Ignorance of Food

Jamie Oliver makes a a compelling argument for food education in America and how it can change the world at TED’s.

The guy is trying to start a food revolution. I first heard about his television project coming out of West Virginia, the least healthiest state in the Union, but I heard about this talk from John Bryson‘s twitter feed today.

I highly recommend watching the 20 minute talk. One of the two most powerful moments for me was where he said that if he was standing on stage with a cure for AIDS people would rush the stage, but yet no one cares about the cure for poor eating habits which is biggest killer in developed countries.

It is hard to tell by the size of the image below, but basically all the ones in red are food related deaths:

You can see this chart at the 2:00 minute mark of his talk.

He also had a strong argument for training students to cook in school. He said that every student has to graduate with the ability to cook 10 healthy meals. It makes sense.

TED’s also asked Jamie to make one wish…..here it is:

Last but not least, wait till you see the elementary students try to identify vegetables. It is unreal what they don’t know. Jamie argues if they don’t know what it is, they won’t eat it. (That rings true in the Carroll home, not only for the kids! HA!)