The Naked Chef

There are a million reasons why I love Jamie Oliver. He is all about keeping things real. I mean, who else would have their own cooking show named The Naked Chef!? He understands family life and what keeps it together. He promotes the personal journeys behind his recipes and emphasises the notion of cooking as a joy, not a chore. Sound familiar? Well it should, because that’s what Taste Safari is all about too! And, like Jamie, I firmly believe in getting kids involved in cooking, whether it’s in the kitchen or out on the barbeque, camping or wherever! It’s about creating amazing memories! About letting your kids grow alongside you as you cook up an evening meal. Taking them to the markets with you, exploring farms and the great outdoors so that they gain a sense of where food comes from, and how creative they can be when they do start cooking for themselves.

So you can understand my excitement when I discovered Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. I couldn’t wait to bring it to Kenya, and on the 16th May that is just what I did. Along with thousands of other food fanatics all over the globe. The enthusiasm, passion and joy of kids on that day obviously spread to England because Jamie’s team selected our blog to feature in their top 10 Food Revolution Day blogs; that’s out of all the thousands of people that took part! Check it out on the Food Revolution website.

What is Food Revolution Day?

“Food Revolution Day is a global day of action to keep cooking skills alive.”

It’s about celebrating the importance of cooking good food from scratch and raising awareness of how it impacts our health and happiness. Everyone should know about food and it starts with getting kids food smart, making cooking fun and inspiring a love of food that will last a lifetime. Food Revolution Day is a campaign by the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation in the UK and USA, and The Good Foundation in Australia. To date, 74 countries have taken part and over 900 ambassadors are championing our cause worldwide. And Taste Safari is delighted to be joining this league of Food Revolution Ambassadors!

Here are some scary facts from the Food Revolution website.

Children today are the first generation predicted to live shorter lives than their parents because of diet and inactivity.
Worldwide, there are already more than 43 million children under the age of five who are either overweight or obese. If this continues, the figure will rise to nearly 60 million by 2020.
Type-2 diabetes, previously considered a disease specific only to adults, is now becoming prevalent in children as young as eight years old.
Diet-related illnesses, which include type-2 diabetes, heart failure and stroke, are among the world’s biggest killers.
Overweight or obese children are a lot more likely to remain overweight or obese as adults, increasing their risk of disease and disability later in life.

How Did We Bring FRD to Kenya?

Food Revolution Day was such an exciting global campaign and I was determined to get Kenya on the map. I wanted to show how much of an important influence someone like Jamie Oliver has in raising healthy eating awareness in schools across the world. So I hooked up with Brookhouse International School in Nairobi to join 237,800 other participants from 121 countries to cook together, with Jamie Oliver on a live stream, and celebrate everything Food Rev Day was about.

I wanted kids to have fun, cooking alongside each other, just having a great laugh. And that is exactly what happened.

We had 50 kids in Brookhouse all ranging from the age of 6 years old to 13 years, completely engaged in cooking to raise awareness of healthier meals. It was such a brilliant day and the kids were so enthusiastic, really getting stuck in and sharing a passion for food. Far too few parents cook with their children and I wanted to show that you don’t have to be a Cordon Bleu chef to just spend a moment bonding with your children over a healthy recipe, away from the telly and the iPads. So thank you, Jamie, all the way from Nairobi, Kenya – you’ve got a great following here mate!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shWix23pDFA