Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA
The French don't have a Jamie Oliver and let's face it, they probably don't really need one. Beyond an unfathomable obsession with the big "McDo", a good diet has never been much of a problem to your average Jean Pierre Bloggs. If the lunch menu at my son's state run pre-school in Toulouse is anything to go by, that education starts early. Sardines, ratatouille, melon and paella all get a look in during the first week of school. The same week the Liberal Democrats tell us the British school meal service is in "meltdown".
There's never been much call for a 5 a day campaign in France, a country where even McDonald's warn customers not to eat in their restaurants more than once per week. The kid's will quite happily wolf down their five a day without the forcefeeding police monitoring their every mouthful. However, in the UK, if the latest "Oliver effect" figures are to be believed, Britain has less of a problem with the young'uns. It's the secondary schoolers who are in a grump with that bloke on the telly's grub.
"20% fewer meals are being served in secondary schools. The Liberal Democrats claimed that the 250,000 drop in meals served in secondary schools meant that the school meal service was in "meltdown"" Oliver reckons it'll take five years for the tide to turn, "We have to keep supporting it. We have to know and do what's best for our kids."
And in that, he's absolutely right. Britain started from such a low base, the real impact probably won't be fully realised until the kids who are eating his food start cooking food for their own kids. If the parents opt for oven chips over artichokes seven days a week, 500 days a year, then you don't need studies, assessments, campaigns, committees or a superhero 'sleb chef to predict the obese results. More power to you Jamie. Next stop, snack shops and supermarkets.
