Teach every child about food | Jamie Oliver

TED
12 Feb 201021:53

Summary

TLDRJamie Oliver passionately addresses the urgent health crisis in America, emphasizing the alarming rate of diet-related diseases and obesity. He calls for a food revolution, advocating for better food education, healthier school meals, and the importance of teaching children to cook. Oliver's message is a rallying cry for change, urging individuals, businesses, and the government to take action for a healthier future.

Takeaways

  • 🍽️ Jamie Oliver, a chef, emphasizes the importance of food education and its impact on health, stating that poor diet is a leading cause of death in the United States.
  • ⏰ He points out that within 18 minutes of his talk, four Americans will die due to the food they consume, highlighting the urgency of the issue.
  • 🌟 Oliver calls for a food revolution, advocating for a change in the American food landscape to improve public health.
  • πŸ‘¨β€πŸ‘©β€πŸ‘§β€πŸ‘¦ He notes that the current generation of children is expected to live shorter lives than their parents due to unhealthy eating habits.
  • πŸ“ˆ Two-thirds of the audience are statistically overweight or obese, reflecting a broader societal issue.
  • 🏫 Oliver criticizes the state of school meals, which are often highly processed and lack fresh ingredients, and calls for improved food education in schools.
  • 🏒 He addresses the role of supermarkets and big food brands, urging them to prioritize food education and healthier product offerings.
  • πŸ” The fast food industry is implicated in perpetuating unhealthy eating habits through the overuse of sugar, salt, and fat.
  • πŸ‘¨β€πŸ³ Oliver shares his experience in West Virginia, where he worked to improve school meals and educate the community about healthier food choices.
  • 🌱 He envisions a future where every American child knows how to cook basic, healthy meals, and calls for a nationwide effort to teach cooking and nutrition in schools.

Q & A

  • Who is the speaker in the transcript and what is his profession?

    -The speaker in the transcript is Jamie Oliver, a chef from Essex, England.

  • What is Jamie Oliver's main focus in his speech?

    -Jamie Oliver's main focus is on the unhealthy state of the American food landscape and the need for a food revolution to combat diet-related diseases and obesity.

  • What startling statistic does Jamie Oliver mention about American deaths related to food?

    -Jamie Oliver mentions that in the next 18 minutes of his talk, four Americans will die due to the food they eat.

  • How does Jamie Oliver describe the current food situation in America?

    -Jamie Oliver describes the current food situation in America as 'an awful, awful reality' and one of the most unhealthy countries in the world.

  • What is the significance of the statistic that two-thirds of the room are overweight or obese according to Jamie Oliver?

    -The statistic signifies the prevalence of obesity and overweight issues in America, highlighting the urgency of addressing the nation's dietary habits.

  • What does Jamie Oliver propose as a solution to the health crisis caused by poor diet?

    -Jamie Oliver proposes a food revolution that includes educating every child about food, inspiring families to cook again, and empowering people to fight obesity.

  • Why does Jamie Oliver believe that teaching children about food in schools is important?

    -Jamie Oliver believes it is important because it equips children with life skills, enables them to make healthier choices, and can potentially save their lives.

  • What is Jamie Oliver's stance on the role of supermarkets in the food revolution?

    -Jamie Oliver believes supermarkets should have food ambassadors to help customers shop better, teach quick and healthy cooking methods, and promote fresh, seasonal meals.

  • How does Jamie Oliver view the current state of school food in America?

    -Jamie Oliver views the current state of school food as highly processed and lacking in fresh ingredients, with an overreliance on fast food and additives.

  • What is Jamie Oliver's opinion on flavored milk in schools?

    -Jamie Oliver is against flavored milk in schools, as he believes it unnecessarily adds sugar to children's diets and undermines the importance of natural, unflavored milk.

  • What is Jamie Oliver's 'magic wand' wish for America's food landscape?

    -Jamie Oliver's 'magic wand' wish is to be put in front of influential people in America to help create a strong, sustainable movement for food education and to fight obesity.

Outlines

00:00

🍽️ The Dire State of American Diet

Jamie Oliver opens by highlighting the shocking reality of diet-related deaths in America, emphasizing his mission to improve public health through education on food. He points out the paradox where despite being a leading nation, America struggles with obesity and unhealthy eating habits. Oliver calls for a food revolution, stressing the importance of understanding food's impact on health and life expectancy. He shares alarming statistics about the prevalence of obesity and the cost of healthcare due to diet-related diseases. He also introduces individuals affected by poor dietary choices, illustrating the human cost behind the numbers.

05:02

🏠 The Shift in Food Culture

This section delves into the transformation of America's food landscape over the past 30 years, with a focus on the negative impacts of fast food and processed foods. Oliver critiques the role of big brands and supermarkets in promoting unhealthy options due to their convenience and affordability. He discusses the decline of home cooking and the lack of food education, which has led to a population that is disconnected from its food. The segment also addresses the issue of portion sizes and misleading labeling. Oliver shares a personal anecdote involving a family's struggle with obesity, emphasizing the urgent need for change.

10:04

πŸ₯— The Reality of School Food

Jamie Oliver discusses the state of school food in America, expressing concern over the quality and nutritional value of meals served to children. He describes school food as heavily processed and high in additives, with an overreliance on fast food options. Oliver argues that this contributes to the obesity crisis and points out the lack of education on food in schools. He shares a video clip demonstrating children's lack of knowledge about basic food items, emphasizing the need to teach children about nutrition and where food comes from.

15:05

🌟 A Vision for Change

Oliver outlines a multi-faceted approach to tackling the obesity crisis, involving various sectors of society. He calls for supermarkets to provide better guidance on healthy eating, for food brands to prioritize education, and for the government to work with the fast food industry to reduce unhealthy ingredients. He also stresses the importance of improving school food and teaching children to cook. Oliver shares his experience in Huntington, West Virginia, where he established a community kitchen to provide cooking lessons and promote fresh food in schools.

20:05

🌍 A Global Impact

In the final paragraph, Jamie Oliver concludes with a call to action, urging the audience to support a movement for food education. He expresses his belief that change in America could inspire positive changes globally. Oliver shares his wish for a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook, and empower individuals to fight obesity. He acknowledges the challenges but remains optimistic about the potential for change, ending with a call for collective effort.

Mindmap

Keywords

πŸ’‘Food Revolution

A 'Food Revolution' refers to a significant shift in the way society produces, consumes, and thinks about food. In the context of the video, Jamie Oliver calls for a revolution to address the unhealthy food landscape that is leading to obesity and diet-related diseases. He advocates for changes in school meals, home cooking, and food education to improve public health.

πŸ’‘Diet-related diseases

Diet-related diseases are illnesses that are linked to the consumption of unhealthy diets, typically high in processed foods, sugars, and unhealthy fats. The video emphasizes that these diseases are the biggest killers in the United States, costing the healthcare system billions and affecting the quality and length of people's lives.

πŸ’‘Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition involving excessive body fat, which can have severe effects on health, leading to various diseases and a reduced life expectancy. The video discusses obesity as a major public health issue, with significant costs to both individuals and the healthcare system.

πŸ’‘Fast food

Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for quick preparation and serving, often characterized by high levels of unhealthy ingredients like sugars, fats, and salt. The video criticizes the fast food industry for contributing to the obesity epidemic and calls for changes in the food served in schools and the broader food environment.

πŸ’‘Portion size

Portion size refers to the quantity of food served or consumed at one time. The video highlights the issue of oversized portions in the U.S. as a contributing factor to overeating and obesity, suggesting that smaller, more appropriate portion sizes could help combat these problems.

πŸ’‘Food education

Food education involves teaching people about the origins, preparation, and nutritional value of food. The video stresses the importance of food education in schools and homes to empower individuals to make healthier food choices and to prevent diet-related diseases.

πŸ’‘Home cooking

Home cooking is the act of preparing food at home rather than purchasing pre-made meals. Jamie Oliver emphasizes the decline in home cooking as a cultural practice and its negative impact on health, advocating for a return to home-cooked meals as a way to improve dietary habits and food literacy.

πŸ’‘School meals

School meals are the food provided to students during the school day. The video discusses the poor quality of many school meals, which often consist of processed and fast foods, and calls for improvements in school meal programs to provide healthier, fresher options for children.

πŸ’‘Food labeling

Food labeling refers to the information provided on food packaging about the product's ingredients, nutritional content, and other details. The video criticizes current food labeling practices as misleading and calls for clearer, more honest labeling to help consumers make informed choices.

πŸ’‘Corporate responsibility

Corporate responsibility is the idea that companies have a duty to act ethically and contribute positively to society, beyond just making a profit. In the context of the video, Jamie Oliver suggests that businesses should take responsibility for the health of their employees and the community by providing healthier food options.

πŸ’‘Local and fresh food

Local and fresh food refers to food that is sourced from nearby and has not been processed or preserved, often resulting in better taste and nutritional value. The video promotes the consumption of local and fresh food as a healthier alternative to processed and fast foods, and suggests that schools and homes should prioritize such options.

Highlights

Jamie Oliver opens with a stark statistic that four Americans will die in the next 18 minutes due to unhealthy eating habits.

He emphasizes the critical role of food in our homes and society, describing it as a primal force that connects people to the best parts of life.

Oliver highlights a tragic fact: children today are expected to live ten years less than their parents due to poor eating habits.

Two-thirds of Americans are statistically overweight or obese, with diet-related diseases being the leading cause of death in the United States.

He introduces Brittany, a 16-year-old girl with six years to live due to liver damage caused by unhealthy eating.

Oliver emphasizes that the current generation has lost touch with the culture of cooking and food preparation, contributing to health issues.

He criticizes the fast food industry, processed food, and portion sizes as major factors contributing to the obesity epidemic.

In schools, children are served processed, unhealthy food, with French fries counted as a vegetable and pizza served for breakfast.

Oliver advocates for food education in schools, arguing that children should learn about food and how to cook to improve their health.

He highlights how flavored milk in schools contains nearly as much sugar as fizzy drinks, contributing to excessive sugar intake among children.

Supermarkets and food brands should play a more active role in educating consumers and promoting healthy, seasonal meals.

Oliver urges fast food companies to work with the government to reduce the amounts of fat, sugar, and unhealthy additives in their food.

He stresses the importance of teaching children 10 basic recipes to ensure they have essential life skills to cook healthy meals.

Corporate responsibility should extend to providing healthier food options for employees, as they are the parents of the next generation.

Oliver calls for a sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook, and empower people to fight obesity.

Transcripts

play00:16

Sadly,

play00:18

in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat,

play00:21

four Americans that are alive

play00:24

will be dead through the food that they eat.

play00:29

My name's Jamie Oliver.

play00:31

I'm 34 years old.

play00:33

I'm from Essex in England

play00:35

and for the last seven years

play00:38

I've worked fairly tirelessly to save lives in my own way.

play00:44

I'm not a doctor;

play00:46

I'm a chef,

play00:47

I don't have expensive equipment

play00:49

or medicine.

play00:51

I use information, education.

play00:54

I profoundly believe that the power of food

play00:57

has a primal place in our homes

play01:00

that binds us to the best bits of life.

play01:07

We have an awful, awful reality right now.

play01:13

America, you're at the top of your game.

play01:17

This is one of the most unhealthy countries in the world.

play01:20

Can I please just see a raise of hands

play01:23

for how many of you have children in this room today?

play01:26

Put your hands up.

play01:27

You can continue to put your hands up, aunties and uncles as well.

play01:31

Most of you. OK.

play01:33

We, the adults of the last four generations,

play01:36

have blessed our children with the destiny

play01:39

of a shorter lifespan than their own parents.

play01:45

Your child will live a life ten years younger than you

play01:50

because of the landscape of food that we've built around them.

play01:54

Two-thirds of this room,

play01:56

today, in America, are statistically overweight or obese.

play01:59

You lot, you're all right,

play02:00

but we'll get you eventually, don't worry.

play02:02

(Laughter)

play02:04

The statistics of bad health are clear,

play02:07

very clear.

play02:09

We spend our lives being paranoid about death, murder, homicide,

play02:12

you name it; it's on the front page of every paper, CNN.

play02:16

Look at homicide at the bottom, for God's sake.

play02:19

Right?

play02:20

(Laughter)

play02:22

(Applause)

play02:27

Every single one of those in the red is a diet-related disease.

play02:31

Any doctor, any specialist will tell you that.

play02:34

Fact: diet-related disease is the biggest killer

play02:37

in the United States, right now, here today.

play02:43

This is a global problem.

play02:45

It's a catastrophe.

play02:46

It's sweeping the world.

play02:48

England is right behind you, as usual.

play02:51

(Laughter)

play02:55

I know they were close, but not that close.

play02:58

We need a revolution.

play02:59

Mexico, Australia, Germany,

play03:02

India, China,

play03:03

all have massive problems of obesity and bad health.

play03:07

Think about smoking.

play03:10

It costs way less than obesity now.

play03:12

Obesity costs you Americans 10 percent of your health-care bills,

play03:17

150 billion dollars a year.

play03:22

In 10 years, it's set to double:

play03:24

300 billion dollars a year.

play03:25

Let's be honest, guys, you haven't got that cash.

play03:28

(Laughter)

play03:32

I came here to start a food revolution that I so profoundly believe in.

play03:38

We need it. The time is now.

play03:40

We're in a tipping-point moment.

play03:42

I've been doing this for seven years.

play03:44

I've been trying in America for seven years.

play03:46

Now is the time when it's ripe -- ripe for the picking.

play03:50

I went to the eye of the storm.

play03:52

I went to West Virginia, the most unhealthy state in America.

play03:55

Or it was last year.

play03:56

We've got a new one this year, but we'll work on that next season.

play03:59

(Laughter)

play04:01

Huntington, West Virginia. Beautiful town.

play04:03

I wanted to put heart and soul and people,

play04:06

your public,

play04:08

around the statistics that we've become so used to.

play04:12

I want to introduce you to some of the people that I care about:

play04:15

your public, your children.

play04:17

I want to show a picture of my friend Brittany.

play04:19

She's 16 years old.

play04:22

She's got six years to live

play04:25

because of the food that she's eaten.

play04:28

She's the third generation of Americans

play04:30

that hasn't grown up within a food environment

play04:32

where they've been taught to cook at home or in school,

play04:35

or her mom, or her mom's mom.

play04:37

She has six years to live.

play04:40

She's eating her liver to death.

play04:43

Stacy, the Edwards family.

play04:45

This is a normal family, guys.

play04:48

Stacy does her best, but she's third-generation as well;

play04:51

she was never taught to cook at home or at school.

play04:53

The family's obese.

play04:54

Justin here, 12 years old, he's 350 pounds.

play04:57

He gets bullied, for God's sake.

play04:59

The daughter there, Katie, she's four years old.

play05:01

She's obese before she even gets to primary school.

play05:04

Marissa, she's all right, she's one of your lot.

play05:07

But you know what?

play05:08

Her father, who was obese, died in her arms,

play05:11

And then the second most important man in her life,

play05:14

her uncle, died of obesity,

play05:16

and now her step-dad is obese.

play05:19

You see, the thing is,

play05:21

obesity and diet-related disease

play05:24

doesn't just hurt the people that have it;

play05:26

it's all of their friends, families, brothers, sisters.

play05:30

Pastor Steve:

play05:32

an inspirational man,

play05:33

one of my early allies in Huntington, West Virginia.

play05:36

He's at the sharp knife-edge of this problem.

play05:40

He has to bury the people, OK?

play05:42

And he's fed up with it.

play05:44

He's fed up with burying his friends, his family, his community.

play05:47

Come winter, three times as many people die.

play05:50

He's sick of it.

play05:52

This is preventable disease. Waste of life.

play05:55

By the way, this is what they get buried in.

play05:58

We're not geared up to do this.

play06:01

Can't even get them out the door, and I'm being serious.

play06:03

Can't even get them there. Forklift.

play06:06

OK, I see it as a triangle, OK?

play06:08

This is our landscape of food.

play06:10

I need you to understand it.

play06:11

You've probably heard all this before.

play06:13

Over the last 30 years,

play06:15

what's happened that's ripped the heart out of this country?

play06:18

Let's be frank and honest.

play06:20

Well, modern-day life.

play06:22

Let's start with the Main Street.

play06:25

Fast food has taken over the whole country; we know that.

play06:28

The big brands are some of the most important powers,

play06:30

powerful powers, in this country.

play06:33

(Sighs)

play06:34

Supermarkets as well.

play06:36

Big companies. Big companies.

play06:38

Thirty years ago, most of the food

play06:41

was largely local and largely fresh.

play06:44

Now it's largely processed and full of all sorts of additives,

play06:47

extra ingredients, and you know the rest of the story.

play06:50

Portion size is obviously a massive, massive problem.

play06:54

Labeling is a massive problem.

play06:57

The labeling in this country is a disgrace.

play07:00

The industry wants to self-police themselves.

play07:06

What, in this kind of climate? They don't deserve it.

play07:08

How can you say something is low-fat when it's full of so much sugar?

play07:13

Home.

play07:16

The biggest problem with the home

play07:18

is that used to be the heart of passing on food culture,

play07:23

what made our society.

play07:25

That is not happening anymore.

play07:27

And you know, as we go to work and as life changes,

play07:30

and as life always evolves,

play07:32

we kind of have to look at it holistically --

play07:34

step back for a moment, and re-address the balance.

play07:36

It hasn't happened for 30 years, OK?

play07:39

I want to show you a situation

play07:42

that is very normal right now; the Edwards family.

play07:46

(Video) Jamie Oliver: Let's have a talk.

play07:49

This stuff goes through you and your family's body every week.

play07:53

And I need you to know

play07:55

that this is going to kill your children early.

play07:59

How are you feeling?

play08:01

Stacy: Just feeling really sad and depressed right now.

play08:05

But, you know, I want my kids to succeed in life

play08:09

and this isn't going to get them there.

play08:12

But I'm killing them.

play08:14

JO: Yes you are. You are.

play08:17

But we can stop that.

play08:23

Normal.

play08:25

Let's get on schools,

play08:27

something that I'm fairly much a specialist in.

play08:30

OK, school.

play08:32

What is school? Who invented it? What's the purpose of school?

play08:35

School was always invented to arm us with the tools

play08:38

to make us creative, do wonderful things,

play08:40

make us earn a living, etc., etc.

play08:43

You know, it's been kind of in this sort of tight box for a long, long time, OK?

play08:48

But we haven't really evolved it

play08:50

to deal with the health catastrophes of America, OK?

play08:53

School food is something

play08:56

that most kids -- 31 million a day, actually --

play08:59

have twice a day, more than often, breakfast and lunch,

play09:04

180 days of the year.

play09:05

So you could say that school food is quite important, really,

play09:08

judging the circumstances.

play09:10

(Laughter)

play09:15

Before I crack into my rant,

play09:18

which I'm sure you're waiting for --

play09:20

(Laughter)

play09:23

I need to say one thing, and it's so important

play09:25

in, hopefully, the magic that happens and unfolds

play09:28

in the next three months.

play09:30

The lunch ladies, the lunch cooks of America --

play09:33

I offer myself as their ambassador.

play09:36

I'm not slagging them off.

play09:38

They're doing the best they can do.

play09:43

They're doing their best.

play09:45

But they're doing what they're told,

play09:47

and what they're being told to do is wrong.

play09:49

The system is highly run by accountants;

play09:52

there's not enough, or any, food-knowledgeable people in the business.

play09:56

There's a problem:

play09:58

If you're not a food expert, and you've got tight budgets

play10:01

and it's getting tighter, then you can't be creative,

play10:03

you can't duck and dive and write different things around things.

play10:07

If you're an accountant, and a box-ticker,

play10:09

the only thing you can do in these circumstances

play10:11

is buy cheaper shit.

play10:12

Now, the reality is,

play10:13

the food that your kids get every day is fast food,

play10:17

it's highly processed,

play10:18

there's not enough fresh food in there at all.

play10:21

You know, the amount of additives, E numbers,

play10:23

ingredients you wouldn't believe --

play10:24

there's not enough veggies at all.

play10:26

French fries are considered a vegetable.

play10:28

Pizza for breakfast. They don't even get crockery.

play10:31

Knives and forks? No, they're too dangerous.

play10:34

They have scissors in the classroom,

play10:36

but knives and forks? No.

play10:37

And the way I look at it is:

play10:38

If you don't have knives and forks in your school,

play10:41

you're purely endorsing,

play10:42

from a state level, fast food, because it's handheld.

play10:46

And yes, by the way, it is fast food:

play10:47

It's sloppy Joes, it's burgers,

play10:49

it's wieners, it's pizzas, it's all of that stuff.

play10:53

(Sighs)

play10:55

Ten percent of what we spend on health care, as I said earlier,

play10:58

is on obesity, and it's going to double.

play11:02

We're not teaching our kids.

play11:03

There's no statutory right to teach kids about food,

play11:06

elementary or secondary school, OK?

play11:08

We don't teach kids about food, right?

play11:10

And this is a little clip from an elementary school,

play11:13

which is very common in England.

play11:17

(Video) Who knows what this is?

play11:18

Child: Potatoes.

play11:19

Jamie Oliver: Potato? So, you think these are potatoes?

play11:22

Do you know what that is?

play11:23

Do you know what that is?

play11:25

Child: Broccoli?

play11:26

JO: What about this? Our good old friend.

play11:28

Child: Celery.

play11:29

JO: No. What do you think this is?

play11:31

Child: Onion. JO: Onion? No.

play11:33

JO: Immediately you get a really clear sense

play11:35

of "Do the kids know anything about where food comes from?"

play11:39

Who knows what that is? Child: Uh, pear?

play11:41

JO: What do you think this is? Child: I don't know.

play11:43

JO: If the kids don't know what stuff is,

play11:45

then they will never eat it.

play11:49

(Laughter)

play11:50

JO: Normal. England and America,

play11:53

England and America.

play11:54

Guess what fixed that.

play11:57

Two one-hour sessions.

play12:00

We've got to start teaching our kids about food in schools, period.

play12:04

(Applause)

play12:10

I want to tell you about something

play12:14

that kind of epitomizes the trouble that we're in, guys, OK?

play12:18

I want to talk about something so basic as milk.

play12:21

Every kid has the right to milk at school.

play12:23

Your kids will be having milk at school, breakfast and lunch, right?

play12:27

They'll be having two bottles, OK?

play12:29

And most kids do.

play12:30

But milk ain't good enough anymore.

play12:33

Don't get me wrong, I support milk --

play12:36

but someone at the milk board

play12:38

probably paid a lot of money for some geezer to work out

play12:41

that if you put loads of flavorings,

play12:42

colorings and sugar in milk,

play12:44

more kids will drink it.

play12:46

Yeah.

play12:48

Obviously now that's going to catch on

play12:50

the apple board is going to work out

play12:52

that if they make toffee apples they'll eat more as well.

play12:55

Do you know what I mean?

play12:56

For me, there isn't any need to flavor the milk.

play12:59

Okay? There's sugar in everything.

play13:01

I know the ins and outs of those ingredients.

play13:03

It's in everything.

play13:04

Even the milk hasn't escaped the kind of modern-day problems.

play13:08

There's our milk. There's our carton.

play13:10

In that is nearly as much sugar as one of your favorite cans of fizzy pop,

play13:14

and they are having two a day.

play13:15

So, let me just show you.

play13:17

We've got one kid, here --

play13:22

having, you know, eight tablespoons of sugar a day.

play13:26

You know, there's your week.

play13:29

There's your month.

play13:32

And I've taken the liberty of putting in

play13:34

just the five years of elementary school sugar,

play13:41

just from milk.

play13:46

Now, I don't know about you guys,

play13:48

but judging the circumstances, right,

play13:50

any judge in the whole world,

play13:53

would look at the statistics and the evidence,

play13:55

and they would find any government of old guilty of child abuse.

play13:59

That's my belief.

play14:00

(Applause)

play14:07

(Applause ends)

play14:09

Now, if I came up here, and I wish I could come up here today

play14:12

and hang a cure for AIDS or cancer,

play14:15

you'd be fighting and scrambling to get to me.

play14:18

This, all this bad news, is preventable.

play14:22

That's the good news.

play14:23

It's very, very preventable.

play14:26

So, let's just think about, we got a problem here,

play14:29

we need to reboot.

play14:31

Okay so, in my world, what do we need to do?

play14:34

Here is the thing, right,

play14:35

it cannot just come from one source.

play14:38

To reboot and make real tangible change,

play14:41

real change, so that I could look you in the white of the eyes

play14:44

and say, "In 10 years' time,

play14:46

the history of your children's lives,

play14:48

happiness -- and let's not forget, you're clever if you eat well,

play14:51

you know you're going to live longer --

play14:53

all of that stuff, it will look different. OK?"

play14:56

So, supermarkets.

play14:58

Where else do you shop so religiously?

play15:00

Week in, week out.

play15:01

How much money do you spend, in your life, in a supermarket?

play15:04

Love them.

play15:05

They just sell us what we want. All right.

play15:07

They owe us to put a food ambassador in every major supermarket.

play15:12

They need to help us shop.

play15:14

They need to show us how to cook quick, tasty, seasonal meals

play15:18

for people that are busy.

play15:20

This is not expensive.

play15:22

It is done in some, and it needs to be done across the board

play15:24

in America soon, and quick.

play15:27

The big brands, you know, the food brands,

play15:30

need to put food education at the heart of their businesses.

play15:33

I know, easier said than done.

play15:35

It's the future. It's the only way.

play15:37

Fast food.

play15:39

With the fast-food industry

play15:42

you know, it's very competitive.

play15:44

I've had loads of secret papers and dealings

play15:46

with fast food restaurants.

play15:48

I know how they do it.

play15:49

I mean, basically they've weaned us on

play15:52

to these hits of sugar, salt and fat, and x, y, and z,

play15:55

and everyone loves them, right?

play15:57

So, these guys are going to be part of the solution.

play16:00

But we need to get the government to work

play16:02

with all of the fast food purveyors and the restaurant industry,

play16:05

and over a five, six, seven year period

play16:07

wean of us off the extreme amounts

play16:09

of fat, sugar and all the other non-food ingredients.

play16:13

Now, also, back to the sort of big brands:

play16:15

labeling, I said earlier, is an absolute farce

play16:18

and has got to be sorted.

play16:21

OK, school.

play16:23

Obviously, in schools, we owe it to them

play16:26

to make sure those 180 days of the year,

play16:28

from that little precious age of four,

play16:30

until 18, 20, 24, whatever,

play16:32

they need to be cooked proper, fresh food

play16:37

from local growers on site, OK?

play16:39

There needs to be a new standard of fresh, proper food

play16:41

for your children, yeah?

play16:43

(Applause)

play16:47

Under the circumstances, it's profoundly important

play16:51

that every single American child leaves school

play16:53

knowing how to cook 10 recipes

play16:55

that will save their life.

play16:58

Life skills.

play16:59

(Applause)

play17:01

That means that they can be students, young parents,

play17:04

and be able to sort of duck and dive around the basics of cooking,

play17:08

no matter what recession hits them next time.

play17:10

If you can cook, recession money doesn't matter.

play17:13

If you can cook, time doesn't matter.

play17:17

The workplace, we haven't really talked about it.

play17:19

You know, it's now time for corporate responsibility

play17:23

to really look at what they feed or make available to their staff.

play17:27

The staff are the moms and dads of America's children.

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Marissa, her father died in her hand,

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I think she'd be quite happy

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if corporate America could start feeding their staff properly.

play17:38

Definitely they shouldn't be left out.

play17:40

Let's go back to the home.

play17:41

Now, look, if we do all this stuff, and we can,

play17:44

it's so achievable.

play17:45

You can care and be commercial.

play17:46

Absolutely.

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But the home needs to start passing on cooking again, for sure.

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For sure, pass it on as a philosophy.

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And for me, it's quite romantic,

play17:57

but it's about if one person teaches three people

play17:59

how to cook something,

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and they teach three of their mates,

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that only has to repeat itself 25 times,

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and that's the whole population of America.

play18:07

Romantic, yes, but most importantly,

play18:11

it's about trying to get people to realize

play18:14

that every one of your individual efforts makes a difference.

play18:17

We've got to put back what's been lost.

play18:20

Huntington's Kitchen.

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Huntington, where I made this program,

play18:24

we've got this prime-time program

play18:26

that hopefully will inspire people to really get on this change.

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I truly believe that change will happen.

play18:31

Huntington's Kitchen. I work with a community.

play18:33

I worked in the schools.

play18:35

I found local sustainable funding

play18:37

to get every single school in the area from the junk, onto the fresh food:

play18:41

six-and-a-half grand per school.

play18:44

(Applause)

play18:45

That's all it takes, six-and-a-half grand per school.

play18:47

The Kitchen is 25 grand a month. Okay?

play18:50

This can do 5,000 people a year,

play18:53

which is 10 percent of their population,

play18:55

and it's people on people.

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You know, it's local cooks teaching local people.

play18:59

It's free cooking lessons, guys, in the Main Street.

play19:03

This is real, tangible change, real, tangible change.

play19:07

Around America, if we just look back now,

play19:10

there is plenty of wonderful things going on.

play19:13

There is plenty of beautiful things going on.

play19:15

There are angels around America doing great things

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in schools -- farm-to-school set-ups,

play19:22

garden set-ups, education --

play19:24

there are amazing people doing this already.

play19:26

The problem is they all want to roll out

play19:28

what they're doing to the next school,

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but there's no cash.

play19:33

We need to recognize the experts and the angels quickly,

play19:36

identify them, and allow them to easily find the resource

play19:40

to keep rolling out what they're already doing,

play19:42

and doing well.

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Businesses of America need to support

play19:46

Mrs. Obama to do the things that she wants to do.

play19:49

(Applause)

play19:55

And look, I know it's weird

play19:57

having an English person standing here before you

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talking about all this.

play20:01

All I can say is: I care.

play20:03

I'm a father,

play20:05

and I love this country.

play20:07

And I believe truly, actually,

play20:09

that if change can be made in this country,

play20:12

beautiful things will happen around the world.

play20:14

If America does it, other people will follow.

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It's incredibly important.

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(Audience) Yeah!

play20:19

(Applause)

play20:25

When I was in Huntington,

play20:26

trying to get a few things to work when they weren't,

play20:29

I thought "If I had a magic wand, what would I do?"

play20:34

And I thought, "You know what?

play20:36

I'd just love to be put in front of some of the most amazing

play20:39

movers and shakers in America."

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And a month later, TED phoned me up and gave me this award.

play20:46

I'm here.

play20:50

So, my wish.

play20:56

Dyslexic, so I'm a bit slow.

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My wish

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is for you to help a strong, sustainable movement

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to educate every child

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about food,

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to inspire families to cook again,

play21:20

and to empower people everywhere

play21:22

to fight obesity.

play21:25

(Applause)

play21:35

Thank you.

play21:36

(Applause continues)

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Related Tags
Food RevolutionHealth CrisisObesityEducationCookingAmericaSchool MealsFast FoodJamie OliverHealthcare Costs