JAMIE OLIVER'S FOOD REVOLUTION - EPISODE 2

Check out my RECAP of Episode 1 of ABC’s new show called Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution.

For all episodes and other short clips, go to Hulu’s “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution” Channel.

Episode 2

RECAP

EPISODE 2

Jamie invited some of the kids from the elementary school to his kitchen (just some retail space in the town that they built out for him) to run a little experiment.  All of the kids know what chicken nuggets are, but none of them wanted to eat the real chicken that he prepared for them yesterday (see my previous post about Episode 1 HERE).  So, he ran what he calls a “fool proof” experiment to see if these kids would still like chicken nuggets if they knew how they were made.

He proceeded to take a whole chicken and cut off the breasts, thighs, legs, and wings.  He chopped up the remainder of the carcass and threw it in a food processor to make a chicken “sludge” that looked absolutely disgusting.  He ran it through a strainer to remove the bones, but all of the rest of the non-meat (e.g. connective tissue) was still in there.  He then formed little patties, breaded them, and fried them up in a skillet.  All of the kids were thoroughly disgusted.  However, when he actually offered the finished nuggets for them to eat, they all accepted!!

In the next part, he returns to the elementary school for a shot at redemption.  The catch this time is that the kids will only have one option…Jamie’s meal!  This time he prepares a tuna pasta with seven veggies, a mixed salad, and homemade focaccia bread.

My favorite part about this segment:

• The lady from the school board tells him that he doesn’t have enough vegetables in his dish!  Despite the fact that it contains seven different veggies, the volume just wasn’t enough.  SOLUTION:  add French fries!!  That’s right, French fries technically count as a vegetable.

Jamie then checks back in with the family that I mentioned from Episode 1 to see how they were doing.  After each person said they loved the recipes and were surprised how easy they were to make, he decided to check in the fridge.  Sure enough, all of the food he bought was still in there and they hadn’t eaten any of it!  The daughter revealed that they had been eating pizza all week since they didn’t have their deep fryer anymore.

Interesting piece:

• The teenage boy from this family was taken to the doctor to evaluate his health.  The doctor, before performing any tests, tells him that he likely has diabetes based on the discoloration of the skin on his neck.  Fortunately for the kid, the test came back negative, but the doctor told him it would only be a matter of time if he didn’t make drastic changes.

Jamie offers the kid one-on-one cooking lessons so that he won't be dependent on his parents for meals (which hasn't seemed to work out very well), but more importantly because it will help him with the ladies!

Back at the cafeteria, the kids actually enjoyed his meal (amazing what happens when you take away an option like pizza)!  The one problem, his meal came in over budget.  The woman from the school district allows him to continue his project after Jamie's assures her that he can get the costs down.  He is even allowed to extend the program to the local high school to see how his ideas will work with a different demographic.

Episode 3 Recap following soon...