Food revolutionaries

Jamie Oliver crystallized his vision for a food revolution in his TED Talk. At the Charlton Manor Primary School in London, head teacher Timothy Baker is putting his idea into action by offering not just food education but education centered on food.

Jamie Oliver: My wish ...

is for you to help a strong,
sustainable movement

to educate every child

about food.

(Music)

To inspire families to cook again

and to empower people everywhere

to fight obesity.

I came here to start a food revolution

that I profoundly believe in.

(Applause)

[Great Big Story
in partnership with TED]

Narrator: They had a big idea
to change the world.

But they couldn't do it alone.

(Voices overlapping)
So, my wish ... My wish ... I wish ...

And now here's my wish.

[Torchbearers]

[Ideas in action]

(Knife chop)

(Music)

JO: Food is simple.
It's just raw ingredients.

But it's the most powerful
killer on the planet.

Every child has the human right
to be taught about food:

where it comes from,
how it affects their body.

And they should be shown at school,

because it's at the front line
of the fight against obesity.

[London, England]

[Charlton Manor Primary School]

What happens at Charlton Manor

is that incredible head teacher
took it to the next level.

[Timothy Baker
Head teacher]

Timothy Baker: In the past,

the children weren't
eating the right things.

I've been inspired by Jamie
to educate this school

about the fact that we're feeding
the children the wrong food.

And I thought, well, the timetable
is an already crowded place --

there are so many lessons
in the primary curriculum.

How can you introduce another subject
for teachers to teach?

So we looked at English,

we looked at maths, science,
history, geography

and we saw how we could
put that around food.

(Children laugh)

Elizabeth: When you incorporate cooking,
it's something everyone looks forward to.

Male teacher: Today we're doing
a little bit of science in the kitchen.

Female teacher: We are going to combine
our lessons on Diwali,

but also our lessons
on shape and symmetry.

Male teacher: Is this a physical change
or a chemical change?

Children: Physical!

Male teacher: You're right.

TB: For history topics,
we talk about the history of chocolate,

and so we can do
a whole topic around that.

Male teacher: And the Aztecs
have been cooking with chocolate --

TB: And it's interesting
because it's not made as they think,

with all the milk in
that they would have had --

and the taste is very, very different.

Some children like it;
some children don't.

(Laughter)

For maths, simple weighing and measuring.

Female teacher: We're going
to be doing a lot of measuring

because we have to
measure out some liquids,

which we did last term,
we did some measuring.

JO: What he's done is he's put
food at the heart of the school,

and he's fed the stomach and the mind.

(Children yell excitedly)

TB: Charlton Manor is a state school.

About 80 percent
of children come from areas

that are identified as in poverty.

The children had very little experience
of being outside in the countryside,

knowing about food-growing.

Over a period of time,

we were able to build a garden.

(Children shout)

Students: Welcome to the Secret Garden!

Kehinde: This is our greenhouse.

This is our compost bin.

This is our wormery.

(Music)

This is our vegetable patch.

And these are our chickens.

Sean: The chickens come out,
and they try and chase you.

I had to run for my life.

TB: Up at the community garden,

we've got two polytunnels
so we can grow year-round.

Sean: I will pick onions,

broccoli and carrots

because they're all healthy,

they make you stronger --

obviously --

and they just make me happy.

So, yeah.

(Birds chirp)

TB: 12 or 13 years ago,

there was a reluctance
to engage in this sort of curriculum.

There were many people
that couldn't see what we were aiming for

and what we were trying to do.

Obesity hadn't reached the epidemic
proportions it has reached now.

We're getting children
that look and appear more healthy.

Concentration is so much higher.

Behavior issues are incredibly lower
than they have been in the past.

Elizabeth: One the of the great
things they've done is introduce us

to worlds of healthy food.

Kehinde: Before,
I was a really picky eater.

Sean: I feel better
when I eat healthier food.

TB: When you fail your maths A level,

that's not going to shorten
your life by 10 years.

JO: You don't die young because
you didn't do your geography homework.

These kids die young if they
don't know how to feed themselves.

I think Tim and the team would inspire
head teachers across the world --

and parents.

Any teacher has the same capacity
to be as brilliant as he is.

His story, we want to replicate,

but the truth is
we've got so much more to do.

TB: Jamie really revolutionized
our school dinners,

and it really has hugely impacted
all the children,

but so many in a deep way

which is going to stick with them
for the rest of their lives.

When you change a life like that,
it makes it all worthwhile.

From all of us at the Charlton Manor,

thank you, Jamie.

Student: Thank you, Jamie.

Student: Thank you, Jamie.

[Join the food revolution
JamiesFoodRevolution.org]