Most of you know Jamie Oliver. His cook books are sold around the world, millions of people watch his TV shows. That doesn't make everyone love him but some of his activities are really worth attention.
For example, I've just signed a petition "Jamie Oliver needs your help fighting for food education" on Change website. This is his biggest campaign ever aiming at persuading governments of the G20 countries to provide their children with food education in schools. That was announced on Sunday in Sydney, Australia as part of his Food Revolution LIVE event.
I don't know for sure if a celebrity chef is doing that out of pure altruism. But it doesn't matter if it helps reach the goal - and food education becomes compulsory in schools around the world. The minor goal is already achieved: we are talking about the problem (well, about Jamie too, but what's more important for you?).
According to the World Health Organization, in 2013 the number of overweight children under the age of five, is estimated to be over 42 million. Close to 31 million of these are living in developing countries. "In most countries around the world diet related disease kills more people than it has ever done before. Why does that matter? Because it's preventable," - Jamie says in his video which accompanies the petition.
"I believe that it's a child's human right to be taught how to grow and cook fresh nutritious food at school."
Some might say that child starvation in poor countries is a much more important issue. And I agree: this is a complex and complicated problem which can hardly be solved by conscious parents and teachers alone. And this is the moment I recall that song "It's all about the money".
And money also moves fast food restaurants and junk food producers. The more money they get - the more they are able to make. And that's a vicious circle because adds and food chemicals do magic.
I often read and hear parents discussing the ways of introducing healthy products into their child's diet. And many of them are just trying to hide some healthy ingredients in not so healthy dishes just because the latter are what the kids are used to eat.
What I prefer to do is changing the recipe to demonstrate my son that any product can be delicious - you just need to cook it the right way. And every time we eat something new I try to explain why it is good for our health and why some other tasty foods can be harmful.
The problem is that not all people around us are healthy food fans, and when he goes to school he will surely feel the influence and be more likely to eat some potato crisps or sweets with friends instead of an apple. But I believe that things will be different if my son will hear good things about healthy food not only from his mom and not on his own but with friends.
