Jamie Olivers Ministry of Food

I watched the first programme of this very intriguing new series on TV last night, and think that if Jamie Oliver can pull this one off, he can hope to make a real difference to the health of the nation - of Britain that is - not sure if we can emulate it here in Ireland or not! The main thrust of the programme is to take an entire community (Rotherham in Yorkshire) and persuade them into healthier food habits -apparently Rotherham is high on the UK list for obesity, fast-food eaters and many other indicators of poor health habits.

His way of persuading people is to teach them to cook, using healthy ingredients, and then to get them to 'pass it on' to at least two friends. He has started with 8 people and by a pyramid arrangement is hoping that they will have 'passed it on' to enough people who will pass it on to enough people etc etc to do all of Rotherham within the period of the programme - which I think is a month of episodes! It is hard to know if the eating patterns in evidence would be the same here in Ireland, but certainly the direction is the same for many people. However, it was shocking that one 5 year old child had never had a meal cooked for her by her mother (who by the way came across as a highly intelligent, articulate young woman caught in a horrible poverty trap). In the first programme, the mother showed a great aptitude for cooking but her problems in making ends meet financially are causing her difficulties with being able to stay with the new way of doing things and also being able to pass it on to others. It'll be very interesting to see if Jamie can make it work...

By the way, the Ministry of Food title is a throw-back to the second world war where the Government in Britain had to get people to make do with what was available to them during the war period - I seem to remember hearing/reading that the British people were at their healthiest ever during that period (well, presumably those who werent killed in the war or had bombs fall on them!) which was a combination of an incredibly healthy diet and masses of exercise!

I have actually joined the Pass it On movement on the Minister of Food website - dont know if it'll catch on in Ireland, but we could certainly do with it! So, if anyone wants to be a part of my 'pass it on' group and you want to learn how to make one of Jamie's recipes, then get in touch with me... alternatively if you want to join and teach others then

the address is http://www.jamiesministryoffood.com/content/jo/home.html