Jamie Oliver to Dig for Victory

Crusading celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has announced his latest mission: to do for the nation what he has done for schoolchildren. Following the success of his drive to improve school dinners in the UK, Jamie is now producing a new book and TV series which will encourage everyday people to re-examine their eating habits. He says:

“We spend over £2bn a year on ready meals, and that’s not even counting junk food and takeaways … Millions of people up and down the country are really busy, they’re on tight budgets, and no one has bothered to teach them how to cook. It’s no wonder that the last thing they want to do at the end of the day is cook a meal from scratch.” (Guardian)

This latest mission is inspired, Jamie says, by the wartime Ministry for Food, which encouraged the planting of vegetables and fruit in private residences during World War II in order to reduce pressure on food supplies. Termed ‘Victory Gardens’, these efforts led to a surge in home food production during the latter years of the war in the UK, US and Canada. The campaign in the US resulted in the planting of Victory Gardens by nearly 20 million Americans, producing 40% of the vegetable produce consumed nationally (Wikipedia).

So what’s Jamie’s plan of attack? Simple. Start in Rotherham. In the Yorkshire town where mothers famously passed junk food through school fences to children during Jamie’s school dinner changes, the chef hopes to approach people in a “typical town” to find out “what problems people are facing with time, budget and cooking know-how”. He continues:

“Then we can see what help and support they need. Yes, people should take responsibility for their own health, but they need help and the tools to fix it.”
(Guardian)

Jamie says that by starting with just one town, he wants to establish a ‘blueprint’, which can then be rolled out across the country. While the TV coverage will undoubtedly draw attention, Jamie may already have been beaten to it by another Yorkshire town: Middlesbrough. I reported yesterday on Middlesbrough’s urban farming project, which has raised considerable interest from other cities in the UK keen to explore the possibilities of urban agriculture. Let’s hope that these different approaches – grassroots, town councils, TV chefs – can join forces to roll-out interest in urban agriculture across the country.

It will be interesting to see how Jamie Oliver’s attempt to enthuse the public about cooking contrasts with Delia Smith’s recent offerings – also purportedly aimed at a British public that can’t, or won’t, cook. Delia’s solution – “cheat” by using processed supermarket food. Jamie’s? I won’t second-guess him, but I guessing it’ll be the one I would choose…

Finally, here’s a link to a fascinating video produced by the US Department of Agriculture which explains the Victory Garden concept – even including a detailed plan of what should be planted at each time of the year (click the image to go to the video page).

As EarthQuaker says: Let’s Eat Like There’s a War On!