Teach Everychild About Food by Jamie Oliver

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According to passionate chefs, America is at its “tipping point.” (Oliver, 2010, para 8) Over the past few decades food has took a drastic plunge towards unknown ingredients and chemicals. Most of society would agree that children are the future but surprising statistics make that hard to believe; they cannot become the future if they are being fed to death. Jamie Oliver and Ann Cooper are two of many chefs who are working hard to educate people about real food. Lectures given by each of them send the overall message that the future of humanity is within the food we are eating. Jamie Oliver’s lecture, “Teach every child about food” from 2010, opens up with the scary truth that Americans are putting upon themselves: “Diet-related disease is the biggest killer in the U.S.” It is said that the children of today will have a life span ten years shorter than their parents because of the food they are eating. Oliver continues by sharing the statistic that in ten years this country will be spending about $300 billion a year on obesity costs. Information like this is proving that money is being put towards all of the wrong things. Ann Cooper’s similar lecture, “What’s wrong with school lunches,” given in 2007, takes a strong stand against the USDA (The United States Department of Agriculture) and what they are calling food. Cooper suggests to listeners that the USDA does not have their best interest at heart; claiming a social injustice issue among them. In 2014, the USDA has an estimated $146 billion to go towards programs such as nutrition assistance, farm commodity, food safety, and many more. Considering the statistics given by Oliver, around less than half of the amount of money being spent on obesity costs are being spent on food... ... middle of paper ... ... be going to nutritious foods that do not give bodies a requirement for diet aids. Money being spent on fast food needs to be given to schools to produce real food for children. Society should overall be teaching each other how to cook, teaching each other the importance of food, and saving humanity. The longer that is takes for society to see their mistakes the worse the situation will become. Everyday more and more children are casting a larger shadow over their life span without the knowledge to improve it. All in all, society needs to come together before it is too late. Works Cited http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html http://www.ted.com/talks/ann_cooper_talks_school_lunches.html http://www.obpa.usda.gov/budsum/FY14budsum.pdf http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/pink-slime-fast-food_n_1237206.html http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fast-food

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