Extraordinary Health Magazine EH Magazine VOl 32 | Page 22

“We are campaigning to reduce
consumption of sugary drinks, make
it easier to buy healthier foods, protect
children from junk food marketing,
provide clearer labeling, and empower
children and adults through food
education,” said Jamie, who believes
governments and businesses should
implement changes in policies and
practices to that end. “In America and
England where we have some of the
unhealthiest kids on the planet, the point
of education should also be teaching kids
to think for themselves, problem solve and
to be employable, which are all important
life skills.”
There is nothing more beautiful than kids
cooking. Becoming a chef is one of the best
jobs because you just have to be good at what
you do, turn up and be a pleasure to be
around,” he said. “As a cook, you never have
to be unemployed, plus you could get to travel
and see things you could never dream up.
In many other cultures, clean eating has
been a way of life for generations, as Jamie
saw traveling around Italy and cooking
with 85-90 year-old ‘Nonas’, an affectionate
moniker for Italian grandmothers. The
biggest thing Jamie took away from that
experience is how the Nonas all started
cooking for their families when they were
seven or eight years old. The Nonas had to
cook when they were kids because they had
no choice, but it instilled in them a resilience
that not only served them well, but that they
passed on to their children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren.
Not so in many other developed countries,
where far less is asked of kids in the kitchen.
“We can grab kids’ attention and inspire
their confidence to cook by going back
to the basics,” said Jamie. “The best way
to teach biology is to grow a carrot, just
like the best way to teach math is through
baking, which is a mathematical science,
and the best way to teach history is
through food, and that list goes on and on.”
Jamie says the empowerment of food
and the deliciousness of food don’t have
to be separate subjects. It has to start
somewhere and school is where kids
spend most of their time. The other side of
the coin is food production and labeling.
“There is not as much truth as we think
there is in labeling and packaging,” said
Jamie, who advocates for teaching kids
how to read and understand both. Jamie,
having stirred an enthusiastic following
through Jamie’s Food Revolution, created
20 Vol 32 • Extraordinary Health ™
a social media toolkit to help people spread the word. He created
the Food Truth Gang for kids, which includes no-junk breakfast
recipes, teaching tools to help students become food savvy, and
a separate section for schools that includes recipes, lesson plans
and activity sheets. Jamie hopes that early food education will
engage young people into considering careers in cooking.
“There is nothing more beautiful than kids cooking. Becoming a
chef is one of the best jobs because you just have to be good at
what you do, turn up and be a pleasure to be around,” he said.
“As a cook, you never have to be unemployed, plus you could
get to travel and see things you could never dream up.”
Cooking Doesn’t Have to be Complicated
His latest message resonating with his fans is that cooking doesn’t
have to be complicated. In his latest bestselling effort, his book
5 Ingredients: Quick and Easy Food became an instant classic.
It contains simple recipes anyone can follow.
“This is my 20th book and
it has been a really unusual
phenomenon because it
is connecting with people
in a global way. In my past
books, we’ve covered cost
and saving money, speed
and time and 15-minute
meals, but this book
seems to be the superhero
of all of those snappy
genre-busting books,” said Jamie. “To see people connect with
the book like this with kids hashtagging it and people embracing
it like they have, they are realizing how easy it is to cook with five
ingredients.”
The premise of the book is to bring the best out in those
ingredients, which often times are easily accessible. Jamie says if he’s
done his job right, anyone who flips through the book may have some
of those ingredients in the house already.
“For me, this has been the one book in my life where maybe I just got the
tone and the timing right,” said Jamie, who has developed several
shows as part of the 5 Ingredients experience.
It’s no surprise that 5 Ingredients: Quick and Easy Food has become
a runaway hit. The ‘fakeaway’ recipes on Jamie’s Food Revolution
website have earned an almost cult following for the tasty,
healthful shortcuts featured in it. One example is John Quilter’s
pumpkin spice latte recipe using maple and agave syrup instead
of processed white sugar. Such e asy conversions to more healthful
options have helped drive the groundswell from the very start.
“We launched Food Revolution Day on a couple of laptops, with
no budget, and managed to interact over a billion people in 24
hours on Twitter. Now there are thousands of activities happening
in what has become a giant thunderclap,” he said. “We’ve pulled
off some extraordinary things at a massive scale which is
lovely and great, but still nowhere near enough—now our
challenge is how to have a food revolution every day.”
The Journey is Just Beginning
Jamie has witnessed CEOs becoming advocates instead
of complainers, families go from unhealthy to healthy, and
entire communities take a turn for the better, embracing
sustainable ingredients and teaching kids to cook for
themselves. In his mind, the journey is just beginning.
“As I look at the next 10 years of my life, I want to use all the
skills I’ve learned to inspire and work with governments like
a Ninja. I recognize the only weapons we have are trust and
time,” he said. “Most ministers have a life expectancy of four
years and we know it’s the dollar or the vote, so our goals
have to be long-term and leaving yourself open to a network
of people who believe the same things.”
In his quest to foster a deeper connection between people
and their food, Jamie encourages a mix of technology and
person-to-person engagement.
“Anyone can cook, especially in this day and age with
YouTube, where you can learn anything from cheese
on toast, which can be a pure beauty, to a roast chicken
to-die-for or a badass minestrone,” said Jamie, though his
preferred method for breaking bread is together. “Above all,
go old school, because nothing we do is more powerful than
cooking together—call up your friend or neighbor and invite
them to come round tonight or next Tuesday, because we are
programmed to pass it on.”
Join Jamie’s Food Revolution at www.jamiesfoodrevolution.org and for
Jamie’s books, recipes and other resources, visit www.jamieoliver.com.
Vol 32 • Extraordinary Health ™ 21