millsworks

I’m a big fan of Jamie Oliver – hell, I’m a big fan of food.

I was raised in a family that ate it’s fair share of junk but also came from fairly basic lower middle class farmer stock so the idea of real food was never foreign to me. Being a hedonist also helped in my pursuit of good tastin’ eats.

I can munch down on McDonald’s crap in a heartbeat – knowing as it clogs my veins that it’s a sin against my own body but not really giving a fuck because I loved the taste of the excessive salt and the ever-ubiquitous Vitamin G. Yeah, it’s shit – yeah, it’s a punch in the heart – yeah, it’s addictive — fuck you, I’m gonna chow down.

But I don’t do that every fucking day. I eat good food – I eat real food – but I also drink too much and eat bacon in a way that almost puts me on par with the Burgess Meredith character from Grumpy Old Men:

But that’s okay because because it’s my fucked up aging body and I refuse to have anyone tell me how to handle my own fucking business. Don’t even try.

But I also have a son. My wife and I have raised him up to enjoy the savours and joys of real fucking food. Where it comes from, how to make it, knowing the difference between factory churned out processed garbage and the real deal that grows up out of the ground or gets hacked off a freshly bleeding animal. You know – the good stuff.

Where was I? Oh yes – Jaimie Oliver. He recently had a limited series on broadcast television called Jaimie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Good piece of work. Check it out. If you’re too lazy to do that – or too busy sucking back pork rinds – then get the short strokes here with his TED Talk:

I’ve spent the better part of my career creating works for young viewers that, in one way or another, always had some level of educational content in it. Fuck the 123′s and the ABC’s – they won’t learn dick unless they’re still alive. Compassion, empathy and the basics of feeding yourself and others lie at the heart of humanity.

My son, bless his heart, is a healthy lad who knows his food, enjoys it and understands the value of it. We both eat salty, greasy crap together. It’s fun. We also bake bread, make pasta, make sausage, sushi, stir-fry vegetables, grow fruit & veggies in the garden and occasionally make wine. He’s gonna live a lot longer than me. That alone shows there’s at least a modicum of justice in the universe.

You want to do something good for the world?

Teach your kids about the food they eat.

It’s that simple.

Cheers.