open Democracy News Analysis - Jamie Oliver and the politics of an overpaid cook, - Comments

team_kernow on "Jamie Oliver and the politics of an overpaid cook"

team_kernow — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 19:35:41 +0000

Jamie Oliver may be an overblown cook , but he doesn't appear to know much about the ocean at Watergate Bay in Cornwall or care much about the environmental damage caused by his commercial hyper - activity : http://www.nowpublic.com/node/150291 http://www.nowpublic.com/node/150413 Food faddist fashionistas - blind to the damage they do -eyes bigger than their bellies and blinkered to the damage in their waddly wake. Truly uncool. Message was edited by: Team Kernow

greatglobalist on "Jamie Oliver and the politics of an overpaid cook"

greatglobalist — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 12:07:50 +0000

and The Allied West had never even been to the Socialist Block Nation before they invaded it...

Paul Wilson on "Jamie Oliver and the politics of an overpaid cook"

Paul Wilson — Wed, 17 May 2006 20:05:28 +0000

"....where's your evidence that 'nutritious food significantly enhances relative intellectual performance'? Your idea is not based on any research or study, your idea is posed as self-evident." Sigh. It's not my idea, there is a horde of data on this which I have absorbed over decades - so much so that it is pretty much common knowledge. If you were reading as much as you were criticising others you wouldn't have missed it... Just google it.

Courtney Hamilton on "Jamie Oliver and the politics of an overpaid cook"

Courtney Hamilton — Wed, 17 May 2006 11:38:43 +0000

Paul Wilson, "Once again, good nutritious food significantly enhances relative intellectual performance as well as physical, in children and adults. Anybody with more than a passing interest in science and health knows this." Ok, that sounds fair enough, but where's your evidence that 'nutritious food significantly enhances relative intellectual performance'? Your idea is not based on any research or study, your idea is posed as self-evident.

Paul Wilson on "Jamie Oliver and the politics of an overpaid cook"

Paul Wilson — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 17:58:29 +0000

"Oliver’s crusade is also a good example of how strong emotions and feeling are now considered more important than hard evidence, or a coherent argument." Regardless of any personal opinions regarding Jamie Oliver and his social class, there is plenty of hard evidence to guide us in eating habits, and the fact is that it is criminally disregarded in many schools. There is no doubt at all that food with a good balance of nutrients results in better physical and intellectual performance, better health and greater well-being. So why did it take emotion to get anything done? Our media that's why - passion sells newspapers and airtime, hard facts drily presented don't. This doesn't devalue the outcome though. "Now all of a sudden everybody’s so concerned about what our kids eat for lunch." Some of us have been concerned for ages - which is why we send them in with decent packed lunches and give them a main meal in the evening. Oliver's activism may reduce the need for this. "...all because school dinners – don’t taste very nice." This is almost exactly wrong - the whole point is that they DO taste nice to children brought up to have what they prefer, by parents too lazy to acclimatise them to decent food and resist dietary dumbing down. "Water people" in the colloquial (take the path of least resistance). "There is no evidence that eating raw spinach will make kids concentrate more on their school work than if they ate a turkey twizzler". Once again, good nutritious food significantly enhances relative intellectual performance as well as physical, in children and adults. Anybody with more than a passing interest in science and health knows this. "...thinks he is more representative of ‘the people’ than an elected politician". On current form he certainly is - our elected politicians may represent (they are all we have got to choose from), but they are far from representative, which is not the same thing. Good luck to the guy, he is contributing far more than any "open mouth before engaging brain" commentators.

Alex Campbell on "Jamie Oliver and the politics of an overpaid cook"

Alex Campbell — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 08:19:48 +0000

"There is no evidence that eating raw spinach will make kids concentrate more on their school work than if they ate a turkey twizzler" Come now - no evidence that a better diet will improve a child's (or an adult's) mental and physical well-being? I bet olympic athletes don't eat twizzlers... School dinners in the UK are a disgrace, contributing in part to our detachment from the food chain and more generally the environment. He may be obnoxious, but well done Mr Oliver.

Jamie Oliver and the politics of an overpaid cook,

Courtney Hamilton — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 16:05:46 +0000

Am I the only person who feels sick to the bottom of my stomach every-time the millionaire chef Jamie Oliver appears on TV or radio talking politics? Sainsburys very own proletarian poster boy is certainly making a big impression on the British political scene. Armed with nothing more than an army of dinner-ladies and raw spinach, Oliver plans on taking the authorities to task not over the Iraq war, but over an issue that is far, far more important the fat content in school dinners. Were it not for the death of the Pope, Olivers school dinner campaign would probably still be top of the political agenda. Olivers crusade is also a good example of how strong emotions and feeling are now considered more important than hard evidence, or a coherent argument. Olivers revolution has all the right ingredients, namely children, and our political elites have been falling over themselves to get their slice of the action. Now all of a sudden everybodys so concerned about what our kids eat for lunch. All in all, its a very sad state of political affairs when a trumped-up, overpaid cook can rise to the top of political debate, all because school dinners dont taste very nice. Even his criticism of school meals being detrimental to the education and health of our kids is way off the factual mark. There is no evidence that eating raw spinach will make kids concentrate more on their school work than if they ate a turkey twizzler. But why let cold facts like that get in the way of a rolling bandwagon? One of the worst aspects of all of this, is that an unashamed publicity-seeking chef, with an over-blown sense of self-importance thinks he is more representative of the people than an elected politician. Oliver and others also seem to think that getting the government to add a few measly pence on to the cost of a school meal amounts to the biggest food revolution that England has ever seen. If you ask me, this is the kind of revolution that I find near impossible to swallow. Read on: Jamie Oliver website. http://www.jamieoliver.net/