cola to endorse their products -- all declined in favor of loftier ambitions.  But he wasn’t waiting for a bigger deal.  He wanted to cook up his own destiny.  Jamie decided to instead create a new TV show and a charity.  The show, Jamie’s Kitchen, opened a new restaurant called Fifteen and a new commercial business with a purpose.  The shows premise was to follow the training of 15 disadvantaged youth in the field of catering.  The show was another hit, and there are now 4 Fifteen location: Amsterdam, Cornwall, London, and Melbourne.  The work continues to aid the youth in the employ of these restaurants under the arm of the Jamie Oliver Foundation, and profits feed their apprenticeships.

From here Jamie Oliver moved into a more public arena, launching into a new endeavor.  Creating a new show, Jamie’s School Dinners takes a step into the schoolyards of Greenwich Village to address childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes.  He simply showed how easily we could get the processed junk food out of schools and feed kids REAL food again.  The success of this show led to the acquisition of a 300,000 signature petition, numerous headlines and the eventual agreement of Tony Blair to allocated $1 Billon in government cash to equip and train Britain’s schools to wean themselves off of junk food.

Which brings us to the here and now.  www.jamieoliver.com averages about 70k hits per day from U.S. traffic alone. Americans have been watching his shows, reading his books and downloading recipes for years.  But what prompts this high profile Chef to care about us yanks?

Simple really.  Americans are sick.  And getting worse by the day.  ABC television has teamed up with Jamie and will be airing a show that they filmed in Huntington, WV.  At the time of shooting, Huntington was named “the unhealthiest city in America”.  Premiering Friday, March 29th at 8/9pm CST we’ll see first hand how this man is on a quest to eradicate obesity and help humanity reclaim it’s dignity and health.  I’ll be taking notes to see how he does it.  The resistance to change is powerful and everyone here in California has a tendency to announce our common defense:  It’s too expensive and too difficult to change.  Often we agree that something should be done.   But our fiscal crisis seems to always paralyze us.  So, how do we do it?

Community.  Local family support.  Parent volunteers.  Donations.  These are OUR kids.  Not the Federal Governments, or the States, or the School Districts.  We need to realize just how much power we have to change the system.  Once we get this epiphany, we need to ACT, and follow through.  We cannot rely on support from government.  There is just too much at stake.

Linda and I struggle with this every day.  Just like everyone else, todays food system has fueled a lifestyle on the run -- we are just as trapped by the simplicity of it, blinded by it.  We grew up straddling 2 worlds.  One foot in childhood memory of home-cooked meals and lunchboxes and cafeteria’s that had real kitchens, and the other foot in today’s food system:  One of fast, corporate junk food, extraneous packaging, and failed labeling.  And my opinion is that our generation, Jamie’s generation, is the only one that can stop it before the art of growing, cooking and eating whole food is a lost art.

I believe that food education, as Jamie puts it, does need to be brought back into the school system.  I also believe that growing food is an integral part of food education.  Creating a sustainable, local food system so that we feel empowered when it comes to nutrition, not shackled by cheap (or rather, expensive…) ‘food’.

Our 1st grader eats government issue twice a week.  He likes it.  Then again, it’s engineered to taste good.  So it’s not a shock.  For weeks we have been on a quest to bring a true, healthy lunch into his school.  It’s hard work.  But we have angels coming out of the woodwork, joining us along our journey.  We are gathering strength, ideas, and momentum!  And you realize you are on the right track when someone sends you the news that Jamie Oliver wins the TED prize -- and it’s right in line with our quest.

There are a lot of well-meaning people like us out there who are Certified Organic because we believe in what Organic was originally meant to portray.  Before we even went through the expense of organic certification, we were practicing organic principals. But now, an industry has been created to police what we naturally should be doing in the first place — growing and raising whole, healthy food in a humane way that is good for us and the planet.

Since the days of J.I. Rodale, Lady Eve Balfour, and Sir Albert Howard, we’ve come a long way—deviating from a path so simple, and turning it on its head.  Organic, as a way of life and a way of growing, was born out of an idea that we could not continue to deplete our natural resources and still produce healthy food.  That pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and monoculture were NOT the new and improved agriculture, but just shortcuts to profits for an industrial complex that wants us to consume, consume, consume.

So what happens when the term ‘Organic’ starts to take hold in the minds and hearts of millions of Americans (and the world)?  What is a giant food processor like Dean Foods, Kelloggs, or General Mills to do when this movement starts to slowly eat at their profits faster than you can gobble up a bag of Cheetos?  Well, they gobble up small farms and organic businesses, of course.  Acquisition.

I recently discoverd an article at The Cornucopia Institute that shows who owns what, and it’s changing all the time.  Dr. Phil Howard, an Assistant Professor at Michigan State, creates and updates his organic food business chart and tracks the big box corporations acquisitions of organic business, as well as our food chain overall.

Notice any familiar names?

The type is too small to read so here is a link to a PDF version.

In essence you are looking at a small snapshot of a much bigger picture of the ‘industry of organic’.  Not only is acquisition part of the process, but it is the deceptive pastoral image that is being sold to you. The notion that you are buying from a small, family farm business is all part of the game. Pictures of a farmhouse, an old lady with a pitchfork, cows walking gracefully through verdant, lush grasslands?  All part of the show folks.  But it is what’s behind the curtain that counts.

Do you notice any familiar names in the chart that end up in your shopping cart? Cascadian Farm, one of the founders of organic agriculture, is now owned by General Mills.  Horizon Milk – Dean Foods.  Bear Naked and Kashi – Kelloggs.  Odwalla…none other than Coca-Cola.

But these corporations have not just stopped at acquisition.  Since the USDA got involved a few years ago, and decided to turn the USDA ORGANIC label into a icon of superiority, these corporations have petitioned hard that certain ‘restricted’ elements be allowed under the label since they ‘can’t find a suitable substitute’.  I guess ‘organic’ things don’t hold up as well in a TV dinner.

And here’s a scathing little video that shows the utter failure of the Organic Certification process in arguably the largest purveyor of organic products:  Whole Foods.  Whole Foods supplies 175 stores nationwide with natural and organic products.  Unfortunately, these products and their certifiers are dubious at best.  Especially when items are coming from other countries such as China.

So, what can we do?

Buy Local
When I say buy local I mean really local.  Know your grower.  Even join a CSA.  Visit their farm, take the kids, work with them picking snap peas for a couple hours.  Shop at a farmers market nearby.  When you go there, ask the farmer where his farm is.  Sometimes farmers markets have vendors from over 100 miles away.  Depending on your taste, this might exceed your idea of ‘local’.

Grow Your Own
Even if it’s in a couple pots on the back porch, it’s really amazing how much food you can produce with a little water and a couple of bucks in seeds.  The kids love to get involved and it’s been shown that when they grow veggies, they are more likely to eat them. Since none of the states in our union are meeting the daily requirements of fruits and vegetables, and one of three of our children are obese due to the processed foods we are feeding them, it’s an easy way to educate them and introduce healthy produce into their diets.

Be Vigilant
Read labels.  Where is it from?  Is it 100% organic?  Made with some organic ingredients? Is it in season (if not, it’s probably coming from a country far away from the organic ideals)?  Don’t necessarily trust the pictures and graphics you see on the label?  If it looks too good to be true…it probably is.

Personally I would love to see a label and certification system for Locally Grown or Local.  A small badge that would, for instance, say “Locally Grown 25″ (meaning that it comes from within 25 miles of where you are purchasing it), etc.  Why the need for a badge?  I believe that the term ‘local’ is becoming the new ‘Organic’.

The not-so-distant future

My fear is that it’s already being abused.

If someone were to ask you what you thought local meant when it came to your food, most people would probably say within 100 miles or less.  The word local and locally grown is already being used in supermarkets across the U.S.  for food that is coming to one central distribution center supplied by several nearby states or even further.  It has no true definition. Local to your supermarket might even mean grown in the USA.  Most likely at a great (and unnecessary) distance.

Most importantly, we need to start realizing that we are dependent on a food chain that is connected by thousands of miles.  What if you were cut off from this source of food by a union strike or natural disaster?  What would you do?  How would you feed your family when everyone around you, thousands of people, are all cut off and seeking food as well?

Do you think I’m crazy? Check out my Transition Town post from a year ago for a reality check!

Chef, writer, blogger, speaker, activist, and TV’s ‘Naked Chef’…these are just a handful of the things Jamie has done over the years, but it’s his passion for changing the way we eat that has captivated us here at EcoFare.

Jamie Oliver has tackled childhood obesity head on.  As a small ‘mom and pop’ shop, Linda and I need someone with his verve to lift us up and encourage us to continue our own quest to educate our youth about gardening and where whole, real food comes from.  His passion is contagious.  If you weren’t a believer in an inevitable food revolution, he will make you see the light.

Last week Jamie won the prestigious TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference award of $100,000 for his campaign to fight childhood obesity.  So, sit back, take 20 min to watch his TED acceptance speech and then decide how YOU want to make a change -- and start by heading over to Jamie’s website to sign his Food Revolution Petition.

Smart Program, or Corporate Greed?

Smart Choices.  We all need to make them every day.  If I am not smart enough to look both ways before crossing a street, I could be hit by an 18-wheeler (probably loaded with processed food).  Thus, I have developed the habit of looking first.  I was taught this at an early age by older authority figures who thought it was a good idea to preserve my life by showing me this Smart Choice – it is a choice of course. I could choose not to look.  I could just take into account that there is a slim mathematical chance that I can make it across an expressway if I just charge ahead without looking.  But some advice is invaluable.  Take for instance the Smart Choice Program.  Corporate food giants have recently joined forces because they are afraid that all of us, the consumers, have gotten some dangerous ideas about what healthy food really is.

So, thank goodness that there is a new website out there that offers us a searchable database for making ‘smart choices’ when it comes to diet.  With a badge that displays their mission of ‘…building healthy habits for the long term’.  Really?  Take a closer look and you will think twice.  The Smart Choices Program was developed by an alliance of over a dozen giant food conglomerates and some industry “experts”. They devised a new nutrition labeling program meant to help consumers make “smarter food and beverage choices.”

Critical to building disease, obesity and dependence

So, give it a shot.  Try doing a search on breakfast cereal.  You get results like Froot Loops®, Keebler Cookie Crunch® and Lucky Charms®.

And this label is appearing all over your local grocery as I write this.  What has the FDA and USDA done about it?   Nothing.

If you see this label, know it for what it is – an outright affront to your intelligence and a personal attack on you and your families health by some of the largest and greediest corporations on the planet.  If you want to do something about it, head to Food Democracy Now! to sign a petition to have this travesty addressed.  Without your help, labeling and deceptive marketing will continue to dominate our landscape.  Help us fight back.

Just 12 years ago a survey showed that the average age of Farmers was 54.6. The link between this statistic and our ever-shrinking local food system and small, family farm operations cannot be ignored.  Perhaps this article is another inclination that the public’s view of Farmers being a second-class citizens deserving of little or no repute (or respect) is shrinking rapidly.  In a world where food supply cannot keep up with population growth, this is a frightening statistic.

Hat’s off to these brave young men and women.

Everthing that is left over from this batch will go to a local CSA

The tomatoes are really tasty, too.  Combined with the jalapenos that I grew I made some amazing salsa and plan on making more.

So far the garden has cost us about $400 in materials and water (mostly water).  We have consumed at least 400 lbs of produce between my family and our friends Michael and Lisa, who also have two young boys.  If I just break even this year I’ll be very happy, especially when I think that so much healthy food was eaten by us straight out of our organic garden rather than purchased at a grocery store.

Although we grew many other things, the tomatoes were really the only ‘cash crop’ we grew.  Everything else was just for our own consumption.

Another first for us was growing dried beans – a fantastic source of protein, bean soups are one of my favorites to make for the family.  We have a fantastic buckeye bean that I have yet to cook, but I will post that experience and a recipe when I do.

Dating back to 1967 when Alan Chadwick broke ground on the campus for what would be it’s 25 acre living, breathing nucleus of sustainability and organic gardening, it has endured and to this day.  Countless apprentices have come for decades to eat, drink, and even dream sustainabilty.  And I do mean dream.  During these years an apprentice in the program was expected to sleep on the farm.  Beginning as teepees, then as tents, students lived on the Earth that they cultivated, rising with the sun to work, and embracing it again at days end.  But this Summer, that is all about to change.

This Summer session marks the end of the tents.  No longer will the apprentice program be under the stars.  Housing will have to be made available.  And to make enough money to support the new roof over their dreams they have embarked on raising $250,000 in the effort.  With only $25,000 remaining, it couldn’t come too soon.

So this is a shout out to all of those who follow the path of sustainability and all those that are to come!  And if you would like to help them achieve their goal, please visit www.growafarmer.org

But long before I was certified, I was organic.  I never used pesticides or herbicides.  And I wasn’t even growing edibles.  I just had a clear understanding that my nursery would have as litle environmental impact as possible, even after my plants left for a new home.   This became one of the key missions of Surf City Growers, Inc. But there came a day when we felt that our word was just not enough—that being certified would make all the difference to our customers. Or would it?

One of the strongest reasons, we found, for people to buy our stock had more to do with the fact that we were local than whether or not we were organic.  This was especially true for ornamentals, which made up the majority of what we grow.  People didn’t seem to care whether or not the plants they put in their gardens were organic or not.  On more than one occasion, people would ask me, “Why are you organic?”

The simplest answer goes straight back to our mission that I spoke of before.  Most people seem to think that if it’s not going in their mouth, why care?  Well, environmental awareness doesn’t need to come to a screeching halt at the gas pump or produce section of your grocery store.  Regardless of what we do, it enters the food chain (which we as humans are obviously a link), and eventually, right back to us.

When it comes to food, organic has made a huge surge in popularity.  Although organic is still only 3% of total food sales in the U.S., it’s a rapidly growing market.  Organic food sales increased from $3.6 billion in 1997 to $21.1 billion in 2008. Sales of organic foods increased annually between 12 and 21 percent during this period as well (Nutrition Business Journal, 2008).  Produce and Milk account for approximately half of these numbers.  So when trends like these catch the eye of Big Box business, you are sure that they will capitalize:  Corporate giants like General Mills, Kellogg’s, and Dean Foods either acquire smaller, more successful organic producers, or find ways to inject their own organic products into the marketplace.  Grocery chains also create their own organic labels to compete.  These larger companies are what keep ‘organic’ on the shelves of Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco.  And with supply so low (organic producers are way behind this rapidly growing demand) these companies are searching abroad to meet the needs of the marketplace.

But now a new panic is setting in for these corporations.  It’s something so insidious that they will probably find a way to crush it underfoot if at all possible:  Local. But what is ‘locally grown’?  Grocery chains have locally grown labeling programs that might include multi-state handlers and producers.  People might not realize this, since most consumers consider local products as being produced much closer to home—in their State, within 100 miles of their community (Natural Foods Merchandiser, 2008).  This also illustrates why farmers markets have grown in popularity.

People want to keep their money spent on goods and services within their communities.  It’s a growing phenomenon that has the big guys in a tizzie.  So is locally grown a complement or competion?  It depends on what side of the table you are sitting.  Local and State infrastructures would benefit for obvious reasons.   And since ‘locally grown’ is a loose term, it could mean anything:  Within 50 miles, within the state, or even within the borders of our country; there’s no set definition for using ‘locally grown’ in comparison to using ‘organic’.  No certification is necessary.  So what you might think is not impacting the environment or helping your community might be coming from hundreds of energy miles away and benefitting another community altogether.

So my question is this; Is ‘Locally Grown’ going to fall the way of ‘Natural’?  Do we need to somehow define, even certify, what constitutes local?

Or when you pick up that tomato should you just ask where it came from?

Trent McNair

If you have been following along, Linda and I have been doing a 5-day vegan cleanse.  Previous journal entries can be found here, here (day 1),  and here (day 3).   Unfortunately, you are missing some entries from myself due to the fact that I had to leave the realm of cyberspace to attend a funeral with family.   But this is a normal thing in our daily lives; speed bumps due to schedules, emergencies, and travel are all factors that affect anyones diet.  Luckily I saw the trip coming and was able to prepare myself for it with the food I would need for the 2 day trip (thank you Linda for all your hard work in the kitchen!).

Preparation for each meal is probably the one big drawback here.  It takes an exhorbitant amount of time to prep your meals.  Unless you don’t mind the monotony of sticking to 2 or 3 dishes, this will take up time.  We spent probably an average of 2 hours a day prepping and cleaning.  No joke.  If you are just starting out on your endeavor, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to do this.

So, the big question; did I stick to it?  I did!  And how I felt as the days progressed was a marked difference to how I felt normally.  I would wake up refreshed when I usually awakened tired.  Coffee had been eliminated from my mornings but it really wasn’t the needed crutch to getting my day started like it used to be.  This alone was something of a shock.  For those of you who think that they need a cup of coffee to get through the day, I say you are wrong.  It’s really not that big of a deal, and if you are like me and drank coffee throughout the day, you are going to find that you  feel energy and clarity that you thought could only come from a hot cup ‘o joe (which in my case was a short-lived sensation because I drank so much coffee).

I also lost over 6 pounds in those 5 days!

Conclusions
For me, there are so many pros to a cleanse like this.  I feel better.  Linda and family say that my skin looks better.  I lost weight, most of it probably loaded with the toxins I accumulated over 40 years of abuse.  My mental clarity and energy have returned to levels I vaguely remember having 20 years ago.  And most importantly, I realized a level of willpower that I didn’t realize that I had.  At Day 4 I really wanted to throw in the towel and join my family in heaping plates of lasagna and garlic bread soaked in butter, but I didn’t.  And I didn’t die.  It was ok.  And it made me feel so awesome to say no to these urges, despite how hard it was at times.

I broke my cleanse about 14 hours early since we had company come over Friday afternoon.  I BBQ’d chicken and Linda made a delicious whole wheat pasta salad with a vinaigrette dressing.  Afterwards we made a small bonfire and had smores and coffee.  And I felt like a bag of hammered crap afterwards.  I had tons of gas, bloating and overall complete lethargy.  And the cup of coffee (sweetened with agave nectar instead of refined sugar), kept me up until 2 a.m. 

So now, Linda and I are making new adjustments to our menu – discussing ways to only eat local, sustainable meats on less nights per week, and sticking to a high fiber natural vegetable diet in all of our other meals.  Who knows, I might find that I begin to eliminate meats altogether!  I’ve decided to only drink one cup of coffee per day, and stop eating dairy as much as possible. 

So that leads to my next journey;  How hard is it to find local, sustainable meats?  Stay tuned!

Trent McNair

Trent’s Day 1 Experience:
Although I didn’t start this project, I am starting todays journal post about our first 5-day cleanse.  I think it will be nice for people to see both of our pespectives on the journey.
As a man, what should I expect?  Food for both of us is a central part of our lives and Linda and I are not immune to the bad habits that most of us encounter each and every day.  I come from a family where butter, fat, and grease were considered a food group (maybe our main one).  My tastes for food revolve around it.  Like so many men out there I would pass on the fresh salad for the burger and fries.  Meat is a large part of my diet.  But blindly continuing to eat meat without knowing the process that it took to get to my plate has shaken my kitchen to it’s core.  More and more I have learned that this process is making me sick.  Sapping my energy and even affecting my mental acuity.  Overeating is also a problem of mine.  My appearance is deceptive, but I do carry some extra weight and a cholesterol level that is alarming.  At 40 years old, I am starting to feel the effects of a diet that might have been okay as a teenager, but at my age has made me feel lethargic as my day progresses.  For me, this experiment is as much about feeling better as it is about looking better.
So…day one.  I’m almost through it.  Feeling very tired, but my dinner has me satisfied (the sushi was REALLY good).  I ate slowly and savored every bite.  I think my sense of fullness comes from the fact that my stomach had probably shrunk to the size of a walnut by the time I ate dinner.  Tea, lemon-water, and blanched spinach for lunch.  Breakfast was a hearty, heaping cup of some kind of pureed fuit and veggie combo that Linda set in front of me with the biggest cheshire grin I have ever seen.  It might sound like I am complaining a lot, but the experience hasn’t been so bad, and I am proud to have gotten through the first day with only the mildest discomfort.
I am worried about Wednesday and Thrusday (that will be Day 3 & Day 4) because I will have to leave the support of my wife behind to attend my Grandmothers funeral several hours away with my family…and they WILL be eating.  Oh, yes, they will…

Linda McNair

Linda’s Day 1 Experience:
I felt deprived all day until now. Dinner was great (homemade sushi!) and I feel satisfied. But I have to admit, today was really tough. Sometimes I felt deprived because I was HUNGRY, but most of the time it was the lack of drinking my favorite friend, coffee.

Coffee at any time of the day would bring comfort into my life. It’s a taste that always brings me pleasure, and tea just doesn’t cut it. But I’m happy to report, I made it through the entire day without a cup of coffee, dairy products or meat! I feel VICTORIOUS!

The one thing I have to say is that these cleanses are not for busy people. The shopping and planning took a lot of time, which I expected, but the prep, cooking and clean up is very time consuming. Fine for 5 days, not forever. But it has shed light on how much we rely on convenience food. And now it’s even more clear why we have a national health crisis.

Besides the hunger pangs and the coffee withdrawals, I feel rather good. I was calmer all day. Things seemed to flow easier. I can already see that the next four days will be monumental in how I look at food and drinks. Put it this way: Weight Watchers is a piece of cake.

My diet growing up was nowhere near as artery clogging as Trent’s, but carbs, wine, cheese, coffee and meat are staples. Interestingly, the only thing I’m missing today was my big cup of java — cream and sugar please. I will replace sugar with agave nectar when this is all over, but the coffee will return. Perhaps just two cups a day, though. I swear…