Watching Jamie Oliver, Channeling Owen Meany

I can't stop thinking about Owen Meany.

Owen Meany isn't real. He is a fictitious character. His story was told in John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, which was recommended by Cate at Liberal Simplicity. In a little league game in the summer of 1953 in Gravesend, New Hampshire, he hit a ball that strikes and kills his best friend's mother. The story that followed still haunts me long after I've read it.

Owen Meany was extremely small in stature and voice, virtually childlike into his adult years. He was not small in opinions. He was THE VOICE! of his school newspaper. Each time he appeared, his voice was written as ALL CAPS. He was not just a witness of the injustices he saw in society around him, he was an activist.

Jamie Oliver introduced the word activist to some students on episode two of his Food Revolution show. Activist, are you one for what you believe in? We need more activists.

Owen Meany faced bullies in school, so did I (though not to the extent he did). Jamie is facing bullies on the school board. No matter how old you are, and what situation you are in, bullies are everywhere. We must not be afraid to take them on.

Like Owen and Jamie, we must not fear change. The owner of Patra's fast food restaurant in Los Angeles resisted any efforts to improve the nutrition on his menu, even though it was later revealed his father died of heart disease due to a poor diet, and that all he had in the end was his food. Excuse me as I invoke the spirit of Owen Meany for the following editorial:

JUST BECAUSE YOUR PARENTS DID IT ONE WAY DOESN'T MAKE IT THE BEST WAY! WE MUST NOT BE NOSTALGIC AND IGNORANT ABOUT EATING FOOD ON A DAILY BASIS THAT IS SENDING US TO AN EARLY GRAVE! PAYING HOMAGE TO HIS FATHER WOULD BE TO MAKE SURE OTHER PEOPLE'S LOVED ONES DON'T HAVE THE SAME FATE INSTEAD OF HIDING BEHIND THE EXCUSE OF THAT'S WHAT THE CUSTOMERS WANT.

EVERYONE KEEPS TALKING ABOUT MONEY. WELL, HERE'S A QUESTION: WHO WOULD YOU RATHER GIVE YOUR MONEY TO, ENDOCRINOLOGISTS, ONCOLOGISTS, CARDIOLOGISTS - OR FARMERS? FARMERS – PEOPLE WHO CULTIVATE AND NURTURE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES AND ANIMALS IN THEIR NATURAL STATE AND RESPECT THE SOIL, WATER AND AIR. NOT PEOPLE WHO CRAM 6 CHICKENS IN A WIRE CAGE IN WAREHOUSES WITH THOUSANDS OF OTHER CHICKENS, OR DON'T LET PREGNANT PIGS TURN AROUND, OR SPRAY SO MANY PESTICIDES ON THEIR CROPS THEIR WORKERS GET CANCER. THAT IS NOT FARMING! I DON'T THINK THOSE PEOPLE SHOULD EVEN BE CALLED FARMERS. SINCE I WAS BULLIED, I DON'T LIKE PEOPLE WHO BULLY OTHER PEOPLE, ANIMALS OR THE EARTH. BULLYING IS AN ABUSE OF POWER! AND WE AS A NATION SUPPORT IT EVEN IF WE DON'T DO THE BULLYING OURSELVES!

ARE YOU READY TO SUPPORT REAL APPLES AS MUCH AS WE SUPPORT APPLE (THE COMPANY?) BETTER PRODUCE AND LIVING CONDITIONS FOR ANIMALS AS MUCH AS WE DO BEST BUY? ASK YOURSELVES WHAT YOU VALUE MOST: THINGS, OR LIFE?

JAMIE HANDED OUT T-SHIRTS FOR THE CHILDREN THAT READ, "FEED ME BETTER." LET'S FEED OUR BODY, MIND AND SOUL BETTER! REMEMBER, NO CHANGE OR VICTORY IS TOO SMALL. ONE PERSON IS NOT A REVOLUTION. WE MUST ALL MAKE BETTER CHOICES, AND LEAD BY EXAMPLE! AMERICA, I HOPE YOU ARE WITH ME!

Find a family farm near you through LocalHarvest.

Watch Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution online.

Better than a mall: Old Hook Farm, Emerson, New Jersey.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution: Do Something

There are many things that are overwhelming in this world when we watch the news and can leave us feeling helpless, but we do have control over what food we put in our body, Gene Baur, President and Co-founder of Farm Sanctuary has expressed.

I thought of Gene's thoughtful words as I watched the premier episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (airing every Tuesday at 8 PM EST time on ABC (Watch the shows online). Like his approach or not, I hope we can agree on some of his goals, including less processed, healthier foods for all groups, and better school food, including eliminating flavored milks. One parent spoke of children drinking chocolate milk and pouring chocolate milk over cereal. I, for one, use almond 'milk' on my own.

Another parent simply observed of school food what also sums up the state of our nation's food supply: It's not okay. Repeat after me America: It's not okay.

Jamie approached a local fast food restaurant operator to revamp his menu to make it healthier, and when he asked him where his meat comes from, he had no idea. He gave a vague explanation of the supplier and admitted he knew nothing about it.

Blame shifting: it's become ingrained in American consumer attitudes as part of the entitlement culture. It's not my fault how the animals are raised or the end quality, it's the producers (even though I'm contributing to the demand). Wasn't it Don Draper in Mad Men who talked about the role of advertising is to make you feel okay about your actions? Wasn't he so right? We'll justify our bad behavior right and left with any excuse we can find to help ease our conscience.

The owner also said he wouldn't make milkshakes at home for his kids with the artificial syrup he uses in the restaurant and when Jamie, who wanted him to use real fruit, asked him to treat his customers like his children, he balked. I thought of the extremely disturbing film Food Beware: The French Food Revolution about the food culture in France (the highest pesticide user in the EU) in which farmers would not eat their own food. Not good for mine, but good for others.

When a customer was asked which quality food he preferred, it was the better one. Which one he'd buy, the cheaper one. Do we spare any expense on our entertainment budget? Do we cut out cable, expensive phones (with service plans), upgrading that television? But when it comes to life's basic essential, food, we're quick to cut costs, no questions asked. I ask a question: Why?

Plastic Nation
Jamie was rightfully horrified that school meals are being microwaved in plastic. I often wonder why people are not the least bit concerned to eat pesticide laden produce and factory farmed animals on a regular basis, but they won't drink tap water. I consider this selective fear. Consider the exposure to the plastic that the bottled water sits in (for who knows how long).

Convenience foods are a major part of our food life. At work in my office in Manhattan, I see people heating up those Lean Cuisine type foods (in plastic trays) almost every day. The plastic question gives me pause. It's in everything. I don't usually heat up food in it (I put the food on a plate and cover with a paper towel), but I heated up rice from Trader Joe's to go with my steamed vegetable dumplings, and it was packaged in plastic. I won't be doing that so much anymore. I also consider plastic holds soup I get at the farmers' market, and my organic peanut butter, tofu, hummus etc. are all packaged in it.

I'll be blogging about Jamie's show, as a vehicle for dialogue and provoking thought about our food culture. I don't want to be part of a culture that feigns or embraces ignorance, or one that is controlled, and hope you don't either. I want to take ownership over my actions and the results on others. I do not expect perfect, ideal food choices out of anyone, since I don't do that myself.

When I saw reference to a "Do Nothing" congress in The New York Times, I thought how much we've become a "Do Nothing" population when taking accountability over what's going into our body (and children's bodies) and into our Earth. Let's become a "Do Something" food culture for positive change. Don't be afraid of change, especially if it means a healthier you and healthier family.

When Michael Stipe sang in R.E.M.'s "I Wanted to Be Wrong,"
"Mythology's seductive and it turned a trick on me, that I have just begun to understand.
I told you I wanted to be wrong but everyone is humming a song that I don't understand."

I thought not of any war (which is what the song is about), but of my own enlightenment path with our food culture. Moreover did I relate to these simple words he reminds me in UBerlin, "Don't forget the change will save you."

Learn more about Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

Check out Gene Baur's book, Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food.