Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food | Video on TED.com
I just watched this with my kids. It really affected my 8 year old. He finished watching it and told me he was scared. He also got up and ate a bunch of carrots. He kept saying "So that's why you don't want us to eat junk food?" He also realized that if the kids in the video didn't know what those veggies were, then they weren't eating them. It's sad that my 8 year old gets it, but our government and our world don't.
I really struggle with what to tell my kids about the food that is eaten. We've talked about the differences in how animals are raised. We've talked about food miles. We've talked about gardening a lot. It's so important to me that they know what good food is. I also want them to know how to grow and cook good food, to seek it out. We are not perfect in this area, my kids still get fast food sometimes, but we're trying and we're making progress.
5 comments:
I firmly believe in the "more your preach, the more they'll do" theory. Information is more important.
My garden is organic b/c I have children that can play in it. Actually I refuse to use any sprays at all, just b/c it's organic (mercury is), doesn't make it safe. Organic products are not subject to the same testing requirements of non organic ones.
Our farm is not... but contrary to popular belief farmers don't over spray... to be blunt there's no money in it.
I buy locally - local (non organic) fruit farm during the summer and freeze most of my fruit. I need to do better overwintering my veggies.
I refuse to buy off-shore foods since they can use the very chemicals that are banned here AND they are subsidized which harms our own farm. I will buy USA in the middle of winter if necessary. I haven't had a fresh tomato in mths and can't wait for the greenhouse ones to finally arrive. I buy the canned ones from the Ont processor... I HOPE the tomatoes do well this summer... 2yrs of blight and I'm completely out of home canned.
I will not buy US milk (well.. there isn't any here), nor US meat b/c ecoli is an issue and so is growth hormones (banned here). We have ecoli but unlike the USA it hits the news... not the "three S" method. The lack of testing by CFIA on US/foreign meats hit the news last week... GROSS!!!! My local grocer buys from the local processor, who buys from the local farmer. And I buy the rest from the local butcher... we've also started butchering our own for personal use.
Yes, we go out to eat. Yes, we like fast food. Yes, they get packaged kid stuff for school. But at home we eat well. I probably spend more on groceries than most people, but then again we don't spend a lot on extras... my kids don't own all the toys.
I don't claim to be perfect... but I can't complain about their eating habits either... ironically, they like veggies and aren't keen on fruit.
Farmwifetwo, that sounds very much like us. I don't blame you at all for not buying US milk or meat. We don't either. Almost all of our meat comes from local farmers that are off the beaten path. Our milk is raw ans comes from a local guy. The kids love going to the farm to pick it up and see the cows.
Real food, food our great grand parents would easily recognize, food grown close to home (better yet grown at home!) and processed/handled as little as possible - those are the basic criteria I try to apply to the vast majority of our food choices. We're not perfect by any stretch of the imagination - but we walk the talk most of the time and I think it has made a huge difference in our overall health and well being.
Great video!
We stopped eating at fast food chains - all fast food chains! - more than two years ago, and I haven't looked back. It was tough at first, but when I realized that the stuff that they sell at McDonald's is the same as a lot of the processed crap from the grocery store - which I won't buy - I had to ask myself if I won't buy it and cook it at home, why is it okay to buy it from McDonald's and feed it to my family?
My eight year old knew all of the vegetables he showed on the video. I'm so proud ;).
Kitsap, that's exactly it.
Wendy, good point about the fast food. I'm trying to simplify our schedule, so that I'm not as tempted to stop for a quick bite.
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