Today is Food Revolution Day, a global campaign by Chef Jamie Oliver to put practical food education on the school curriculum.
Jamie’s global petition calls on the leaders and governments of all G20 countries to make practical food education a compulsory part of every school curriculum, and he would love you to take part.
I have the pleasure of working with the Jamie Oliver Group as they’re a client of mine, and they’ve given me permission to share photos of what they’re doing internally today to mark the occasion.
Jamie passionately believes that by educating children about food in a fun and engaging way, we can equip them with the basic skills they need to lead healthier, happier lives, for themselves and their future families.
You can discover what it’s all about by hearing from the Chef himself in this video:
It’s a huge campaign externally, with celebrities such as Paul McCartney, Matthew McConaughey, Ed Sheeran, Sprinkle of Glitter, Kylie Minogue, Alfie Deyes and Usain Bolt supporting it.
Internally, it’s been an incredibly busy day already with lots of activities for employees to participate in.
Daniel Eley, Head of People and Development and some of the other senior managers at the Jamie Oliver Group donned aprons to cook breakfast.
This morning they fed the 80-strong team of employees who are working on Food Revolution Day from their office in Nile Street, London.
There are also teams at Borough Market and all over the world doing their bit all day.
The pictures on this page are from the staff breakfast hosted at Fifteen restaurant, and the senior manager chefs looking smart in their aprons for the staff breakfast .
What’s the campaign about?
We’re currently facing a global obesity epidemic, with 42 million children under the age of five either overweight or obese across the world.
The bottom line is the next generation will live shorter lives than their parents if nothing is done to rectify these alarming stats.
There have already been hugely positive steps in the right direction. For example:
- In England, The School Food Plan made cooking lessons and food education a compulsory part of the curriculum.
- In Mexico, all schools promote healthy eating through compulsory nutrition education, thanks to the General Law on Education.
- In Brazil, the School Health Programme has made food and nutrition education a fundamental part of their basic curriculum.
- Food education has also been part of the curriculum in Japan since 2005, and Finland has a long history of home economics.
But there’s still a long way to go. Good, practical and compulsory food education should be available in every school for every child.
Want to help out?
Sign and make your voice heard. I have and urge you to do so too.
You can find out more information about today via the hashtag #FoodRevolutionDay on Twitter, or see the Food Revolution website.
There’s even a song for today – check it out below. It features lots of familiar faces:
Jamie will be live on his Food Tube channel at 3.30pm today (UK time – so in 2.5 hours from now). You can tune in here.
Best of luck to all the Jamie Oliver Group employees and everyone involved in making today happen.
Further reading on my blog:
How Jamie Oliver creates his company’s culture.
Post author: Rachel Miller
First published on All Things IC website 15 May 2015.
