grass roots support for jamie's food revolution from cathy

Grass Roots Support For Jamie's Food Revolution From Cathy

Mon 19 Apr 2010

Story by Danny McCubbin
 

Jamie's Food Revolution continues to gain support from people across the States. This is a special story about our friend Cathy who has started a Food Revolution Facebook page that now has close to 90,000 fans.

This February, I received my new copy of “Jamie’s Food Revolution.” After leafing through it and admiring the beautiful pictures and easy-to-prepare, healthy recipes, I knew I had to pass the ideas and recipes along to my Facebook friends and family. I set up my page, “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” hoping for 100 fans. I am amazed that after just a few weeks, there are almost 80,000 fans from 20 countries!

I’ve been interested in food and cooking since I was a child. My parents and brothers all cook, and I have adopted ideas from them. Now my family lets me, the youngest, plan our holiday meals, and they all help out! I try to prepare nutritious, tasty and beautiful meals. I am also interested in photography and have incorporated some of my food photos into the fan site.

My two small children and full-time job make it a challenge to cook healthy meals, but it is a priority for me. Jamie has reminded me to teach my own children about food and cooking, so they have been more involved in meal preparation and learning about ingredients.

My 9 Food Rules:
1. Cook at home.
2. Avoid packaged foods.
3. Avoid too much refined sugar.
4. Trade refined grains for whole grains.
5. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables.
6. Teach my kids to cook and use many different ingredients.
7. Read labels and reject what I don’t understand.
8. Choose food grown and raised close to home.
9. Try new foods.

My Facebook fan page is a forum for like-minded people to share ideas and have fun cooking. Some of the things happening on the site:

1. Virtual Dinner Parties: I set different themes, such as Curry Night, Soup Night, and Twenty Minute Meals. I ask people to “attend” the event, make and post recipes from Jamie, or another healthy recipe, and share a picture of the results. The current Dinner Party is also a contest for a copy of “Jamie’s Food Revolution” (donated by my dad).
2. Discussion Boards: People use this forum to discuss recipes, the show, how to promote the food revolution locally, and other topics of interest.
3. Wall Postings: Fans post thoughts, links to relevant food news, and reactions to the show.

Please visit the site and join the Revolution!

Cathy has very kindly given us one of her recipes from the Virtual Dinner Parties for you to try as well.

About the author: Danny McCubbin is the website editor for JamieOliver.com