tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/jamie-oliver-6971/articlesJamie Oliver – The Conversation2023-04-04T11:03:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1981242023-04-04T11:03:37Z2023-04-04T11:03:37ZA brief history of school meals in the UK: from free milk to Jamie Oliver’s campaign against Turkey Twizzlers<p>Mashed potato, gravy, custard. When British people hear the words “school dinners”, it’s not always great memories that come to mind. </p>
<p>That’s not the case for everyone. Indeed France is known for its gourmet school lunches cooked by <a href="https://www.connexionfrance.com/article/People/Interviews/French-chef-serving-Michelin-quality-cuisine-to-school-pupils-Nicolas-Lamstaes-has-created-France-s-first-100-organic-canteen">onsite chefs</a> – bon appétit!</p>
<p>But in the UK people have been complaining about <a href="https://archive.org/details/poorcitizensstat0000vinc">school meals</a> for a long time.
Celebrity chef <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/mar/06/schoolmeals">Jamie Oliver</a> campaigned against cheap processed foods like “<a href="https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/food-and-drink/turkey-twizzlers-bernard-matthews-history-banned-schools-jamie-oliver-new-recipe-taste-test-581342">turkey twizzlers</a>” in the early 2000s. And Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s prime minister in the 1970s, was nicknamed the “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatcher-regretted-snatching-milk-from-school-children-for-two-decades-a7500171.html">milk snatcher</a>” when she was education secretary because she stopped free milk for children in schools.</p>
<p>Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more children than ever before have become eligible for free school meals. In fact, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2022">1.9 million children</a> (22.5% of all school-age children in England) were eligible for free school lunches in 2022 – up from 17.3% in 2020. </p>
<p><a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2020-0114/">Free school meals</a> have long been used as a measure of poverty. Children are eligible if they come from families with low incomes or who receive certain benefits. </p>
<p>The provision of <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/311/7008/818.1">free school meals</a> has become particularly significant as levels of child poverty in the UK have risen. And the pandemic highlighted the importance of ensuring that children from low-income families have access to nutritious meals. The government provided free meal vouchers to <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2020-10-21/debates/79C0CA8D-CADF-4562-9317-5A51810BB5DE/FreeSchoolMeals">eligible children</a> during school closures.</p>
<p>The issue of <a href="https://theconversation.com/free-school-meals-debate-shows-how-victorian-attitudes-about-undeserving-poor-persist-149130">free school meals</a> and school meals more broadly has also been the subject of controversy over recent years, with <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/kids-children-school-lunches-canteen-unhealthy-a9072816.html">concerns raised</a> about the adequacy of the meals provided and the nutritional quality of the food served. </p>
<h2>From rationing to revolution</h2>
<p>But problems with school meals <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6074399M/Social_history_of_the_school_meals_service.">goes back much further</a>. In fact they started when the government first began offering meals to schoolchildren <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1906/57/enacted">in 1906</a>. Back then, local education authorities decided whether or not to provide meals and they were only for children who showed evidence of actual malnutrition. </p>
<p>It wasn’t until the second world war that the number of pupils who got <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674026780">school meals</a> began to rise significantly. But even then, the meals weren’t great. Indeed, during this time, the government introduced rationing, which had a significant impact on school meals. As a result, meals were often limited to basic, low-cost ingredients such as vegetables, potatoes and bread.</p>
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<p>In the post-war years, school meals underwent significant changes. The introduction of new technologies such as electric ovens and refrigerators meant that schools could provide more varied and nutritious meals and menus began to include meat, fish and desserts.</p>
<p>The 1970s saw a renewed focus on healthy eating and the introduction of official guidelines for school meals. These guidelines aimed to provide a balanced diet that included plenty of fruit, vegetables and whole grains.</p>
<p>But in <a href="http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/acts/1980-educationhttp://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/acts/1980-education-act.htmlact.html#06">the 1980s</a>, things went downhill. The Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher introduced a policy of privatisation, which led to many schools <a href="https://weownit.org.uk/blog/profit-should-have-no-place-school-meal-provision">outsourcing their catering services</a> to private companies. </p>
<p>This move was criticised by many who felt that these companies were more interested in making a profit than providing healthy and nutritious meals to children.</p>
<h2>Feeding the future</h2>
<p>Since thenm, there have been several initiatives (including Jamie Oliver’s) to improve the quality of school meals in the UK, including the introduction of strict nutritional standards and the promotion of locally sourced and sustainable ingredients. But concerns about the quality of some meals still remain. Indeed many children continue to bring <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/packed-lunches-worse-for-kids-than-school-dinners-11908182">packed lunches</a> to school instead.</p>
<p>This is why as part of our <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/education/research/school-meals-service-past-present-and-future">new research project</a> we want to understand the problems with the school meals service and find ways to make it better. We’ll be looking at the experience of school feeding across generations and working with schools in the UK to study school meals today. The goal is to create a better school meals service that can meet the needs of the 21st century.</p>
<p>Overall, improving school meals in the UK will require a multi-faceted approach that addresses funding, food quality and sustainability. Most importantly, we need politicians to take a long-term, historically-informed approach to policymaking, so that past mistakes can be learned from and this knowledge used to inform decisions about school meals going forward. It’s our hope that this research will go some way towards achieving better nutritional standards for future generations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198124/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gurpinder Singh Lalli has received funding from ESRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gary McCulloch receives funding from the ESRC and has received funding from the Leverhulme Trust and the Society for Educational Studies. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Ellis receives funding from the ESRC and the AHRC and has received funding from the Society for Educational Studies.</span></em></p>From soup and semolina to Jamie’s school dinners: the changing face of school meals in the UK.Gurpinder Singh Lalli, Reader in Education for Social Justice and Inclusion, University of WolverhamptonGary McCulloch, Brian Simon Professor of History of Education, UCLHeather Ellis, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow, School of Education, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1511302020-12-01T17:05:29Z2020-12-01T17:05:29ZCOVID vaccine: celebrity endorsements work – even if people don’t like it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372256/original/file-20201201-14-q00nr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=147%2C28%2C3647%2C2492&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rumor has it that Marcus Rashford and members of royal family will help with the NHS vaccine rollout campaign.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/marcus-rashford-manchester-united-during-match-1256741866">Jose Breton- Pics Action/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With trust in this government at an <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/survey-trust-in-british-government-dropped-to-record-low/">all time low</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-believing-in-conspiracies-goes-hand-in-hand-with-vaccine-hesitancy-148192">anti-vaxxer sentiment</a> running wild on social media, the NHS plans to enlist “sensible” celebrities and “influencers” with big social media followings to help <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/30/using-celebs-advertise-vaccines-sign-desperate-governing-class/">persuade people</a> to have a COVID vaccine.</p>
<p>While there haven’t been any celebrities confirmed as yet, England footballer <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8999117/Marcus-Rashford-rumoured-star-recruits-promote-Covid-19-jab-counter-anti-vax-scare.html">Marcus Rashford</a> has been touted as a possible spokesperson after his work earlier in the year campaigning to end child hunger.</p>
<p>The idea to use <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/elvis-saved-america-polio-celebrities-can-help-conquer-vaccine/">celebrities to endorse</a> the COVID-19 vaccine might sound like an innovative method to communicate with the public. But the use of celebrities to promote a government agenda is something that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/joepublic/2008/aug/20/beckham.ferdinand.knifecrime">has been done</a> for years. And it has proven to be highly effective. </p>
<p>The government has previously used celebrity endorsement on a wide variety of campaigns – from school dinners to knife crime to lowering cocaine use – with the help of footballers <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/joepublic/2008/aug/20/beckham.ferdinand.knifecrime">David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand</a>, chef <a href="https://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/">Jamie Oliver</a> and former Blur bassist <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/a96522/alex-james-backs-anti-cocaine-exhibition/">Alex James</a>, to name just a few. </p>
<p>Even throughout this pandemic, <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2020/09/why-local-councils-are-using-celebrity-cameos-fight-covid-19">local governments</a> have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwUbPtcHNYw&feature=youtu.be">joined forces</a> with well-known local faces to pass on key messages about staying at home and washing hands. </p>
<h2>The celebrity message</h2>
<p>Celebrity endorsement and influence has been a long-term <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1111670/Anger-NHS-pays-90-000-celebrities-public-health-ad-campaigns.html">communications strategy</a> for successive governments. It works because <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mar.21315">celebrity endorsement</a> can cut through the noise and make people <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0267257X.2019.1632373">consider options</a> they may have outright rejected. And in many cases a friendly face or voice, with an encouraging and persuasive message can tip the balance of a decision.</p>
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<p>Politicians know it can be the source of the message, rather than the message itself, that’s often the hurdle to behavioural change and action. And celebrity endorsement is just one of the tactics applied in a wider portfolio of political communication strategies. </p>
<p>The reason why celebrity endorsement works to promote a brand or a political initiative is simple. People look at celebrities as an <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23046602">aspirational self</a>. They want to be like them: successful, confident, beautiful. Subconsciously this makes a person not only feel favourably <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269695475_Celebrities_as_human_brands_An_investigation_of_the_effects_of_personality_and_time_on_celebrities'_appeal">towards the celebrity</a> but also keen to <a href="https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-016-0395-1">behave like them</a>, too. </p>
<p>That said, <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2018/10/29/majority-britons-want-celebrities-keep-their-polit">research</a> from 2018, that analysed how Britons feel about the use of celebrity endorsement to promote political agendas, found that people weren’t so keen. The majority of participants in the study felt celebrity endorsements wouldn’t make a difference to their decision making. Though most people questioned did think that celebrities might have an impact on other peoeple’s decisions. </p>
<p>This comes as no surprise, as people tend to reject the idea that a celebrity can influence their judgement. But as years of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317561256_Celebrity_Endorsement_Influence_on_Brand_Credibility_A_Critical_Review_of_Previous_Studies">research</a> on the effect of celebrity endorsements show, it works – even if people are not always aware of the effect. </p>
<h2>Effective communication?</h2>
<p>It’s important to also consider if celebrity endorsement, particularly when contracted by the government and not when personally volunteering to promote a cause, is a dangerous practice? </p>
<p>Indeed, the government already has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/01/public-trust-in-uk-government-over-coronavirus-falls-sharply">low credibility</a> and this could be further eroded by the fact that they need someone else to send their messages. It could also be seen as the government admitting that it’s not able to get through to the public or do the job that politicians and their task-forces are paid for.</p>
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<img alt="Doctor holding syringe about to inject patient in medical mask." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372259/original/file-20201201-17-1w0pq1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372259/original/file-20201201-17-1w0pq1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372259/original/file-20201201-17-1w0pq1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372259/original/file-20201201-17-1w0pq1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372259/original/file-20201201-17-1w0pq1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372259/original/file-20201201-17-1w0pq1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372259/original/file-20201201-17-1w0pq1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Celebs are being recruited to boost vaccine uptake.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-doctor-holding-syringe-using-cotton-1767084407">BaLL LunLa/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>If the celebrity is not volunteering but is paid by the government to communicate with the public, there’s also the risk that the government may <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276158047_Celebrity_Endorsement_for_Nonprofit_Organizations_The_Role_of_Celebrity_Motive_Attribution_and_Spontaneous_Judgment_of_Celebrity-Cause_Incongruence">lose credibility</a> in the eyes of the public. And picking the wrong celebrity that doesn’t give the public a sense of “expertise” about what they’re asked to promote is another big risk. </p>
<p>On the other hand, when there’s health or major societal issues at stake, the use of a third party to deliver <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1081180X05279278">an important message</a> can help to depoliticise the request and send the idea that no matter who you vote for, this is important and you should follow what’s being asked.</p>
<h2>Celebrity opinion</h2>
<p>This is not to say that celebrities should not have political opinions or shouldn’t express them. It’s more related to the fact that social issues should be a priority for society, and politicians are there and paid to represent society and solve these issues. </p>
<p>The government is not a brand that needs promotion. It dosn’t need to sell itself to look good in the eyes of the public. Or at least it shouldn’t have to.</p>
<p>Besides, politicians arguably should already have all the tools (and the science) needed to promote vaccine uptake. They shouldn’t need to turn to celebrities to get people to pay attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151130/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s hoped the NHS’s use of celebrity endorsement will influence the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine – and research backs that up.Lisa Du-Lieu, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of HuddersfieldAlessia Grassi, Lecturer in Marketing, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1171582019-06-19T11:10:48Z2019-06-19T11:10:48ZTime to cook is a luxury many families don’t have<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280035/original/file-20190618-118505-1dccur7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Getting a healthy meal on the table every night is a challenge for many mothers. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-family-enjoying-healthy-meal-together-204228673?src=MfBA_Xzi_zY-ynxm740dcw-1-4&studio=1">ESB Professional/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have Americans forgotten how to cook? Many lament the fact that Americans spend less time cooking than they did in previous generations. Whereas women <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-12-45">spent nearly two hours</a> a day in the kitchen in 1965, they spent a little <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-018-0347-9">less than an hour preparing meals</a> in 2016. Men are cooking more than they used to, but still only cook <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-018-0347-9">20 minutes a day</a>. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver?language=en#t-36435">2014 TED Talk</a>, which has more than 8 million views, British chef and food celebrity Jamie Oliver paces the stage, lecturing the audience about the amount of processed food people in the United States consume. His message: Americans “need to start passing on cooking skills again.”</p>
<p>Oliver and other food reformers believe that the time is there to cook, if only people would get their priorities straight. Families could be more efficient by cooking in batches on the weekend or investing in time-saving gadgets like the Instant Pot. </p>
<p>But telling families to better manage their time is not likely to solve the cooking struggles American families face. </p>
<p>As social scientists who study food, family and health, we embarked on a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/pressure-cooker-9780190663292?cc=us&lang=en&">five-year study</a> to find out what it takes to put a meal on the table. We interviewed a diverse group of 150 mothers of young children and spent over 250 hours observing families as they shopped for groceries, cooked meals and ate them. </p>
<p>The results, published in our recent book “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/pressure-cooker-9780190663292?cc=us&lang=en&">Pressure Cooker: Why Home Cooking Won’t Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It</a>,” reveal that the mothers in our study cared deeply about food and their children’s health, and they spent a good deal of time cooking. But even so, most felt they were coming up short. Their experiences illustrate why insisting that parents “make time to cook” overlooks why unpredictable work schedules, time conflicts and the expense of time-saving options matter. </p>
<h2>Unpredictable work schedules</h2>
<p>Americans’ work lives are increasingly unpredictable and hectic. A 2015 study found that 17% of people have jobs with <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/irregular-work-scheduling-and-its-consequences/">irregular schedules</a>, a disproportionate number of them low-income workers. Having little control over time makes it difficult for families to plan their meals in advance or even to know who will be there for dinner. Nonstandard work schedules are also associated with an <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-015-2407-9">increased risk of health problems</a>. When food experts or celebrity chefs talk about making time for dinner, they rarely consider households whose daily rhythm is largely out of their control. </p>
<p>This was the case for Ashley and Marquan Taylor (all names are pseudonyms), a working-class family in our study. The couple worked for the same fast food chain, but at different branches, 45 minutes apart. They picked up as many shifts as they could with the hopes of repairing their car and catching up on the bills. </p>
<p>Ashley did her best to put meals on the table. She kept a meticulous binder of coupons to save the family money at the grocery store. However her unpredictable work schedule made it difficult to find time to cook. “I told the manager to put me on a schedule,” Ashley explained, sounding exasperated. “They ask me every day if I can stay late.” Much of Ashley’s day is governed by the decisions other people make. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279872/original/file-20190617-118501-ai28nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279872/original/file-20190617-118501-ai28nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279872/original/file-20190617-118501-ai28nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279872/original/file-20190617-118501-ai28nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279872/original/file-20190617-118501-ai28nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279872/original/file-20190617-118501-ai28nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279872/original/file-20190617-118501-ai28nk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Many minimum wage employees at fast food restaurants have unpredictable schedules.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/minimum-wage-employee-fast-food-restaurant-735498757?src=2yBZEyRHmwXcVt2FNbL61w-1-1&studio=1">Seika Chujo/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Competing demands on parents’ time</h2>
<p>The idea of slowing down and making time for food sounds ideal. But in reality, today’s families have a <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/11/04/raising-kids-and-running-a-household-how-working-parents-share-the-load/">lot on their metaphorical plate</a>. Surveys show that working parents report <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/11/04/raising-kids-and-running-a-household-how-working-parents-share-the-load/">feeling rushed</a>. Mothers, in particular, <a href="http://www.brigidschulte.com/books/overhelmed/">feel overwhelmed</a>. Women still do the <a href="https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-018-0347-9">majority of cooking</a> and <a href="https://www.bls.gov/tus/charts/household.htm">housework</a>, even though <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/famee.pdf">76% of mothers</a> with a child between the ages of 6 and 17 work outside the home.</p>
<p>Women also experience <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/08/facts-about-u-s-mothers/">cultural pressure</a> to be highly involved in their children’s lives. Greely Janson, a middle-class mother in our study, felt this pressure acutely. “When I have the time, I enjoy cooking. But when it’s so compressed after a stressful day, cooking is horrible,” she said. Greely felt torn at the end of the day. She wanted to cook <em>and</em> help her daughter finish her Valentine’s Day cards for school. Greely tried cooking in batches on the weekend to save time during the week. It worked for a little while. But then life got even more hectic. As Greely and her husband’s work hours increased, and they continued shuttling their daughter to after-school activities, Greely’s time-saving system broke down. </p>
<p>Despite her best efforts, Greely couldn’t manage competing demands — like cooking healthy meals and doing school projects with her daughter — as well as she wanted. And she is not alone. Although parents today spend more quality time with their kids <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12305">than parents in 1965</a>, many still feel like it’s <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/17/parenting-in-america/st_2015-12-17_parenting-30/">not enough time</a>. When food reformers tell parents they aren’t taking the time to prepare healthy, fresh meals, they fail to recognize the competing commitments parents are managing. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279870/original/file-20190617-118539-v29rpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279870/original/file-20190617-118539-v29rpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279870/original/file-20190617-118539-v29rpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279870/original/file-20190617-118539-v29rpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279870/original/file-20190617-118539-v29rpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279870/original/file-20190617-118539-v29rpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279870/original/file-20190617-118539-v29rpk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Many mothers are constantly juggling a job, childcare and meal preparation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/multitasking-mother-babysitting-working-home-1007040469?src=JAByMPZhfrjaTfAvtlsG0g-1-47&studio=1">vchal/SHutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Expensive shortcuts</h2>
<p>The market has solutions for families looking to cook from scratch more efficiently. Meal delivery kits like HelloFresh or Blue Apron take the work out of planning a meal. And supermarkets will deliver groceries to your door, for a price. Some food advocates argue that kitchen technologies make cooking from scratch <a href="https://slowfoodwesternslope.org/slate-criticizes-the-home-cooked-family-dinner-joel-salatin-responds/">easier than ever</a>. The problem is that many families cannot afford food processors, an Instant Pot or a meal delivery subscription. Other options like pre-cut vegetables also save time, but cost more than whole vegetables. Market solutions exist for those who can pay for them. But for many poor and working-class families, these options are out of reach.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279869/original/file-20190617-118518-lr2i3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279869/original/file-20190617-118518-lr2i3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279869/original/file-20190617-118518-lr2i3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279869/original/file-20190617-118518-lr2i3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279869/original/file-20190617-118518-lr2i3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279869/original/file-20190617-118518-lr2i3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279869/original/file-20190617-118518-lr2i3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=633&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Blue Apron is a meal delivery service that provides weekly meal ingredients and recipes to subscribers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/illustrative-editorial-open-box-meal-prep-664337677?src=1qZt8th9J-Ak58JPH-AKRA-1-0&studio=1">Duplass/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>Time to stop blaming parents</h2>
<p>Americans are increasingly strapped for time and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/05/work-life-balance/590662/">struggle to find balance</a>. Society cannot keep asking parents – and especially mothers – to do more with the little time they have. Families, like the ones in our study, are already prioritizing food and their children’s health. But many simply don’t have as much time, or control over their time, as food reformers imagine. </p>
<p>Americans need to spend less time blaming parents for not using their time well, and more time advocating for better working conditions and more support for families. Many of the families in our study found the idea of slowing down and eating together appealing. But in order for this to happen, they need predictable work schedules and a living wage that pays the bills. </p>
<p>Demanding workplaces and the cultural expectation to parent intensively place a huge time burden on today’s parents. Investing in families and their health requires taking the time to support them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Bowen received funding for this research from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sinikka Elliott received funding for this research from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joslyn Brenton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Celebrity chefs often preach about the ease of home cooking and meal planning. But for most mothers juggling a job, child care, housework and meal prep, this is virtually impossible.Joslyn Brenton, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Ithaca CollegeSarah Bowen, Associate Professor of Sociology, North Carolina State UniversitySinikka Elliott, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1176862019-05-23T11:02:36Z2019-05-23T11:02:36ZWhy did Jamie Oliver’s eateries go bust? Don’t blame the chain restaurant business<p>As the chain of mid-range Italian restaurants run by star TV chef Jamie Oliver <a href="https://theconversation.com/jamie-oliver-restaurant-closures-did-the-celebrity-chef-bite-off-more-than-he-could-chew-117532">goes into administration</a>, the reactions will be mixed. Some may mourn the closure of these restaurants, which offered a veneer of breezy cool and authentic “Italianness”. But, ultimately, sales weren’t high enough to keep them afloat. </p>
<p>For “foodies” there is something a bit naff about a chain restaurant. They may well smugly roll their eyes at the bottles of olive oil with Jamie’s friendly face staring at them encouragingly from the label and reach instead for something more “authentic”. </p>
<p>But chain restaurants are as authentic to the British food world as the inns and taverns of the 18th century. While Jamie’s Italian and a number of other mid-market chain restaurants <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48355861">are closing down</a>, history tells us that the chain restaurant in its different guises will remain for many years to come.</p>
<p>Like the inns of the 18th century, chain restaurants fulfil people’s basic need to be fed and so offer a commercial opportunity. With the rise of the middle class in the 19th century that had cash to burn, there came new markets for cooks – and new opportunities to transform eating out from a biological necessity to a leisure activity in its own right. </p>
<p>The first major British chain restaurant was the much-loved <a href="https://flashbak.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-lyons-cornerhouses-and-their-nippy-waitresses-35186/">Lyons Cornerhouse</a>. The founders of Lyons opened their first tea house in 1894, and the chain of Cornerhouses began in 1909, lasting until well into the 1970s. These respectable restaurants were welcomed by the British public who were hungry for eateries that were accessible both financially and culturally. </p>
<p>Where the elegant restaurants of the Victorian era could be intimidating to the lower middle classes, Lyons Cornerhouses were easier to navigate, with simple, English-language menus (unlike the elegant French menus of pricier venues) and familiar dishes. Even with all the familiarity, there were still exotic flavours, such as their weekly curry nights. </p>
<p>Like Jamie Oliver, Lyons also had an elegant dining restaurant which operated separately from its mid-priced chain. In Lyons’ case it was the upmarket Trocadero in central London. For Jamie, it was Fifteen in trendy East London, an upmarket restaurant he launched in order to train homeless people to work in the restaurant business. </p>
<h2>Ease and safety</h2>
<p>Diners at Jamie’s Italian may, like patrons of Lyons, have appreciated the ease and safety on offer from a chain. Jamie’s is not McDonald’s. It looks like a restaurant, has an enticing menu, and waiters come to your table to take your order – and later to check on the progress of your meal. There is an ease, perhaps even an elegance, to this. Like the “nippies” who waited on tables in Lyons’ establishments, staff at Jamie’s Italian were always cheerful and put guests at their ease – you might not know much about balsamic vinegar or wild boar ragout, but it was OK because the staff could guide you to make good choices.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276065/original/file-20190523-187169-1uv3663.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276065/original/file-20190523-187169-1uv3663.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276065/original/file-20190523-187169-1uv3663.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276065/original/file-20190523-187169-1uv3663.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276065/original/file-20190523-187169-1uv3663.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276065/original/file-20190523-187169-1uv3663.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276065/original/file-20190523-187169-1uv3663.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A middle-class dining dream.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bristol-england-july-08-2015-jamie-301446536?src=wlhOmRoWVRkXkvu7tp9oww-1-3">Christian Mueller / Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Perhaps Jamie Oliver had a knack that other successful restaurateurs in British history have had – of understanding that when it comes to fine dining many Brits have a bit of an inferiority complex. We want to eat elegantly, but we are worried about who is judging us. </p>
<p>One of the first restaurant critics in the UK, the military man turned journalist, <a href="https://archive.org/details/b21528974/page/n10">Lieutenant Colonel Newnham-Davies</a> summed this up way back in 1899. In a book chapter on “The Difficulties of Dining” he wrote that “It requires a certain amount of bravery” to ask questions about the menu, and order a truly first-rate dinner in a London restaurant. </p>
<p>The great chef of the late 19th century, <a href="http://www.culinarycareer.net/a_escoffier/">August Escoffier</a> invented a formula to help nervous dinners at the Savoy: he would meet with them in the afternoon and compose a menu to suit their needs and make them proud. He kept a record of each meal served, to spare diners the embarrassment of ordering the same dinner twice. At Jamie’s Italian the service was less bespoke, but your possible anxieties were anticipated and averted by the cheerful and knowledgeable staff.</p>
<p>Why, then, has Jamie Oliver had to call in the administrators? Perhaps there is a point where familiarity leads to contempt. While Lyons kept its Cornerhouses going for nearly six decades, in the 21st century we have more choice and a greater desire for novelty. But the restaurant market is saturated. And there are parallels with the ultimate closure of Lyons, which was due to a mix of overstretch and a downturn in the UK economy – both of which are clearly at play in the demise of the Naked Chef’s 25 restaurants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Rich does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Chain restaurants are as authentic to the British food world as the inns and taverns of the 18th century.Rachel Rich, History Course Director, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1175322019-05-22T07:58:44Z2019-05-22T07:58:44ZJamie Oliver restaurant closures – did the celebrity chef bite off more than he could chew?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275711/original/file-20190521-23826-1t1q7s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>More than a decade after being launched with a great fanfare of publicity, Jamie Oliver’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/may/21/jamie-oliver-jobs-administrators-restaurants-jamies-italian">restaurant group has been taken into administration</a> with the potential loss of up to 1,300 jobs. One person unlikely to be redundant, though, is Oliver himself, as the 43-year-old chef and television presenter will almost certainly continue with his television work and the sponsorship deals and advocacy work that his celebrity has brought him. </p>
<p>It is easy to be cynical about celebrity enterprises, whether they are built on real skill – as in the case of Oliver – real talent or pure celebrity status, as in the <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/things-built-under-the-kardashianjenner-empire">case of the Kardashians</a>. </p>
<p>Admittedly he was lucky in getting his break while working at the River Cafe in west London where a film crew was making a documentary and identified his chirpy TV presence as the next big thing in TV chefs. As one <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/why-are-they-famous-jamie-oliver-1092402.htmlas">commentator remarked at the time</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>While some have been par-boiling for decades, young Jamie had put in a mere soupcon of an apprenticeship before his star quality was spotted at London’s famed River Cafe. Take one lad, sprinkle with some clever sexy marketing, add wacky camera angles, and hey presto, a fully-formed superchef is born.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But Oliver was – and is – a natural on television. And he has used his undoubted star power <a href="https://www.jamieoliver.com/features/jamies-plan-to-tackle-childhood-obesity/">as an advocate</a> to try to get people to understand about healthy eating – especially for children and young people – and the importance of home cooked food. </p>
<p>Various popular food brands have leveraged off his popularity and credibility. But his latest <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/19/jamie-oliver-is-burnishing-shells-reputation-and-tarnishing-his-own">association with oil and gas company Shell</a> certainly caused a lot of comment – and in the current climate change debate we doubtless have not heard the last of it. </p>
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<p>The contradiction that he’ll be revamping the oil giant’s food offering is unmistakable to those concerned about climate change – he has been praised as an “environment champion” by the UN’s environment programme after years of campaigning, while Shell’s business plans don’t come close to doing what is required to address the climate crisis. </p>
<h2>A lot on his plate</h2>
<p>So enough of the man, what about his business skills? This is where it might be that the problem lies. While celebrities can and do move into other business for which they have not been trained – Victoria Beckham as fashion designer comes to mind – it is not an easy transition to go from being a TV personality to running what is effectively a large and complex hospitality business. While building a Michelin-starred restaurant such as Le Manoir aux Quatre Saisons requires high-end culinary skills, it is after all only one business. On the other hand, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/16/gordon-ramsay-restaurant-group-hit-by-38m-loss">as Gordon Ramsay found</a>, even having a few premium establishments is a tough business model.</p>
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<p>Of course Oliver himself was not running the business on a day-to-day basis, but he was the driving force behind it and it may be that he did not have the experience or knowledge to recognise that a fashion for dining out is just that – probably temporary when the economy is on the up and people aren’t fearful for the future. At the same time people <a href="https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2017/11/15/How-many-UK-consumers-are-eating-out-in-2017-2018-and-2019">have been tightening their belts</a> – literally and metaphorically – and while people are still buying food from restaurants, the number of people actually going on “dinner visits” is falling while the number of people taking advantage of the <a href="https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2017/11/15/How-many-UK-consumers-are-eating-out-in-2017-2018-and-2019">growth of food delivery companies</a> is on the rise. For a branded restaurant chain like Jamie’s which is about the experience as much as the food, this is not good news. </p>
<p>When the business environment changes you have to be fleet of foot and either innovate your product – change it to meet the change in the environment – or at least drawback enough to reassess where to go next. The US restaurant market seems to be <a href="https://openforbusiness.opentable.com/features/grow-thrive/restaurant-evolution-when-to-change-when-to-expand/">particularly good at this</a>, for example, regularly remodelling one’s restaurant space and menu format. Fast expansion for a chain of restaurants is always risky, but – more specifically – here are some of the factors I consider to be key business problems for Oliver’s restaurant empire.</p>
<h2>Hard to swallow</h2>
<ol>
<li><p>The restaurant business is tough. Every day <a href="https://upserve.com/restaurant-insider/5-struggles-running-restaurant/">small independents are closing</a>. That has been the case for as long as I can remember – and many new restaurants close in their first year of trading. </p></li>
<li><p>The chain restaurant trade is newly highly competitive – over the last few years masses of new mid-market restaurants and cafes opened – Byron Burgers, Five Guys, Leon, Joe and the Juice and <a href="https://www.lovefood.com/news/56737/new-restaurant-chains-byron-bills-hummus-bros-wrapchic-barburrito">many more</a>. The market is saturated and this is not like internet shopping where the world is your oyster – restaurants are service businesses that are geographically constrained. People have to get to them and every table not filled on a night is a loss. </p></li>
<li><p>Mass marketing a premium product is difficult. This is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/may/21/jamie-oliver-jobs-administrators-restaurants-jamies-italian">what Oliver said</a> about the vision he had for his restaurants: “We launched Jamie’s Italian in 2008 with the intention of positively disrupting mid-market dining in the UK high street, with great value and much higher quality ingredients, best-in-class animal welfare standards and an amazing team who shared my passion for great food and service. And we did exactly that.” </p></li>
</ol>
<p>But these values come with a price and it isn’t a price everyone can pay and those that can pay, cannot pay every day. Mass-market restaurant chains are far cheaper to run and have a much bigger target market – think McDonalds, Burger King, Greggs.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that a long stretch of economic uncertainty and low wage growth has been a factor in this story – but it cannot just be put down to that. Successfully running restaurants is hard and running a large number of them is a good deal harder. Being a brilliant young chef is one thing – running a business with thousands of employees and a multi-million pound turnover is quite another.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117532/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabelle Szmigin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>He’s a top chef, a natural on TV, but perhaps Jamie Oliver underestimated the difficulties of running a restaurant chain in a recession.Isabelle Szmigin, Professor of Marketing, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1012132018-09-11T15:21:15Z2018-09-11T15:21:15ZMyth: healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235669/original/file-20180910-123116-s28uhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/104458259?src=R9yvueCK_Od2Gu0-18tn2Q-1-9&size=medium_jpg">travellight/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea that healthy food costs more than junk food is something I hear a lot. Students tell me they’d like to eat better but can’t afford to. There is a strong belief that cooking from scratch costs a fortune, and with takeaway meals priced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/the-northerner/2017/jul/28/chips-burger-for-quid-welcome-to-takeaway-capital-of-england-blackburn">as low as £1</a>, they have little incentive to change their behaviour.</p>
<p>The past decade has seen <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i1879">increased media attention</a> on healthy diets, and stories about the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11149644/Healthy-diet-costs-three-times-that-of-junk-food.html">cost of healthy eating</a> are also on the rise, all of which influence public perception. Some <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0109343">studies</a> comparing the price per calorie of foods suggest less healthy foods are often cheaper, but they don’t tell the <a href="https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Cheap-as-Chips-PDF.pdf">whole story</a>. The metrics used to measure cost are important.</p>
<p>Consider the example of two pots of chocolate dessert, one regular and one with less fat. Using the price-per-calorie measure, the lower-fat dessert appears more expensive than the regular pot, because it contains fewer calories. But <a href="http://www.waeaonline.org/UserFiles/file/JAREApr20144Carlsonpp47-68.pdf">studies</a> comparing the price per unit weight of food from the same food group suggest healthy options are often cheaper – for example, 200g of chickpeas versus 200g of bacon. The latter is a more meaningful measure because most people buying food think about the quantity they are buying rather than how many calories they are getting for their money.</p>
<h2>Changing habits early</h2>
<p>Expanding waistlines is a growing public health concern. Globally, the rate of obesity has <a href="http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight">tripled since 1975</a>. According to the World Health Organisation, more than 1.9 billion adults are overweight, of which 650m are obese. </p>
<p>The younger generation is especially affected by high-calorie, low-nutrition foods. High levels of sugar, fat and salt put children at increased risk of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4408699/">type 2 diabetes and heart disease</a>, not to mention <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/sj.bdj.2017.572.pdf?origin=ppub">tooth extraction</a>. Perhaps more worryingly, habits formed in childhood seem to stick for life. This is a tragedy because these problems are avoidable. It is possible to eat healthily for less – much less – than the price of a cheeseburger. The crux of the issue is not cost, but knowledge, skills and time.</p>
<p>We are increasingly conditioned to think of healthy food as expensive, because of the price of meat, fish and dairy, the rise of “superfoods” and the higher cost of organic produce. Yet nutritious food needn’t cost the Earth. Chia-seed smoothies are an expensive luxury; basic nourishment – carrots, lentils, potatoes – is cheap as chips.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235671/original/file-20180910-123134-1afxfnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235671/original/file-20180910-123134-1afxfnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235671/original/file-20180910-123134-1afxfnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235671/original/file-20180910-123134-1afxfnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235671/original/file-20180910-123134-1afxfnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235671/original/file-20180910-123134-1afxfnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235671/original/file-20180910-123134-1afxfnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The global obesity rate has tripled since 1975.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/315952094?src=iIMCFzQbHtuEIIlCtrV1HA-1-49&size=medium_jpg">kwanchai.c/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>Time poor</h2>
<p>Poverty is exhausting and this in part drives food choices. Often the last thing people want to do at the end of a long day is cook, so cheap takeaway meals are appealing. </p>
<p>People on low incomes are more likely to buy calorie-dense foods instead of fruit or vegetables because they are <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/6919">more filling</a>. But while a cheeseburger might fill you up for longer than an apple, junk food is bad for our health. </p>
<p>It is possible to cook a filling, healthy meal in very little time, as the British food writer, Jack Monroe, has shown repeatedly. For example, her <a href="https://cookingonabootstrap.com/2015/03/07/courgette-tomato-and-cheese-gratin-33p-microwave-vegetarian/">recipe</a> for a courgette, tomato and cheese gratin costs 33p and takes eight minutes to cook. It’s healthier and cheaper than a takeaway.</p>
<p>But promoting healthy eating in a cash and time-poor society is difficult and teaching cooking skills alone won’t do it. Jamie Oliver’s <a href="http://www.feedmebetter.com/">campaign</a> to teach cooking skills to people on low incomes, while well-intentioned, alienated much of his intended audience by demonising the <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137312310_3">turkey twizzler</a> and further <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11821747/Jamie-Oliver-admits-school-dinners-campaign-failed-because-eating-well-is-a-middle-class-preserve.html">stigmatising families</a> living at the sharp end of austerity in Britain. What we eat is <a href="https://cjee.lakeheadu.ca/article/view/1346/840">central to our identities</a>, and strategies to address diet need to recognise this if they are to work.</p>
<h2>Top tips</h2>
<p>So how can you eat better on a budget? Meat and fish are among the most expensive items on a shopping list while plant protein often costs less. Pulses (beans, peas and lentils) are nutritious, very cheap and work well in place of meat. </p>
<p>Don’t be fooled by expensive “superfoods”; there is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1467-3010.2006.00578.x">no agreed definition</a> for this term and many so-called superfood health claims remain <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1469540518773825">unproven</a>. Simply increasing the volume and variety of fruit and vegetables in your diet is shown to <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4490.full.pdf+html">reduce the risk</a> of ill health and needn’t be costly. </p>
<p>Frozen, tinned and dried fruits and vegetables are often cheaper than fresh but keep their nutrients. They also keep for longer, meaning less food waste.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235667/original/file-20180910-123125-1qovwie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235667/original/file-20180910-123125-1qovwie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235667/original/file-20180910-123125-1qovwie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235667/original/file-20180910-123125-1qovwie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235667/original/file-20180910-123125-1qovwie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235667/original/file-20180910-123125-1qovwie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235667/original/file-20180910-123125-1qovwie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Tinned veg is often cheaper than fresh but still has all the nutrients.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/533941918?src=EJ_zB2s0hmnJzWXWWlPSrQ-1-15&size=medium_jpg">Rrraum/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Avoid buying processed foods; often you can make similar dishes quickly and easily for much less. This recipe for <a href="https://skintdad.co.uk/tomato-pasta-sauce/">pasta sauce</a> costs 50p for four portions, while a jar of pasta sauce costs over four times this price, and, as a bonus, you’ll know exactly what’s in it.</p>
<p>Diet is fundamental for health and well-being, and the cost of food alone should not stop people from eating well. Junk food may be cheap and tasty, but the idea that healthy food is expensive is just fiction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101213/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlie Middleton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Healthy food isn’t just about organic food and so-called superfoods.Charlie Middleton, Lecturer in Nursing, University of DundeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1018792018-08-22T09:04:58Z2018-08-22T09:04:58ZJamie Oliver’s ‘jerk rice’ is a recipe for disaster – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232893/original/file-20180821-149496-1yk73bx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=95%2C6%2C925%2C649&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver in New York.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">really short via Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jamie Oliver is no stranger to controversy, as <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11821747/Jamie-Oliver-admits-school-dinners-campaign-failed-because-eating-well-is-a-middle-class-preserve.html">the failure of his</a> 2004-5 “<a href="http://www.feedmebetter.com/">Feed Me Better</a>” campaign to improve UK school dinners demonstrated. But he really has trouble in the kitchen now, after MPs and other celebrity cooks waded into a heated public debate about culinary authenticity and cultural appropriation over his latest line in convenience foods: “Punchy Jerk Rice.” </p>
<p>It is not just the alleged act of cultural appropriation that has caused disquiet, although many – including the shadow minister for equality, Dawn Butler, and Conservative MP Neil O’Brien – have certainly <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-45246009">interpreted it in this way</a>. Oliver also appears to have misunderstood that the term “jerk” is a cultural tradition which is very specific, as Butler recognised <a href="https://london.eater.com/2018/8/20/17758706/jamie-oliver-chef-jerk-rice-twitter-dawn-butler-cultural-appropriation">when she questioned</a> whether Oliver even knew what “jerk” was.</p>
<p>Crucially, jerk is not the same as barbecue, although the terms are often used interchangeably. Historically, jerk refers to the Afro-Caribbean practice of dry rubbing or wet marinating meat with citrus juice, allspice and scotch bonnet, then wrapping it in banana or plantain leaves and cooking it in a pit fire or hole fire over allspice branches, in a method designed to retain the distinct flavours.</p>
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<p>Barbecue, by contrast, usually involves marinating meats and then cooking them above ground on a raised platform made from wicker, plant matter or newer stone or metal constructions. Jerk derives from <em>charqui</em>, a Spanish word of indigenous South American origin which means salted dried meat (linked to jerky). It denotes a specific method of marinating and cooking meat which is linked, historically, <a href="http://www.afrikanheritage.com/resistance-and-rebellion-in-jamaica-the-maroons/">to the “Maroons”</a> – or runaway slaves – of colonial Jamaica who are known to have traded their signature jerked wild meats to passing ships from the 1700s onwards.</p>
<p>Jerk is now most commonly associated with roadside cooks in Jamaica who have retained this popular technique. It’s also one of Jamaica’s <a href="http://jamaicans.com/jerk/">most successful and iconic</a> culinary exports. </p>
<p>Barbecue from the Spanish <em>barbacoa</em> has <a href="http://time.com/3957444/barbecue/">even older origins</a>. It derives from a method of cooking known to have been used by the Amerindians, the Caribbean’s first inhabitants. African slaves arriving in the Caribbean may well have known of similar methods of preserving and cooking meat, but they also clearly adopted and adapted the methods which they encountered in the Caribbean, a process called “”<a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0957155815597648?journalCode=frca">creolisation</a>“. </p>
<p>In the light of this history, Oliver’s latest offering makes little sense. As Jamaican-born British celebrity cook, Rustie Lee <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/shortcuts/2018/aug/20/jamie-oliver-jerk-rice-recipe-for-disaster-caribbean-marinade">points out</a> "jerk rice” is a non-starter, not just because it is culturally inaccurate – it does not contain the key jerk spices of allspice or scotch bonnet – but because you cannot actually jerk rice. The classic starch and protein combination of rice and peas (beans) on the other hand, is a dish which has been eaten for centuries across the Caribbean and the Americas. It’s also widely enjoyed everywhere that there is a diasporan Caribbean population – but it is never called “jerk”.</p>
<h2>Authenticity and identity</h2>
<p>At the heart of the debate about cultural appropriation is the question of cultural – and especially culinary – authenticity. It is particularly important when it comes to food, which is one of the central ways in which particular ethnic, religion, caste, class, gendered or generational groups define themselves in relation to others.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1030741609984548864"}"></div></p>
<p>Indeed, the use of the label of “authentic” in relation to food is so ubiquitous that we rarely stop to think about how problematic it is. So talk of “authentic” Indian curries in the UK are anything but. Not only do most Indian restaurants <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/08/britains-curry-crisis-chefs-immigration">serve Bangladeshi food</a>, but there is no such thing as “Indian” food – only local or regional cuisines, as any Indian cook will tell you. </p>
<p>The best-known example of an “Indian dish” in Britain, chicken tikka masala, is a good example of what historian Eric Hobsbawm famously called “<a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v05/n13/norman-stone/pastiche">the invention of tradition</a>” – the dish was invented in Britain. In 2001 this celebrated “Indian” dish featured as the focal point in a particularly lively exchange about British cultural identity and multiculturalism between Labour MPs Robin Cook and Keith Vaz, following the then <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/apr/19/race.britishidentity">foreign secretary’s speech</a> to the Social Market Foundation in London. Cook argued that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Chicken tikka masala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences. Chicken tikka is an Indian dish. The masala sauce was added to satisfy the desire of British people to have their meat served in gravy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although in the ensuing debate, Vaz attempted to correct Cook’s rather mangled account of the dish and its origins, Cook made an important point: that all traditions, culinary or otherwise, are constructed for particular means and that authenticity is neither stable not uncontested. Thus chicken tikka masala may not be authentically Indian but it does show how absorption and adaptation from external influences can be important processes in the emergent definition of a cultural practice or identity. Indeed, Cook’s speech has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/may/12/robin-cook-chicken-tikka-multiculturalism">studied by students</a> as a case study in debates on Britishness, cultural nationalism and multiculturalism as recently as 2013.</p>
<h2>Jamaican cool</h2>
<p>The problem with Oliver’s “jerk rice” is not so much that it involves an act of cultural appropriation, or that it “absorbs and adapts external influences” (which all cooks do and are free to do) but rather that it uses the term “jerk” as a kind of shorthand to evoke a range of attractive associations for his product. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1031623577840373760"}"></div></p>
<p>Jerk is a term which carries the infinitely marketable associations of what might be termed “Jamaican cool” – a heady mix of spicy “exotic” food, reggae music, muscular masculinity (jerk cooking is a very male-dominated practice), endless sunshine and the apparent health benefits of cooking and eating outdoors. It implies a chilled, laid-back vibe with traces perhaps of the potent but rather lazy construction of Jamaica as a narcotic idyll and tourist paradise. </p>
<p>Oliver is certainly not the first, nor will he be the last, to draw on such associations in his adaption of Caribbean food, as <a href="https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/cgi/facet/simple2?q=sarah+lawson+welsh&_action_search=Search&limit=10">my research</a> on the idea of tradition and culinary authenticity in the cookery books of Jamaican-born celebrity cook, Levi Roots has shown. Twitter user Regina Holland <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/20/jamie-olivers-jerk-rice-dish-a-mistake-says-jamaica-born-chef">aptly summed up</a> the problem of Oliver’s jerk rice as one of an ongoing “bastardisation” of Jamaican food. </p>
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<p>Oliver’s jerk rice is merely the latest in a series of recent debates on cultural appropriation in relation to culinary authenticity. Public <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/12/curry-marks-and-spencer-meal-kits-outrage">controversy erupted</a> over Marks & Spencer’s line of “authentic” curry kits, including a Bengali turmeric curry which Mallika Basu, author of Indian Cooking for Modern Living, tweeted was “at best upsetting, and at worst, offensive and callous”. In the US, accusations of cultural appropriation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/31/aloha-poke-co-cease-and-desist-letter-hawaiians-aloha">have been levelled</a> at the use of the term “aloha” by restaurants selling trendy “Hawaiian poke” sushi bowls. </p>
<p>These debates shouldn’t be reduced to a crudely binary divide between those who feel the need to police cultural traditions as pure, fixed entities and those who see the more complicated shifting story of absorption and adaptation as the real picture. We can show respect for the specific histories and cultural origins of the foods we cook and eat without losing sight of the notion that “authenticity” itself is a movable feast.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101879/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Lawson Welsh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The celebrity chef is being accused of cultural appropriation over his latest product. But what is ‘jerk’ food and why the uproar?Sarah Lawson Welsh, Reader & Associate Professor in English & Postcolonial Literatures, York St John UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/688612016-11-22T11:06:22Z2016-11-22T11:06:22ZWhy young women need to be given a louder voice in the obesity debate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146252/original/image-20161116-13518-1cudvfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Something to say.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-105733916/stock-photo-students-raising-their-hand-wanting-to-participate-in-class.html?src=3xGjdj5Am5VrGFZbpj_2Ug-1-15">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Young women are at the centre of myriad public health concerns about their bodies. Fears about obesity, inactivity, unhappiness and social media have driven policy responses that target young women and their “problem” behaviours. But far too often these issues are seen as having competing agendas. In this complex environment, isn’t it time for more joined-up thinking and for the voices of young women to be more clearly heard? </p>
<p>In August 2016, the publication of the British government’s long awaited plan to tackle <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action">childhood obesity</a> coincided with the launch of The Children Society’s <a href="http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/research/the-good-childhood-report">Good Childhood Report 2016</a>. While one of these reports focused, among other things, on the need for increased monitoring and measurement of children’s weight, the other highlighted the increase in young people’s unhappiness as a result of significant appearance concerns. These reports should be seen as highlighting complex interwoven health issues. </p>
<p>However, it seems that disproportionate attention continues to be given to an apparent obesity “crisis”. The British government’s plan for dealing with childhood obesity was received with mixed reviews. The strategy was described in some quarters as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/18/childhood-obesity-strategy-wasted-opportunity-campaigners">missed opportunity</a> to “tackle the culture of unhealthy eating that is crippling the NHS”. <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jamie-oliver-shocked-by-governments-childhood-obesity-strategy-a7196771.html">Others criticised policy makers</a> for failing to take significant action to tackle the problem. </p>
<p>Criticism levelled at the report for not advocating strong enough action demonstrates the framing of obesity as a “moral crisis” and as <em>the</em> priority public health agenda upon which policy makers need to be <em>seen to be acting</em>. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.socresonline.org.uk/20/2/10.html">research</a> suggests that this urgency can come with serious risks. What is the evidence base upon which to act? The science of obesity remains uncertain, contradictory and lacks consensus over crucial issues such as the causes and most effective actions to counter it. The one thing we can say for definite on the subject is that it <a href="http://samples.sainsburysebooks.co.uk/9781134365654_sample_535837.pdf">is complex</a>. </p>
<p>So, in rethinking strategy, policymakers need to consider not just if interventions are effective, but also the potential harms and unintended consequences. Over the past decade, the framing of obesity through hyperbolic language of a “crisis” has not only strengthened the imperative to act quickly on the basis of whatever evidence is available, but has fuelled a moral panic which has led to increased surveillance of young people’s weight, bodies and lifestyles, contributing not only to increased weight stigma but disordered eating and exercise practices. </p>
<p>We need to reject the separation of the mind and the body to properly reflect on the rising rates of ill health among young women who struggle with disordered eating and exercise – an often silenced part of the <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9780230222670">obesity debate</a>. </p>
<h2>Weight limits</h2>
<p>Despite significant gaps in knowledge, there have been a series of policy responses and interventions which often share a weight-centric approach. Healthy bodies are generally seen as “slender bodies”, with minimal visible “excess” flesh. <a href="https://www.noo.org.uk/NCMP">The National Child Measurement Programme</a> and the Childhood Obesity strategy’s requirement to make it a “default” for health care professionals to “weigh everyone”, will only strengthen this view.</p>
<p>This epitomises a broader trend towards reducing complex health issues to simple data categories and a focus on measuring weight and body size. <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2009.00706.x/full">Research</a> demonstrates that not only are these methods of intervention <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/jun/21/schools.uk2">problematic</a> in terms of their reliance on blunt measurements, but they can also have <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Education-Disordered-Eating-and-Obesity-Discourse-Fat-Fabrications/Evans-Rich-Davies-Allwood/p/book/9780415418959">harmful effects</a> on young people in terms of their mental health, well-being and body confidence.</p>
<p>This is especially the case for young women.</p>
<p>The Good Childhood Report revealed that 34% of girls in the UK are unhappy with their appearance. A separate report from <a href="https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/globalassets/docs-and-resources/research-and-campaigns/girls-attitudes-survey-2016.pdf">Girl Guiding UK (2016)</a> found that young women’s “fear of their bodies being criticised holds them back from doing everyday things they’d like to do”. This included sports and physical activities that, ironically, are often suggested as key methods of tackling obesity. </p>
<p>Concerns over their own appearance, body shape and size are exacerbated by the bodies young women see on television, magazines, social media, <a href="http://tvn.sagepub.com/content/17/5/449.full.pdf">computer games</a> and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14461242.2016.1196599">health and fitness apps</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146803/original/image-20161121-4528-5tumgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146803/original/image-20161121-4528-5tumgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146803/original/image-20161121-4528-5tumgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146803/original/image-20161121-4528-5tumgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146803/original/image-20161121-4528-5tumgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146803/original/image-20161121-4528-5tumgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146803/original/image-20161121-4528-5tumgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Weightless.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-84421756/stock-photo-friends-jumping-in-sunset.html?src=eOoxDKSgENEseHRwdNqcYQ-1-4">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Add to that the continuous reminders of the need to measure their weight, to work on their bodies and to inspect what they eat, and we have a toxic culture of body surveillance that young women are expected to navigate daily. Is it any wonder that levels of unhappiness, anxiety and depression are increasing? </p>
<h2>Their bodies, their voices</h2>
<p>The British government’s strategy raises further questions about who has the authority to speak for children. Whose knowledge counts when tackling the issue of childhood obesity? The Good Childhood Report and the Girl Guiding Survey are refreshing in their use of young people’s subjective experiences. These voices are sadly absent from the official report.</p>
<p>Far more attention needs to be paid to the views and experiences of the children and young people whose lives these strategies and policies will affect. Social action projects can be a more effective way for local authorities to involve young people in making community decisions that affect them, <a href="http://www.fixers.org.uk/">listening to their views</a> and taking appropriate action. Research <em>with</em> and <em>for</em> young people to imagine policy responses within the context of their everyday lives, could be the first step in developing more sustainable, youth-centred interventions. This is an approach to policy making that cannot happen in isolation. </p>
<p>Democratic policy processes need to provide safe spaces where young women can voice their health concerns and through which we can better understand how health is not simply the result of individual choice, but shaped by social context and inequalities associated with culture, social class, sexuality, geography, gender and ethnicity. We need to see these approaches increasingly adopted in the public domain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68861/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Rich has previously received funding from the ESRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annaleise Depper and Jessica Francombe-Webb do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The people at risk are the ones who need to be listened to.Jessica Francombe-Webb, Lecturer in Sport and Education, University of BathAnnaleise Depper, PhD Candidate in Health, University of BathEmma Rich, Reader, Department for Health, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/598332016-05-23T13:50:08Z2016-05-23T13:50:08ZJamie Oliver’s big chance to persuade the world to take action against obesity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123577/original/image-20160523-11000-9ulkhp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Celebrity chef going large.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-121845178/stock-photo-london-december-jamie-oliver-performs-a-cooking-demo-in-london-england-on-wednesday.html?src=csl_recent_image-1">Mr Pics/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dear Jamie Oliver,</p>
<p>You want to put pressure on world leaders to take action against obesity and undernourishment the world over. And you are absolutely right to highlight these problems to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBnNFLtJ4Ik&feature=youtu.be">David Cameron</a> ahead of your forthcoming appearance at the World Health Assembly. You are also spot on in your appeal to link obesity with malnutrition and to point out the obvious and worrying contradiction that these two problems <a href="http://www.who.int/nutrition/challenges/en/">can go hand-in-hand</a>. It is also fantastic that someone so high profile and energetic has got behind a cause that many of us have been worrying about for so long. But it is no longer enough to just point out the problem. Now is also the time for solutions. And, for obesity, these are frustratingly very hard to find. </p>
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<h2>Target the individual</h2>
<p>The first and most common solution is to target the individual. This is the domain of psychologists, nutritionists and dietitians and has been the mainstay of dietary management for decades. Interventions have been developed using state of the art techniques including nutritional education, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), <a href="http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/meditation-hypertension-and-weight-loss">mindfulness</a>, relapse prevention, goal setting, imagery, aversion therapy, self monitoring, persuasion, and motivational interviewing which are delivered by teachers, public sector health professionals, <a href="http://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/">private weight management groups</a>, self-help books and, more recently, apps and the <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/weight-loss-guide/Pages/successful-diet-tips.aspx">internet</a>. </p>
<p>Whether it’s for prevention or treatment, the aim is ultimately to get people to eat less and do more. Although we know the theories and have the research, though, not much weight is lost and most of what is lost is regained <a href="https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ph53/evidence/evidence-review-1a-431707933">quite quickly</a>. We live in an obesogenic world and even with the best will in the world people make bad choices when the world around them makes it easier for them to eat more and do less. So targeting the individual doesn’t seem to work.</p>
<h2>How about the environment?</h2>
<p>The next obvious target is the environment. Poor town planning, lack of pavements, no street lighting, poor public transport, lifts, escalators, moving walkways, narrow cycle lanes, expensive gyms, no showers at work, parking in towns all make us more sedentary and less active. While cheap fast-foods, expensive vegetables, <a href="https://theconversation.com/jamies-right-ready-meals-are-a-modern-curse-17669">ready meals</a>, staff-canteen stodge, takeaways, poor cooking facilities and cake trolleys at work make us eat more than we need. The environment needs to change. But I’m a psychologist and you’re a celebrity chef so we need those in charge of the environment to make these changes. Yet apart from some changes to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24132416">school lunches</a> and the hint of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/budget-2016-george-osborne-announces-sugar-tax-a6934206.html">a sugar tax</a>, those in charge seem reluctant to bite the bullet and do what is needed.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123548/original/image-20160523-10984-im91fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123548/original/image-20160523-10984-im91fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123548/original/image-20160523-10984-im91fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123548/original/image-20160523-10984-im91fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123548/original/image-20160523-10984-im91fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123548/original/image-20160523-10984-im91fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/123548/original/image-20160523-10984-im91fc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Desk lunching – not good for getting out and about.</span>
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<h2>The power to persuade</h2>
<p>So what is left? We know that <a href="https://theconversation.com/eating-well-its-more-than-just-what-you-eat-52916">beliefs predict behaviour</a> and that beliefs can be changed through all of our state of the art techniques. And we are good at persuasion. But maybe now is no longer the time to use our powers of persuasion on the person who is already obese or overweight. Or even on the person who might become so, given the world we live in. So maybe now is the time to change our target to those people – the town planners, the food industry, marketing experts, advertising agents, policy makers and politicians (with their own beliefs and behaviours) – who have the power to change the world we live in. </p>
<p>So Jamie. When you speak to the World Health Assembly, please do emphasise the problems of obesity and malnutrition, but please also offer some solutions. And when considering your solutions, don’t only target the individual or the environment, but target those people in charge of the environment using every state-of-the-art trick that we can offer you. That way you can change what the people in power think and do so as to ultimately change the thinking and doing of everyone else. Persuasion is a powerful thing. You’ve already excelled at this with your push on <a href="http://www.jamieoliverfoodfoundation.org.uk/">school lunches</a> and the <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/jamies-sugar-rush">sugar tax</a>. This is now an even greater chance to persuade those in power.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Celebrity chef needs to persuade those in power to change our obesity-causing environment.Jane Ogden, Professor of Health Psychology, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/564712016-03-17T21:58:12Z2016-03-17T21:58:12ZSorry Jamie Oliver, I’d be surprised if sugar tax helped cut obesity<p>It was Benjamin Franklin <a href="http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/death-and-taxes.html">who said</a> only two things in life are certain: death and taxes. Actually taxes are anything but certain, and what is definitely not certain is how people will respond to them. </p>
<p>Unintended consequences are the bane of those looking to develop innovative ways of raising money from taxes. Look no further than the UK government’s decision to introduce a system of local taxation in the 1980s known as the community charge, aka the poll tax. It led to over 200,000 people protesting in London’s Trafalgar Square in 1990. The riots that ensued <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9980361/Margaret-Thatcher-Refusal-to-back-down-on-poll-tax-that-cost-the-leader-dear.html">precipitated</a> the end of Mrs Thatcher’s time in office and her successor John Major scrapped the tax. </p>
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<p>In our era the bedroom tax is very unpopular and has been ditched in <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/bedroom-tax-hated-tory-tax-3116020">Scotland</a>, while as I write the contentious 5% tampon tax is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35834142">about to be</a> scrapped in a deal with the EU. </p>
<p>Yet more often than not we become habituated to the taxes we pay. The standard rate of VAT <a href="https://www.gov.uk/vat-rates">is 20%</a>, which increased in 2011 from 17.5% – but I think none of us protested, and few probably even remember the increase. Over the years we have come to expect taxes to increase on “sin” products such as alcohol and cigarettes, but the evidence that such taxes reduce how much of them we consume <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w18326">is sparse</a>. </p>
<p>With cigarettes what seems to have been more important is that through the bans in public places, smoking has gradually become an antisocial activity. Certainly having to be part of a group of furtive smokers outside an office in the cold is not appealing. </p>
<h2>The sweet hereafter</h2>
<p>So what of the sugar tax? A day after the Budget it is difficult to say what impact it will have but let’s be clear, the likes of Jamie Oliver <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/17/jamie-oliver-urges-australia-to-pull-your-finger-out-and-implement-sugar-tax">think</a> it will be the start of reducing childhood obesity. I would be less sure. One only needs to look to Denmark – which <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20280863">attempted to</a> introduce a fat tax a few years ago – to see the consequences may not be intended. It raised the price of a wide range of products and put small businesses such as grocers selling cheese particularly at risk. Consumers found ways to circumvent the tax, for example by buying products in Germany. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115506/original/image-20160317-30231-tysbir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115506/original/image-20160317-30231-tysbir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/115506/original/image-20160317-30231-tysbir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115506/original/image-20160317-30231-tysbir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115506/original/image-20160317-30231-tysbir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115506/original/image-20160317-30231-tysbir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115506/original/image-20160317-30231-tysbir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/115506/original/image-20160317-30231-tysbir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Thirst quencher?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=iPGotKFpNoaxd-TZKyRR9w&searchterm=soda&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=391513633">Joshua Resnick</a></span>
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<p>In January the British Medical Journal <a href="http://www.bmj.com/company/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/sugar-tax-mexico.pdf">reported</a> research from Mexico which suggested that its 10% sales tax on sweetened drinks had resulted in something like a 12% reduction in sales. But beware of direct comparisons: this was a simple sales tax passed on to consumers in a country where food <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/12085408/Children-aged-five-eating-own-weight-in-sugar-every-year.html">accounts for</a> a larger proportion of a person’s income than in the UK. </p>
<p>In contrast, the UK version looks like being levied on the manufacturers. The problem is that they can avoid being penalised if they pass on the cost to consumers – assuming it’s not enough to make consumers choose different products. On the other hand if the companies do absorb the cost, what difference will it have to the obesity and other health issues caused by too much sugar? The companies pay a bit more tax and consumers still get their sugar fix. </p>
<p>Ultimately I do not think we will see the behaviour change that some hope for from this one tax, especially as there are so many other products with just too much sugar and above all too many calories on the market. As I <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-sugar-tax-is-needed-to-kickstart-companies-into-action-not-consumers-49785">have said before</a>, what we need is for companies to reformulate their products. All we can hope for is that this might be a nudge in the right direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56471/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabelle Szmigin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why Britain’s obesity crusader could be heading for disappointment.Isabelle Szmigin, Professor of Marketing, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/502302015-11-10T05:16:46Z2015-11-10T05:16:46ZRejecting a sugar tax is based on faulty logic about the poor<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100798/original/image-20151104-29065-15o6n0i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cameron concerned for the poor</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When celebrity chef Jamie Oliver began <a href="http://www.jamieoliver.com/sugar-rush/#BeI62O1yZ3HRKSPz.97">campaigning</a> for a tax on sugary drinks he expected a fight, and he was not disappointed.</p>
<p>“The food and drinks lobby might try to present me as a TV chef who has got too big for his boots,” he wrote in the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3283885/JAMIE-OLIVER-Food-giants-insult-s-hold-leaders-s-truly-alarming.html">Daily Mail</a>. “But I’m basing my arguments on the evidence of numerous doctors and scientists.”</p>
<p>And Oliver certainly has the backing of healthcare professionals, not to mention the public.</p>
<p>Last month, amid <a href="http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/8fc73b48-99c0-4ad0-90dc-fd67721aa8ba">much brouhaha</a>, Public Health England (PHE) finally released its report recommending a tax on sugary soft drinks. The report had been commissioned by ministers to inform the government’s upcoming child obesity strategy. Alison Tedstone, director of diet and obesity at PHE, had previously told MPs that a “fiscal approach” should be considered. The tax has broad based support from public health leaders, the <a href="http://bmaopac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/exlibris/aleph/a21_1/apache_media/7CY7PA145G9D95CXKXVPKPYBP7JS6I.pdf">British Medical Association</a> (BMA), the <a href="http://www.who.int/elena/bbc/ssbs_adult_weight/en/">World Health Organisation</a>, global academics and the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/24/sugar-tax-poll-obesity-cameron-oliver">general public</a>.</p>
<p>But in response to the <a href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/106651">150,060</a> who signed a petition by Oliver in September 2015, the government announced it had “<a href="http://www.itv.com/news/update/2015-10-22/cameron-rejects-sugar-tax-without-reading-report/">no plans to introduce a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages</a>”. Now David Cameron has personally vetoed the tax on the basis that it would disproportionately impact the poorest families. He seems to have misunderstood that this is a major strength of the policy.</p>
<h2>Disincentive is stronger for the poor</h2>
<p>Almost all consumption taxes, including tobacco, alcohol and fuel, are regressive; representing a proportionally higher share of a low-income families’ expendable income than those of the rich. Health-related food taxes are no different and <a href="http://foodresearch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Food-and-beverages-taxes-final-20-May-2015.pdf">evidence demonstrates</a> that the poor do indeed spend a proportionately higher amount on taxed unhealthy foods (although more revenue is generated from high-income households). This means that the financial disincentive is most potent for poorer families.</p>
<p>The poor are much more likely to have unhealthy diets and experience ill health than the rich. This leads to higher costs in the form of prescription co-payments, over the counter medications, travel to appointments and days off work for the self-employed. The <a href="http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/articles/inverse-care-law">inverse care law</a> suggests those who need a health service most use it the least, and vice versa. As a result the poor are more likely to ignore existing health advice than the affluent who often already lead relatively healthy lives. </p>
<h2>No bandwidth left</h2>
<p>Behavioural economics and scarcity theory help to explain why poor people are less able to act in their own best interests. The main argument of the influential book <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21584303-those-too-little-have-lot-their-mind-days-late-dollars-short">Scarcity: Why having too little means so much</a> by Mullainathan and Shafir is that poverty imposes a mental processing “bandwidth tax” that focuses the mind on immediate concerns. For this reason educational campaigns and other “softer” interventions to help people eat more healthily can actually widen inequalities in health. </p>
<p>The rich and well-educated have the capacity to take on new information and change their behaviour to gain a future reward, such as getting a degree or losing weight. Poor people will find it much harder to give up immediate gratification for an uncertain, intangible future payoff. While it is possible to ignore “soft measures”, such as educational campaigns and expanded healthcare services, increasing tax does not rely on the ability to make healthy choices. In fact, because the poor are more sensitive to changes in price, they respond better and experience larger health gains than the more affluent. </p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/social-issues-migration-health/obesity-and-the-economics-of-prevention_9789264084865-en#page1">OECD review</a> of obesity prevention interventions concluded that taxes and other fiscal measures are the only interventions that consistently produce larger gains for the poor. This assertion was challenged by <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f6189">British researchers</a>, but real-life <a href="http://www.insp.mx/epppo/blog/3666-reduccion-consumo-bebidas.html">evidence from Mexico</a> showed the greatest gains for the poor. Compared with alternative measures such as education, tax has a much greater potential to improve the health of everyone while improving the health of the poor the fastest. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101057/original/image-20151106-16242-xjcb4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101057/original/image-20151106-16242-xjcb4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101057/original/image-20151106-16242-xjcb4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101057/original/image-20151106-16242-xjcb4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101057/original/image-20151106-16242-xjcb4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101057/original/image-20151106-16242-xjcb4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/101057/original/image-20151106-16242-xjcb4a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">It seems to work in Mexico.</span>
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<h2>Part of the solution</h2>
<p>A sugary drinks tax is by no means a solution to the obesity crisis and would only ever constitute part of a broader strategy. Also the extent to which it falls on the poor depends on how the tax is devised and the different ways that rich and poor people respond to it. A tax on high-sugar organic yogurt will probably affect the rich more than a tax on cheap fizzy drinks. Similarly, if the poor are more likely to switch from buying taxed goods to relatively cheaper, and healthier, untaxed goods then they will bear less of the financial burden.</p>
<p>Evidence from <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21940223">research</a> into taxes on sugar sweetened beverages shows that the amount of money spent each year on a sugary drinks tax is a tiny proportion of overall income; in the order of a few pounds. If the government is genuinely concerned about the fairness of this tax it can redress the balance through altering the rates of other taxes and benefits like tax credits and income tax thresholds. Some countries use the revenue generated by unhealthy food taxes to fund health services targeted at low-income families. It is the combination of all taxes and benefits that impacts the poor, not single policies in isolation. </p>
<p>To dismiss the policy out of hand because it has the greatest potential impact on those with the greatest burden of disease and the hardest behaviour to change is wrongheaded. Cameron should read the evidence laid out in the report commissioned by his government and re-examine his reasoning. If he really wants to help low-income families struggling to make healthier choices, surely the sugar tax is a perfect prescription.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50230/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Luke Allen is a researcher at the Centre for Population Approaches to Non-communicable Disease Prevention.</span></em></p>David Cameron dismissed the idea of a tax on sugary drinks, but perhaps he should have listened to the experts.Luke Allen, Researcher, Global Health Policy, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/177242013-09-02T03:26:54Z2013-09-02T03:26:54ZKevin’s Kitchen Nightmare: Rudd, Abbott and the politics of cooking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30467/original/n4dw9vf2-1378088741.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1743%2C3744%2C2920&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott will both appear on ABC TV show Kitchen Cabinet in the final week of the campaign. But who is more advantaged by the reality TV and the politics of cooking?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/ABC</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The penultimate act in this year’s election drama will be … a cook-off. This campaign has largely steered away from “entertaining politics”, but at the last hurdle, Messrs Rudd and Abbott have fallen for the allure of celebrity. At the death, the would-be prime ministers will try to persuade us on personality alone. And they’ll be doing it on ABC television show <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/kitchencabinet/">Kitchen Cabinet</a>. Why? And who does this last gambit favour?</p>
<p>The answer to the latter question is Tony Abbott. But we have to go around the world to understand why Kitchen Cabinet cooks better with the Coalition.</p>
<p>Kevin Rudd has already been <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/kevin-rudd-denies-delaying-syria-briefing-for-annabel-crabb-show-20130824-2sj2y.html">criticised</a> for taking part in the show. Opponents think the prime minister should have been thinking about Syria, not spatulas. In his defence, we might say that modern media politics demands a time on celebrity duty.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Labor, a bad choice looks worse when we contemplate the politics of TV dinners. Cooking is the most totalitarian corner of the inherently conservative reality television market. The way that food is imagined, prepared and consumed onscreen conjures up politically-loaded visions of how life should be. And the vision is never about a fair go.</p>
<p>Things weren’t meant to get this way. It’s just that food and reality television are a bad recipe.</p>
<p>Let’s go back in time to noughties Britain. Back then, many television executives decided that reality work shows - like <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006vq92">Dragons’ Den</a>, where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to would-be investors - could teach us useful lessons about working, getting ahead and getting on with people. Television chef Jamie Oliver, however, had already seized the idea.</p>
<p>At first, Oliver used cooking to put class and social justice back onscreen. The loveable <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mockney">mockney</a> taught audiences that cooking was caring. His <a href="http://www.jamieoliver.com/the-fifteen-apprentice-programme/about/story">Fifteen experiment</a> - later exported to Melbourne - educated viewers on the social barriers that prevented working class kids from succeeding. This was a slap in the face to other lifestyle shows that were only interested in high income, well-educated middle class people.</p>
<p>His next project, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/apr/27/jamie-oliver-school-meals-gove">Jamie’s School Dinners</a>, was even more radical. In the context of fears over “Broken Britain” - a nation driven to the dogs by feral youth lacking in skills and human decency - Oliver argued that the problem was food. Or, more precisely, the trans-fatty e-numbered garbage that Thatcherite reforms let schoolkids “choose” for their cafeteria lunches. Consumer choice was a bad thing. Kids should be given what they need, not what they want. And if the Labour government of the time was really a Labour government, it should put this principle into policy</p>
<p>Then Jamie really went for it. He decided that Broken Britain need to reinstate the Ministry of Food, to teach everyone about the value of good nutrition.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30471/original/fsh6b7j2-1378090924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/30471/original/fsh6b7j2-1378090924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30471/original/fsh6b7j2-1378090924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30471/original/fsh6b7j2-1378090924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30471/original/fsh6b7j2-1378090924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30471/original/fsh6b7j2-1378090924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/30471/original/fsh6b7j2-1378090924.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has railed against the serving of junk food to schoolchildren through his popular TV programs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Julian Smith</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By now, the young chef had become a recognised public expert, whose views mattered on a political level. And his vision was distinctly Labour: the free market was a culinary disaster, and state intervention from big government was good.</p>
<p>He doesn’t think that anymore.</p>
<p>Last week, Oliver <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/27/jamie-oliver-chips-cheese-modern-day-poverty">surveyed</a> the failure of his visions, and decided that working class people are to blame. Young English kids can’t get decent jobs because they don’t like working. Eastern European migrants are happy to ignore workplace regulations and work all the hours God sends, and that’s why they get on. Poor families can still afford big TVs, so their cries of poverty ring hollow. Austerity Britain? Hardly. Oliver seems to agree with the adage, repeated by the likes of <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/95528-show-me-a-young-conservative-and-i-ll-show-you-someone">Winston Churchill</a>, about the inevitable path to conservatism that age and wisdom brings.</p>
<p>On the other hand, it could also be that Oliver has succumbed to the global philosophy of reality television. There is no format that better champions the spirit of ruthless individualism and, paradoxically, acceptance of authority. Reality television goads its participants to relinquish every right they have - privacy and dignity - in the pursuit of success. </p>
<p>This unedifying proclivity becomes especially vicious when it gets into the kitchen. To see how, let’s go to Hollywood.</p>
<p>Gordon Ramsay’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437005/">Hell’s Kitchen</a> takes Oliver’s idea - that successful people have to put up with hard work and the odd indignity - and strips it of any redeeming social value. Contestants are deliberately and routinely abused and humiliated. Behind the entertainment, the truth is that contestants are subjected to inhumane hours doing two jobs: making food, and making audiences laugh. But, hey, that’s their choice, right?</p>
<p>Wrong. The evolution of television cooking tells a stark political narrative. It’s the last chance saloon for the desperate, and hardly a good look for a politician. People can only get ahead by looking after themselves and not worrying about piffling matters like rights. You can’t help folks who don’t want to be helped. And if you want to succeed you should be ready to do and put up with anything. There’s <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/08/context-for-margaret-thatcher-s-there-is-no-such-thing-as-society-remarks.html">no such thing as society</a> in the kitchen.</p>
<p>That’s why Tony Abbott will look better in an apron.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/17724/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy Ruddock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The penultimate act in this year’s election drama will be … a cook-off. This campaign has largely steered away from “entertaining politics”, but at the last hurdle, Messrs Rudd and Abbott have fallen for…Andy Ruddock, Senior Lecturer, Research Unit in Media Studies, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.