Food Revolution2013-05-22T09:45:57-04:00Food Revolutionhttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=food-revolutionCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Food RevolutionGood old fashioned elbow grease.May 17: Stand Up For Essential Cooking Skillstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.31612362013-04-26T06:25:49-04:002013-04-29T08:49:12-04:00Food Revolutionhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-revolution/Food Revolution Day 2013 is just around the corner! On 17 May people from all over the world will stand together in support of good food and essential cooking skills.
Why
Diet-related diseases are among the world's biggest killers. This year alone, over two million people will die as a result of being obese while over two million children will die from under-nutrition.
We need to get back to basics and share our cooking skills and knowledge so everyone has access to good, nutritious food made from scratch. Cooking skills are declining and less people around the world now cook good, wholesome, nutritious food from scratch. Plus, food education is lacking in many communities across the world - a study carried out in the UK found that one in 10 young adults believe that eggs come from wheat, while an Australian study found that 20% of kids believe that pasta comes from animals. And in the US food and nutrition education is not compulsory - elementary kids on average get just 3.4 hours per year.
Where
Food Revolution Day is taking place all over the world, in homes, schools, workplaces and communities and there are already hundreds of activities on our global map.
From a classic Italian meal made of fresh, locally grown ingredients at home in Rome and a chef style competition in a Pittsburgh school to a workplace in Belmont, NC learning about raw foods and a community lunch and exchange of seedlings in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Search for an activity near you to join or host your own! Our downloads page has all the resources you need to pimp your online spaces along printable leaflets, eBooks, an activity guide and stickers.
Is your city represented?
So far, cities with the most Food Revolution Day activities are - Toronto, London, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro.
Is your city represented on our global map? If not, there's still plenty of time to get something organised! Find out more and get great tips from our global ambassadors here.
Whatever you decide to do, no matter how big or small, be sure to add your activity to www.foodrevolutionday.com and help keep cooking skills alive this May 17.
Cook it. Share it. Live it.
The Food Revolution Day Team
See the original story and all sources here.]]>Family Food Goals for 2013tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.25018492013-01-18T07:46:28-05:002013-03-20T05:12:01-04:00Food Revolutionhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-revolution/Story by Stacy Whitman
When it comes to healthy eating, I view my family as a work in progress.
Though I take the time to prepare fresh, wholesome meals, my seven-year-old and four-year-old twins aren't always so good about eating them. Reading the book French Kids Eat Everything earlier this year made me realise that I needed to start doing more to cultivate their taste buds and open their minds to new flavors.
Since then, we've made some great strides. All three kids have started eating salmon, upped their consumption of green things, and stopped freaking out when presented with unknown foods (which isn't to say that they eat them but at least they don't pitch a fit).
But we still have a way to go. To that end, I've made some family food goals for the New Year, as follows:
1. Do more make-your-own nights: My kids are usually much more eager to eat healthy food that they help prepare. (Case in point: Our make-your-own salad experiment, which resulted in all my self-professed salad haters heaping their bowls full of mixed greens). Doing it themselves is fun, makes them feel grown up, and gives them complete control over what goes on their plate. And the extra clean-up is completely worth it when I see them willingly taste an unfamiliar or less liked food.
2. Try more Fofod three ways: This is my own little trick for educating my kids about food and getting them interested in sampling new things. It involves presenting one type of food in three different ways. For example, kale: I might serve a raw leaf, kale chips, and kale pesto over noodles. It's a fun thing to do at snack time or with younger kids on a play date.
3. Serve food family-style: I don't do this as often as I should, mainly because of the extra dishes involved. But family-style dining is great because it helps kids be more independent and makes them more likely to try new things. It also allows children to learn and practice social skills, such as taking turns, passing food to others, and saying "please" and "thank you."
4. Snack on veggies: Since I started incorporating more vegetables into my kids' afternoon snacks, they have been eating more of them at snack time and at meals. As the experts say, frequent exposure helps build familiarity, and kids like to eat what they know. I'm not talking about serving a platter of steamed broccoli (though you can if you want to!). I constantly look for new ways to make the vegetables interesting and appetising - for example, by pairing them with a yummy dip, putting them in pancakes or adding them to smoothies. Just don't hide them! As I know from experience, you don't grow vegetable lovers with sneaky tactics. I've learned to tell my kids exactly what they're eating-or better yet, have them help make it so they can see for themselves.
5. Grow a garden: A backyard garden is something that I have long wanted but haven't had the time or energy to commit to. So I've asked my next-door-neighbor if I can share hers. Her kids (age 10 and seven) love arugula, peas and radishes picked from the garden, so I've seen first-hand how it can inspire children to eat veggies. We will need to wait until the ground thaws this spring to get started, but it's on my list for 2013!
6. Stop eating standing up: I find myself doing this sometimes twice a day - no joke! - and it is bad, bad, bad. When you sit down to eat like a civilised person, you're less likely to wolf down your food. And chances are, you'll make more of an effort to prepare something healthy. I always eat at the table with my kids at dinner, and I need to start doing it at breakfast and lunch, too.
About the author: Stacy Whitman is the real-food lovin' mom behind the blog School Bites: One Mom's Crusade for Better Nourished Kids at School (and at Home!) - http://school-bites.com. She invites you to join the conversation on her Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/SchoolBites or Twitter - http://twitter.com/School_Bites, or check out her boards on Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/schoolbites/.]]>Real Food Leaders Unite at One Young Worldtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.20238012012-10-26T11:19:45-04:002012-12-26T05:12:01-05:00Food Revolutionhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-revolution/Last week, Jamie was joined by some amazing leaders in the real food movement to talk about the global Food Revolution and how we can all shape a better future at the One Young World Conference in Pittsburgh.
Joining Jamie for this inspiring conversation, moderated by Betsy Benson of Pittsburgh Magazine were:
• Michiel Bakker, Director of Global Food Services, Google
• Lilia Smelkova, Food Day Campaign Manager, Center for Science in the Public Interest
• Éilis O'Reilly, Instructor, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health
• Kim Kessler, Food Policy Co‐ordinator, NY Mayor's Office
• Mark Crumpacker, Chief Marketing Officer, Chipotle Mexican Grill
• Dr. Michael Parkinson, Senior Medical Director, UPMC Health Plan & Work Partners, Pittsburgh
The conversation ranged from food education to food policy, the medical, social and economic costs of obesity and diet related diseases, and how everyone has a role to play in turning this course.
Watch the full conversation and great questions and comments from OYW delegates and young leaders here.
Shaping A Better Future
"If we can combine our efforts and unify our expertise, together we can continue the Food Revolution's amazing work in getting food education at the top of everyone's agenda." Jamie Oliver
"Google's vision for its Food program is to inspire the world to use food experiences and choices to develop more sustainable lifestyles and communities." Michiel Bakker
"NYC's food policy aims to increase access to healthy foods, promote food security, and improve the sustainability of our food system" Kim Kessler
"Optimizing personal, family, business and community performance begins by creating environments which make the right choice the easy choice in all things 'health'" Michael Parkinson
"We need to raise awareness about food issues, improve food policies on all levels, and get diverse groups to collaborate for faster progress." Lilia Smelkova
"The Department of Nutrition at Harvard strives to improve the health of individuals worldwide through multidisciplinary research and training, international collaboration, and public health policy initiatives and outreach." Éilis O'Reilly
"Chipotle is working to "Cultivate a Better World" by making wholesome, unprocessed food available to everyone. Our vision is to Change the way people think about and eat fast food." Mark Crumpacker
Food Revolution Day 2013
During the conference, Jamie Oliver also announced the date for Food Revolution Day 2013 - May 17th! Now's the time to start thinking about how you'll be standing up for real food and empowering and inspiring your community to do the same on May 17th next year, find out more at www.foodrevolutionday.com.
The Food Revolution Team]]>Taking a Class at Huntington's Kitchentag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19583422012-10-11T12:39:17-04:002012-12-11T05:12:01-05:00Food Revolutionhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-revolution/Story by Rebecca Maclean
I recently had the opportunity to make a rare work trip to Huntington, West Virginia. Since Pittsburgh is only a five-hour drive away from Huntington, I assumed that it had similar characteristics to my hometown, technically the largest city in Appalachia. While our accents were different, the warmth of the people in Huntington was definitely not.
The town's welcoming atmosphere was evident everywhere, but especially in Huntington's Kitchen, the closest thing to Mecca for a food policy geek like me. I was thrilled when I learned that I was staying a block away from the community kitchen Jamie Oliver initially established as part of his Food Revolution series. While signs at the Kitchen noted that they were open by appointment only, I contacted the nutritionist on staff who invited me to sit in on a cooking class the evening before I headed out of town. Twist my arm!
While this particular class was designed for bariatric patients, both the information discussed and the recipes cooked were relevant to all. The class was also free of charge (sponsored by local health care entities and a national nutrition program), a necessity in an area where almost 30% of the residents live below the poverty line, almost double the state average - and more than double the national average.
A Nutrition Discussion and Hands-On Cooking Demonstration
I joined my fellow students for a two-part lesson: a nutrition discussion and hands-on cooking demonstration. My cooking partner was taking the series of classes both to support his wife after her bariatric surgery and to improve his own health as a diabetic. Other participants were learning how to manage their cooking post-surgery. Some are also struggling to cook at home for only themselves when they were used to cooking for families. The cooking demo was run by a volunteer from Marshall University's dietetics program, another community partner in the Kitchen.
The class ran smoothly - stations already prepped, recipes at the ready, our instructor friendly and knowledgeable - and the meal was done before we knew it. Along the way, we learned some tricks for stripping thyme, how to chiffonade mint, and how to time the different components of the meal.
This meal - Indian spiced chicken breast, skillet roasted cauliflower and squash, peach salsa, and herbed couscous - wasn't quite a 30-minute meal, but it was perfectly manageable for a weekday evening in a busy house. Emphasis was also placed on portion sizes that correspond to the USDA's MyPlate standards. And, the true test - everyone ate what they had cooked, and took home leftovers.
I wasn't the only interloper - Brent Cunningham, a NY-based journalist who with his wife is researching a book on the food landscape in Huntington post-Jamie Oliver - observed the class. Between his West Virginia roots and my membership in Steeler Nation, the locals in the class welcomed us both.
There are also changes in the city overall. Several new restaurants, many with a focus on local products, are popping up in downtown Huntington. And The Wild Ramp, a volunteer-run local foods store a few blocks away from Huntington's Kitchen, is growing by leaps and bounds.
It's possible that these changes are coincidental, but I think they are capitalizing on the heightened awareness of healthy eating started by the presence of Huntington's Kitchen. More healthy food options are never a bad thing!
About the author: Rebecca Maclean (@foodmeonce) is a food policy blogger whose interests lie at the intersection of urban gardening, food security, and public health. She writes at foodmeonce.com and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Digging Deep Campaign. Rebecca wrangles a husband, two kids, and several raised beds in her spare time.]]>Continuing the Food Revolution in Huntington, West Virginatag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19388112012-10-04T08:41:19-04:002012-12-04T05:12:01-05:00Food Revolutionhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-revolution/Three years since Jamie started the Food Revolution in Huntington, West Virginia, things are still going strong! Health ratings are rising and more fresh, REAL food is available for the community.
In August of 2008, the CDC released a report that classified Huntington as the unhealthiest city in the United States, spawning the birth of Jamie's Food Revolution in America. In 2009, Jamie traveled to West Virginia to battle their rising obesity rate head on and tackle the sorry state of school food.
Three years have passed since Jamie first arrived in Huntington, and we are delighted that things have come a long way. While obesity rates continue to rise across the country, Huntington has begun to see a reversal of the trend. The 2008 CDC report measured the adult obesity rate at 46% of the population, and while there is still work to be done, a new Gallup report shows that it has dropped to 36%. There is still a long way to go, but it's a significant improvement. It's a huge step in the right direction, and one that Huntington should be proud of!
Pastor Steve Willis, Jamie's pal, is one of the many working tirelessly to make sure the food revolution lives on in their community, and he got in touch to share the news of all their hard work.
Huntington's Kitchen
Huntington's Kitchen continues to thrive, adding ten new cooking courses to the kitchen's curriculum earlier this year. These new classes now run alongside Jamie's Basics Steps to Healthy Cooking and Cooking Matters for Adults. The new courses are part of an effort to better address chronic disease management and prevention throughout the Huntington/Tri-State community. They range in subject from Cooking Matters for Kids and Cooking Matters for Diabetics to Low Salt Cooking & Gluten Free Cooking.
Not only are these new courses helping to educate the local community on food, nutrition, disease management and prevention, but their effectiveness will also be measured by Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, in order to help determine their impact on behavior change and health improvement.
Fresh Market & School Lunches
The Fresh Market, a farmers' market that was created to sell local, fresh foods, is continuing to flourish in the community, opening every week in the square across from the kitchen. At the same time, the healthy school meals program started by Jamie has been rolled out to all 28 Cabell County Schools. Cabell County has now become an example for effective healthy lunch service across the country.
Huntington Area Food Bank
The Huntington area food bank distributes food to those living in poverty, which includes over 30,000 children per month. When Pastor Steve visited their warehouse a couple of years ago he realised that the food being given through this program included a lot of high salt, high sugar junk food, which is directly affecting the health of the children. Pastor Steve and the community in Huntington have been working hard since to replace the junk with healthier options.
Through donations from the community and local businesses, as well as the support of high profilers, Pastor Steve and the team have managed to get more fresh fruit, vegetables and natural food into the backpacks of food given to local children. They also continue to provide almost 200 all-natural meals for the community every week at church, and have plans to begin a Food Fight Boot Camp to train church-goers all about healthy living.
Throughout 'Hunger Action Month' in September, Pastor Steve and the community celebrated the improvements and partnerships they made.
Jamie weighed in on upon hearing news of their success, saying "Pastor Steve's passion and energy is phenomenal. His results over the last year or so speak for themselves. He's a one-man food revolution and I salute him. I loved the community in Huntington when I was there and the whole town, for me, is an inspiration."
Long live the Huntington Food Revolution!!
The Food Revolution Team]]>Bringing the Food Revolution to Romaniatag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19221922012-09-28T07:34:41-04:002012-11-28T05:12:01-05:00Food Revolutionhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-revolution/Good food brings memories to mind, brings us new friends and makes us rejoice from the bottom of our hearts.
As compared to a lot of the other Food Revolution Community Ambassadors who come from the food service industry and have qualified experience in this field, I come from the world of art and theatre. This year, I decided to become a freelancer and create interdisciplinary and experimental workshops for children, which means I combine theatre and reading for children with many other arts and fields.
For me, Food Revolution Day 2012 was a big challenge, but one that fascinated me. I loved the idea that food can arouse such enthusiasm and fascination all over the world and I believe that food is also related to our cultural foods and our civilization, and that makes good food, good for the soul too. So I decided to get involved and see what I could do in my community.
Fourth of July
Even though I am in Romania, not the USA, this year the fourth of July had real significance for me too, as on this day I heard that I had been accepted as a Food Revolution Community Ambassador! Hearing this, I realised how much I wanted to organize a cooking and storytelling workshop for young children who do not always receive as rich and cultural education as the older children. I also think that at this age, food and eating is a very important educational topic as the impact we have on our children is very strong and memorable and will affect how they think about food for the rest of their lives.
Having found a large bookstore in Bucharest to partner with, I also managed to find a restaurant build around the concept of healthy food to also partner with and together we organised the launch of our local Food Revolution campaign with our first workshop on August 18th!
Fascination For Food
The workshop ran smoothly and everything was so easy, natural and everyone was constantly smiling! I think the reasons behind this amazing success were the utter fascination that everyone has around food and also the simple recipe that I chose for this workshop - yogurt with berries, a good recipe for breakfast at home. For us in Romania, berries are among the most natural and purest fruit growing on soil where there are never any chemicals added.
After the workshop, everyone was so happy in such an intense way that I've never experienced before! Parents were pleased to see their children get involved with food and preparing this simple dish and I realised even more so that healthy eating and good food brings about a contagious fascination.
A New Generation Of Little Chefs
The second workshop was held on the 15th of September and as this time our sponsor was the producer of seed oil, we worked with 7 varieties of seeds, teaching the children all about them. We then made a cake together with walnuts, pistachios and raisins. Again, I received great enthusiasm from the parents both during the workshop and afterwards and have since received letters from parents telling me about the transformation of their children into 'little chefs' and their new found love for getting involved in the kitchen.
The Future
I've so far found that in order to be a good Food Revolution ambassador, you need to enjoy discovering the richness of healthy, real food and show this to everybody you can, inspiring them into action. This is what I do each day on my Food Revolution Romania facebook page, which is continually growing in numbers.
I hope that the children, who are the future of the Food Revolution in Romania, manage to further this food fascination. Art and food are both great for the soul and are also connected to imagination, and imagination and soul are some of the fundamental attributes of children - who are always my inspiration!
About the author: Daniela Miscov is a Food Revolution Community Ambassador from Bucharest, Romania. You can get in touch with Daniela though facebook and via her blog. ]]>10 Keys To Preventing Childhood Obesitytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19027172012-09-21T19:00:00-04:002012-11-21T05:12:01-05:00Food Revolutionhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-revolution/
A shocking reality is that obesity, largely related to poor diet and inadequate physical activity, is a major cause of preventable disease and death globally. The good news is that, together, we can bring about change.
Obesity among youth has become a leading public health concern worldwide. In America alone, rates of obesity skyrocketed over the course of a few decades primarily as a result of changes in lifestyle habits. Specifically, the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents more than tripled; please note that this statistic refers to obesity only and does not include the significant number of those that are overweight/at-risk of obesity.
Consequences of Childhood Obesity
Childhood obesity is a serious issue that requires urgent attention. This is because there are severe and immediate consequences of excess weight among youth. Overweight youngsters are more likely to be diagnosed with at least one, if not several, risk factors for cardiovascular disease, leading to a greater chance that they will experience heart disease. Type 2 diabetes, a disease once limited to the adult population (in fact, it was once referred to as adult-onset diabetes), is now on the rise among children and adolescents. These are issues that the medical community never imagined possible. Furthermore, medical problems related to childhood and adolescent obesity tend to persist into adulthood.
Prevention is Key
Prevention is the best strategy in the fight against obesity, and it is most effective to begin doing so early on. Research reveals that the path to obesity often begins as early as infancy and toddlerhood; already by the young age of two, children are forming habits that can make them more - or less - likely to be overweight or obese. Lifestyle habits developed during childhood tend to persist long-term. Thus, it is critical that the development of healthy lifestyle habits start when children are very young.
In order to prevent obesity, positive habits must be introduced early, even as soon as infancy. The establishment of a healthy lifestyle begins the day a child is born.
10 Keys to Preventing Obesity among Children and Adolescents
1. Breastfeed
2. Instill healthy eating habits in children beginning in infancy
3. Serve a well-balanced, nourishing breakfast every day
4. Provide wholesome lunches and snacks daily
5. Eat out occasionally only
6. Regularly cook and sit down to nutritious family meals at home
7. Limit sweetened beverages
8. Help children establish physical activity habits early on
9. Limit "screen time" (this includes television, video games, computers, iPads, and smartphones)
10. Ensure that children maintain healthy sleep, rest, and relaxation patterns
It is never too early to begin teaching healthy lifestyle habits to our youngsters. Just like bathing and tooth brushing, these positive habits are foundational life skills. Children are more likely to adopt and practice beneficial habits throughout their lifetime if parents start to instill them early on, beginning in infancy and toddlerhood, and continuing on through childhood and adolescence.
About the Author: Keeley Drotz is a registered dietitian with over ten years of experience. Her specialization is working with children and families. She recently published her first book, The Poisoning of Our Children | Fighting the Obesity Epidemic in America, which is about the prevention of childhood obesity. Please visit Keeley's websites at PoisoningOurChildren.com and facebook.com/fightingtheobesityepidemic.]]>Real Food Ambassadors Join Forcestag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.18637432012-09-07T05:41:00-04:002012-11-07T05:12:01-05:00Food Revolutionhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-revolution/
Following Food Revolution Day 2012, where volunteers ignited a fire for real food in their communities, we decided to create a unique program to best support these amazing individuals year round and grow an army of real food volunteers to get the Food Revolution started in even more communities across the world.
The newly launched Food Revolution Ambassador Program engages volunteers throughout the year and has already started with a bang! Each month we have monthly challenges and ambassadors from across the world have already taken on these challenges and kick started the movement in their local communities.
During the month of August our challenges included asking our ambassadors to connect with local producers and vendors and/or host a real food potluck. Ambassadors from countries all over the world participated - including Kenya, Singapore, UAE, Canada, Uruguay, U.S. and Slovakia!
From visiting farmers markets and meeting local vendors to hosting potlucks for 40+ people, our ambassadors really embraced these challenges and we're excited to see how they build on these actions throughout September. This month, ambassador challenges include hosting a tour of a local grocery store and teaching yourself or someone else, to grow herbs.
Are you interested in becoming a Food Revolution Ambassador and getting involved in these monthly challenges? Do you have a deep commitment for real, fresh and sustainable foods?
We're always on the lookout for more Ambassadors to join us and play a leadership role in connecting individuals, schools, businesses and organizations at a local level to ensure their collective voice is heard. Being an Ambassador is a great way to use some of your knowledge and skills to share with your community. Do you think you or someone you know would make a great Ambassador? Apply today!
The role of a Food Revolution Ambassador:
• To talk and listen to your community, engage with the real food community.
• To work together locally and be creative year round, stay connected!
• To support each other and spread the word to those looking to get involved.
• To tell us the amazing things you've been doing and party with us each year on Food Revolution Day!
Our Food Revolution Ambassadors have shown a dedication to real food, a commitment to engaging others, and are keen to start conversations and create meaningful connections in their community.
Check out the 268 Ambassadors in 46 countries and 185 cities across the world that have already started a Food Revolution in their community here and apply to be a Food Revolution Ambassador and start the conversation in your local community here.
Do you still have questions and want to get in touch?
Check out our Ambassadors App on our Facebook page for more information on what Ambassadors do and how you can get involved and join us in standing up for real food!