Friday, October 16, 2009

I Just Discovered Jamie Oliver

Call me dense and dumb, but I am happy I discovered Jamie Oliver!

Here is a man with skill, vision and passion, AND he is part of my family, my family of concern, that is,--good food, good health, good growing.

Maybe I avoided him because I avoid cookbooks. Not all of them, but most. Why? I prefer to draw what's available in my own garden and take it from there. Cookbooks misdirect me towards purchasing this spice and that ingredient, ones that are out of season and out-of-region for me.

I remember seeing his first Naked Chef book and sneering, A gimmick, I concluded, without even looking.

Now I find he is revolutionizing British school lunches, bringing at-risk kids into the kitchen to excel as cooks, revealing the "plain and simple" of extraordinary flavor, and challenging an entire West Virginia town to slim down, tastefully.

Tonight I meet with my school garden interns, Walter, Gabriela and Aubrey, and I'll tell them about Jamie. Our challenge is to connect the garden and the kitchen, and teach our students how to cook and eat well. We can do it: challenge each family to shop for food and eat more locally, cook and eat together, and even grow their own.

This would make a great project!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Charlie
Jamie is one of my culinary heroes! He is now trying to revamp an entire WV town with his food philosophies. I only have resources to work with two families with my Locavore Makeover Project, but it's a start and a girl can dream!
Anne-Marie

Kathrynbrown12@gmail.com said...

Charlie, Jamie is fantastic! My husband and I were turned onto him a few years ago through a program on Bravo where he took inner city kids and taught them how to cook.

Puja said...

Jamie is very passionate about teaching children about good nutrition and eating home made meals. Please watch his talk on ted.com
I really like what he said about a good school curriculum. He said that each student should know how to cook TEN healthy meals by the time he finishes high school. These are real life practical skills !!!!

katelyn said...

Hi Charlie! I'm currently updating my blog for French class, I'm typing about the Montessori gardens, and I was looking for a photo to add to the post, so I google searched your name and found your blog! I've been thinking about e-mailing you to ask if I can come over and look at your bees, since I took that Beekeeping class, but didn't get to actually see any live bees. When it gets warmer, I'll e-mail you about them. I hope you're well!

eonshawn said...

I just discovered Jamie Oliver today! (Which inadvertently lead me to your website.) Synchronicity?

I'm am late to the game because I don't have cable. I discovered him on Hulu.com - a good place to get tv stuff without cable.