TVScope: Jamie's School Dinners Channel 4, Wednesdays, 9pm
The Jamie Oliver crusade against the school lunch in Britain is a bold attempt to change human behaviour on a large scale. The problem is illustrated perfectly by the school children's ability in microseconds to say a dish is "yuck" without even tasting it! It's a trait easily found in their Irish counterparts though I suspect Irish school canteens are not overloaded by pure stodge as in Britain.
With his usual mix of outrage, colourful language and endless energy, Oliver quickly learns that being a celebrity chef holds little sway along the canteen queue where burgers, nuggets, chips and pizza washed down by a soft drink are staple fare. Watching suspicious 11-year-olds look at the reaction of fellow pupils before quickly adding their reaction - you've guessed it, utter disgust - was priceless; not to mention Oliver's desperate attempts to change bad dietary habits of a lifetime. Bribery; pious lessons on what's really good for you; the infamous "just try a little"; and attempting to dish out the guilt by confronting those who snuck off to the nearest chipper had no effect.
Intriguingly, after months of torture, pupil protests and disillusionment among kitchen staff, helping the pupils to prepare the dishes themselves was a notable breakthrough, as was persistence by way of offering new dishes consistently over many weeks, though at one point Oliver introduced a junk food ban in the pilot school for the series, Kidbrooke comprehensive in Greenwich, London.
Last week Oliver was active across Greenwich. His mission: not just to alter the diets of 20,000 school children but to show that providing decent food on a budget in schools is not impossible. Dinner ladies from 60 schools were taken to boot camp to learn how to cook new dishes, with mixed success. Boyish charm and culinary skills just about saved the day.
After three episodes the Oliver message is taking root. So much so, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Blair government, with typical opportunism and spin, has jumped onto the bandwagon. Education secretary Ruth Kelly recently agreed to fit Oliver into her schedule a few days before announcing a drive to improve the quality of school dinners by establishing an independent school food trust and introducing tougher standards on processed foods. A practical first step might be to support his campaign against "turkey twizzlers" - described as "a highly processed product consisting of only 34 per cent turkey and the rest consisting of a mixture of rusk, pork fat, water, additives, preservatives and flavourings".
Oliver may be regarded as a trigger of reform but the spirited Nora Sands (with more than a hint of a Dublin accent) played a starring role. From a sceptical start-out point, the dinner lady at Kidbrooke saw the value of quality food in an age where eight-year- olds can have serious obesity problems. She sold the message not only to her pupils but also to her peers.
The series concludes next week - see also www.feedmebetter.com
