Nora's notes

More digging into Jamie Oliver's previous work with British schools and their iconic dinner ladies led me to find a fascinating set of child-centered learnings from Nora Sands, one of Jamie Oliver's early partners/adversaries/allies when he worked on the English version of Food Revolution, called Jamie's School Dinners.

Called Nora's notes, she gives her thoughts on the journey from old habits to new practices. 

"...if you can ask some of the older children to help serve and put the salad on each plate, the younger children seem to be much more inclined to take it if someone they know is serving it."

"Try giving the children tasters so that if they are ever not familiar with something, you give them the opportunity to try it first."

Where are the healthiest school kids in America?

Jamie Oliver's quest to save the morbidly obese kids of Huntington, West Virginia has been well televised and documented on his TV show. This clip below shows some of the deep problems at work in this town. And as I delve into this messy, massively complex world of food issues with the cafeteria redesign project, I wanted to take a leaf out of the book, 'Switch' (by Chip and Dan Heath), and ask, where are the bright spots?

Where are the healthiest school kids in America?

What are they eating, what do know about food, what are their parents serving them for dinner and what's stopping them from being the norm everywhere?