As a child, I had a lot to think about. What to spend my pocket money on, why I wasn’t allowed to watch more TV and why on earth my mother kept giving birth to more brothers who were simply stealing my attention. But one thing I didn’t ever worry about was what I was eating. Up until the age of about 12, I had two philosophies when it came to food. Eat as much candy as I possibly could, and avoid broccoli whenever possible.
As I grew older my relationship with food grew much more complicated. There were times when I would eat too much of it. Times when I wouldn’t eat enough of it. And in general it just seemed to be an area of my life I couldn’t quite figure out.
I think the main thing that led to any problem I ever had with food was a lack of education. I didn’t really know anything about what I was putting in my body except for the one time that my mum tried to teach me how to scramble eggs and I got distracted by a text message halfway through and burned the pan.
When I was 16 I began to cook. I started with baking, which is still the only thing I’m actually any good at, and slowly baking and cooking became one of my favourite things. The process of finding a recipe, going into the kitchen and creating something from nothing using just a few simple ingredients felt like magic. And still to this day, anytime I get stressed, I bake some brownies or a pie and immediately feel a bit calmer.
My favourite healthy dinner recipe with zuchinni noodles and tomato sauce.
As I’ve started to bake and cook, one of my favourite things that has come from it has been actually starting to find out what I’m putting in my body. As soon as you start to educate yourself about food, even just a tiny bit, everything kind of becomes simpler, and you become so much more aware of the difference between giving your body things that are going to make you better, and giving your body things that are essentially poison.
Diet-related diseases are rising at an alarming rate. And unfortunately, often a lack of education means that children are most at risk of adopting an unhealthy diet. Worldwide, there are more than 42 million children under the age of five who are overweight or obese and children today are the first generation predicated to live shorter lives than their parents.
Unlike a lot of issues we highlight on this website, this isn’t a problem that needs money or aid to be fixed, it simply needs education. Today, May 15th, is Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day, Jamie Oliver has always been one of my favourite chef’s/people, and this day is an incredible example of him using his power and influence for good. He’s encouraging everyone to sign a petition calling on all G20 countries to make practical food education a compulsory part of every school curriculum. With enough support from millions of people around the world, Jamie believes that we can create a movement that’s powerful enough to make governments take action.
I learned a lot of algebra when I was at school, and while I kind of understand that this is important in some way, I haven’t used algebra once since the day I left. If I’d spent a little less time learning what x+y meant, and a little more time being educated about the food that I eat every single day of life, I feel like so many of my own problems with food in the past could have been avoided.
I think this is such an important campaign, and I would encourage everyone to sign Jamie’s petition and find out more about what you can do to join in on the Food Revolution website. My favourite thing about this campaign is that it’s not about eating insanely, vegan, macrobiotic food every single day of your life. It’s just about teaching people to be clever and knowledgeable about what we are putting into our bodies, and the massive effect this can have on global health.