Jamie's Food Revolution LA-the chef becomes a role model for the city

It was team Jamie all the way on the last episode of the Food Revolution as the new LAUSD superintendent backed the chef’s healthy food initiative.

To get his attention, the celeb chef organised a cook off between some of LA’s schools, with help from the city’s top chefs, who each mentored a group of four students.

Jamie’s team from West Adams won the competition, what a surprise, for their capachio of beef, which blew the judges away with the quality and originality of the dish. The two other schools who got through to the final, Temple City and Santee, cooked steak.

The prize for the West Adams students was an all expenses paid trip to the Culinary Institute in New York, a city most of the teens have never visited before.

Whether or not the competition was a fix, Jamie was invited to speak to John Daisy, the new LAUSD superintendent, at their headquarters. Mr Daisy took Jamie to a school, having granted him access, and told the chef he planned to implement a policy change and get rid of strawberry and chocolate milk in schools in the next two months.

‘I can’t tell you how happy that makes me’, Jamie told him.

‘What happens in LA happens in the rest of the country.’

The superintendent also revealed to Jamie their plans for a new menu, which he said he hoped to devise with the help of pupils from West Adams and Jamie. ‘I’d love to’, he said as the barricades came down and he was able to step inside the school’s cafeteria and see the vegetable garden he helped to create.

However, the chef admitted he was still sceptical as he hadn’t seen the current lunches being served, or the central kitchen, but had to have faith. Speaking to the camera he said, ‘The battle’s not won. The power lies with you to keep the subject talked about.’

‘Progress is happening, but it’s not fast enough for me and shouldn’t be for you.’

‘It’s not just about me; you’ve all got to start stirring the pot and expecting more.’

Flavoured milk has now been taken off the menu at all of LA’s schools, say CH4.

Jamie's Food Revolution LA-the chef refuses to give in

Jamie fought back against the LAUSD last night by moving his kitchen outside Wesr Adams’ school after his filming permit expired.

He told the students on his last visit them and their families are welcome to come to his kitchen to learn about healthy food and how to cook. They can’t stop me on my own premises out of school time, he reminded them.

The naked chef also worked to convince Mike, who is part of the team that runs West Adams’ school, to become independent of the LAUSD and go it alone like one school an hour and a half’s drive away in Santa Barbara. The only problem is budgets, confessed Mike on a visit to the school. But the chef proved that healthy food costs can be kept to a minimum as the Santa Barbara institution have 70 per cent of pupils on free school meals and still make a profit by growing their own fruit and vegetables. Pupils even said they liked their school’s meals and marked them 10/10.

Mike agreed to go ahead with the changes, starting with introducing a vegetable bed into his school, something Jamie was not allowed to help with having been disallowed from stepping onto the school’s grounds.

During the programme, the chef also revisited the family he helped in last week’s show, and received an award from UCLA for ‘Public Health Champion.’

‘This year I haven’t errant it yet’, he said in his thank you speech. ‘It’s been the hardest month of my whole career.’

‘The only way brilliant change can happen is if all areas come together at the same time and invest in making social health change.’

However, next week it looks like Jamie could get his wish, as the newly appointed LAUSD superintendent agrees to a meeting and suggests changing (food) policy in schools.

Jamie's Food Revolution LA-the chef is under attack

Jamie’s filming came to an abrupt end on last night’s programme as the production company had their permits revoked by the LAUSD, causing filming to cease at the LA school.

‘Anyone would think we’re dealing with military secrets’, argued Jamie.

‘We’re going to fight the decision’, Mike reassures the chef.

‘We’re the good guys’, said Jamie.

The news came after Jamie was told by the school he could cook for all the pupils under the advisory programme, designed to get kids ready for college.

Earlier, the celeb chef took over a maths and social studies class. In maths he shown the pupils the effects of ‘bad’ foods can have on their health. The pupils were asked to choose a snack, chocolate, pizza, an orange, fizzy drink, and made them carry the weight on their back that they would put on over a month of eating the same types of foods without exercise.

In social studies, the pupil’s met their ‘future selves’, men and women who are overweight and suffering from health problems such as type 2 diabetes. The lesson hit home, with many of the teens admitting they worry about their family’s health.

The celeb chef also helped a single dad, who was struggling to provide his two sons with healthy meals, instead he feed them fast food nearly three times a week.

‘They (LAUSD) won’t stop me or the Food Revolution’, said Jamie. ‘I’m going guerrilla. LAUSD don’t own the kids or me. I’m going to find a kitchen right in front of the school for teachers and parents.’

‘If they wanted a war they’ve got one.’

Although the LAUSD told Jamie they wouldn’t be changing their decision at a meeting of the board the chef attended where he thanked the district for their time and co-operation.

‘It’s not a boutique café operation’, said LAUSD administrator Raymond Kortinez. ‘We have guidance we have to follow. I was at an elementary school in the week, all the food was proper. Not everyone liked it but that’s what we have to serve.’

‘You’ve attempted to make the school a stage. I’ve made the decision.’

Jamie asked he if could respond to the comments, the board shook their heads.

However, it looks like there could be light at the end of the tunnel next week as the LAUSD appoint a new superintendent.

Jamie's Food Revolution LA: The chef gets sidelined.

Jamie’s mission to bring healthy meals to LA’s schools was closed down on last night’s episode, as he celeb chef was told the LAUSD had forbidden him from competing with cafeteria food, despite his students making and serving 150 meals to paying pupils.

‘Letting you in was a quarter of the battle’, Mike from the school management told him. ‘You’re not allowed to compete with cafeteria food, film cafeteria food or sell alternative meals during school hours.’

‘It’s a massive fingers up’, replied Jamie.

‘It’s up to you now’, a tearful Jamie told Spanish speaking volunteer parents at a meeting, before embracing his role as a culinary educator at the school and teaching the pupils where food comes from.

His lesson was clearly overdue as most of the 17-year-olds failed an elementary level test, claiming butter comes from corn, cocoa from a chocolate river, I wish, and honey from a honey bear, and it was multiple choice answers.

To prove his point further, the chef held a science lesson showing the teens what ingredients are used in their favourite sweet treat, ice cream sundaes. Over 200 ingredients, he said were present in their desserts, including varnish from bugs to coat sweets, human hair and duck feathers to bind store bought ice-cream.

‘It’s a lesson they will remember’, said Jamie.

The chef also won over Deno, the fast food owner of Patra’s, who agreed to serve only Jamie’s meat patties in his restaurant in return for a makeover of the joint and a new fat reducing grill. He even got Deno a spot on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show to promote the new restaurant and burgers.

‘The real test is when Jamie isn’t here’, claimed Deno, who said his priority was running a business when he met with Jamie’s pupil Sophia, who told him how fast food restaurants are killing her family.

It was only when a local nursery approached Deno after a successful launch of the new restaurant, and told him how he is saving children in the area, that Deno really understood how powerful his decision was.

‘I’m going to push it (the burgers)’, Deno told Jamie. ‘I’m not going to pull the plug don’t worry.’

Next week Jamie has an even bigger fight on his hands, coming face to face with the president of the LAUSD. It could get messy?!

Jamie's Food Revolution: LA's Schools Board doesn't play ball

Jamie recruited a small army of kids on last night’s episode of the Food Revolution, in an attempt to get the LA Schools District on board, and allow him to make changes to school meals.

But despite making some allies, he was still refused entry to the city’s elementary schools. That is until he found a loophole in the system, a school owned by the LAUSD but run by contractors LMA, who welcomed him to the school, but warned him they needed results as going against the board could mean the school looses funding and they loose their jobs.

To keep the LAUSD sweet, the school made Jamie pose as a cookery teacher, giving him the chance to teach the children, half of which are obese, about the importance of eating good food. He shown a small group who take culinary skills how to make burritos and learnt that most of them fear becoming ill from being overweight. One girl, Sophia, told Jamie how her 13-year-old sister and parents have type 2 diabetes, and she worries she is next. Jamie’s plan- to get the group to act as his crusaders and come up with a healthy alternative to school meals.

However, the LAUSD got wind of his ideas and forbid him from talking to any of the children about school meals. Even peering through the window into the cafeteria Jamie got a telling off. ‘In the land of the free I can’t talk to children about the food they eat everyday. It makes me angry, and as Americans it should make you furious’, said Jamie.

The celeb chef’s luck didn’t improve when he made a return visit to see Deano, who runs a fast food restaurant. Jamie told the owner that he could double his takings, and asked for full control of the menu for two weeks.

‘Two weeks is too long’, claimed Deano. ‘I have a wife and kids. I’m concerned because you are English and wasn’t born in America. You don’t know what a milkshake is.’ Deano’s comment referred to last week when the chef adapted his milkshakes to make them healthier using yoghurt instead of ice-cream and fresh fruit instead of syrup, a drink which the fast food owner said was more like a smoothie.

In the end Deano agreed with Jamie to split the menu in half, the old originals vs Jamie’s three new healthier burgers with less than half the calories, and his lighter milkshake. All appeared to be going well, with the customers giving Jamie’s burger the thumbs up, until the chef posed as a customer and ordered a shake from the drive through, only to see Deano add ice-cream and syrup to his healthy milkshake.

‘I thought it needed something’, was Deano’s excuse.

And it seems next week Jamie is in for an even tougher time. Will the chef ever get a break?

Jamie's Food Revolution:the chef's celeb status fails him in LA

Jamie’s likability and Essex slang just doesn’t translate in LA, as shown on the first of last night’s Jamie's Food Revolution, LA on CH4. In a desperate attempt to fit in, Jamie even attempted some American slang and vocabulary, using phrases such as ‘Gee Whizz’ and calling burgers patties and referring to data as dat a.

The naked chef, who has made it his life’s mission to make school meals across the globe healthier, came up against a brick wall of authority0the LA Schools District board, who refused to grant him permission to observe food practices in all of the city’s schools.

His back up plan was to round up the parents for support by inviting them to his kitchen, where he revealed the gruesome truth about the meat, if you can call it that, used in school dishes. Meat that is used to make dog food, and which butchers pay to be taken away, and treated with ammonia to kill salmonella. A process only used in America!

His demo may have had an impact on the mums and dads, but the board still refused to allow him access to the schools. And at a board meeting Jamie, who was promised a slot with the head of food, was palmed off with his communications manager, who told him to send an email, and basically jump through many hoops.

No problem, the chef had another trick up his sleeves, trying to convince the owner of an  independent burger joint to swap his poor quality ‘patties’ for the real deal, Angus beef, and milkshakes made from real fruit and yoghurt rather than a syrup substitute.

‘It’s nice’, said owner Deano, when he tried the shake, ‘but not a real milkshake without ice-cream, more like a smoothie.’

And the burger? Deano admitted it was juicer, but at double the price not profitable.

The final nail in the coffin for Jamie, who brought his whole family over to the States, was when only 15 parents turned up to his visual lecture on the evils of giving children flavoured milk in schools. To prove his point, he filled a US school bus with 57 tonnes of sugar (see pic), the amount of sugar from a week’s worth of milk served. But still no word from the board.

‘Ive never had an institution that has shut us down like this’, said Jamie. ‘We’re just dreading water and getting nowhere. It’s a great show on hoe people don’t give a *@!!@***. ‘Maybe LA was a mistake’, admits the chef.

Jamie's Dream School- The cracks start to show

You can take the concept out of school but you can't the pupils, leant Jamie as the kids continued to run riot in the Dream School.

Even acting head John cracked under the pressue, telling Jamie 'I can't sleep. Over the last two days I've been more stressed than over the last two years in my job. If I'd of known it would have been like this I wouldn't have done it.'
'The harder it is the greater reward', reminded Jamie. 'But I will cry with you at the end of the four weeks if it's (outcome) not perfect.'

The kids' disruptive behaviour also caused the new teachers- Professor Mary Beard, Latin, and former Poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion, to nearly pack the job in after one lesson. Fortunately for Jamie, they stuck it out, with Sir Michael making his poetry class optional, kicking the rowdy pupils out of his lesson, and Prof Mary asking the teens how they thought she could control their bad behaviour, which helped get them on side.

The Dream School also lost one pupil, LeToya, who agonised over whether to continue with the scheme. After deciding not to quit, her one-year-old daughter came down with chicken pox. LeToya was crushed.

Next week Cherie Blair and Daley Thompson try their hand at teaching, plus the students observe a real-life surgical procedure, beats reading a text book!

David Starky returns to Dream School a changed man

The school of second chances this week welcomed teacher David Starky back after the historian got into a war of words with a pupil in his first lesson.

At a meeting between Starky and the acting head, the historian claimed Connor had started the argument by calling him short and he had retaliated by telling him he was fat. 'My memory is accurate' he said. Whereas it was actually Starky who started the whole thing. He then gives the acting a head a history lesson on why he is short, which is apparently down to a condition with his feet as a child.The conclusion of the meeting is that Starky will give it another try, and he even apologises to Connor. Even more shocking, the historian speaks to teacher Jazzy B, music, to ask how he can engage with the pupils. Surprisingly his hard work pays off and the pupils listen intently to his lesson. Some claim it's the best lesson yet, pat on the back to Starky.

Along with Jazzy B, the new additions to the Dream School are fashion photographer Rankin, who showcases the pupil's artistic talents with a project that sees them destroy a self-portrait, Alistair Campbell, whose debate continues in the playground with Jenny and Georgie scrapping. Even Jamie lends a hand and holds a cookery lesson, but not before taking away the teens' mobile phones.

Simon Callow continued to attempt to teach the pupils Shakespeare to his detriment. A trip to the theatre to see him perform, meant as a treat, went horribly wrong as the pupils disruptive behaviour ruined the night for the rest of the audience leading to abuse from the theatre goers. Even worse, was that the night's antics were fuelled by a bottle of vodka the teens sneaked into the theatre and drank. And it seems the trouble has only just began as next week, pupil Harlem threatens one of her fellow pupils during a lesson.

Clearly Jamie doesn't realise what he's got himself into.

Jamie's Dream School- The teachers fight back

Historian David Starky revealed his true colours on the first episode of Jamie’s Dream School last night (CH4 9PM).

The intellectual, who was accosted to teach an unruly bunch of kids history used insults to discipline the pupils, calling one boy fat after he failed to gain control of the class. The boy retaliated by referring to the historian’s height, or lack of.

Not  the best start for Jamie’s new project where professionals at the top of their field are invited to teach children who have no or few GCSE’s about their subject in a fun and engaging way.

In a normal world, Starky would have been fired, but Jamie and his acting head teacher said they were torn about what to do. So much for an improved school that encourages unruly children to go back to full-time education where the use of insults is promoted?

Fortunately the rest of the lessons went to plan, with Dr Robert Winston teaching science and scaring the teens with the corpse of a pig, Rolf Harris showing the kids how to paint in art, actor Simon Callow teaching them about Shakespeare for English and Dame Ellen McArthur taking a small group sailing, just a normal school day then?