Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food

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If you haven’t seen it yet, turn on your TV Friday nights and watch Jamie’s Food Revolution. Unfortunately you’ve missed the first two evenings, the first of which was the most powerful so far. But some of the really shocking bits are actually in this video so you can catch up.

Food seems so simple. We eat, we are sustained. We are energized and can take on the tasks we want to complete. But so much of our food is filled with preservatives and other crap that is unhealthy for us. It simply horrifies me that it costs more to eat healthy. That’s just wrong. And I don’t know how we can fix it. When the poor can’t afford to eat healthy food, when the only thing they can afford is fast food, we are in an awful downward spiral.

I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t taught how to cook much, but I learned a few of my Mom’s recipes. My Grandmothers weren’t great cooks. Everything tended towards overdone which was why I usually only ate most vegetable raw. Never realized at the time that I was doing something smart! But the kitchen was still a place where I hung out and learned a few things. From there, I fell in love with cooking and good food. Real food. Why don’t kids get this anymore? Is home economics not still in schools? Are we so focused on “my kid is so smart and needs to take the advanced math class instead of basic life skills” that they aren’t being taught simple basics? Is it because the convenience of convenience foods have lured us in? Are we unlearning the things we shouldn’t lose? Are we ‘devolving’?

I hope Jamie’s Food Revolution takes off and people get fired up about food and cooking again. Because cooking is essential to life, and cooking can be, and is, fun. It’s creating something that you and others can enjoy. How great is that?