Each year TED awards the TED Prize and three remarkable winners are given their "One Wish to Change The World". The first winner of the 2010 TED Prize is none other than "Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver. His love for food began at a very early age, helping out in the kitchen of his father's pub. This passion for food continued as Jamie showcased his love affair with fresh "real" foods as he worked his way up the ranks in the kitchen eventually catching the eye of the BBC. BBC offered Oliver his own show, aptly titled "The Naked Chef". The name may be a bit misleading. Jamie wasn't cooking in the buff, rather cooking with "real" foods free of processing and the likes. In 2002, putting up his house as collateral (without telling his wife), Oliver created the Fifteen Foundation. Each year, 15 young adults who have a disadvantaged background, are trained in the restaurant business, and eventually tasked with running Jamie's restaurants. He has tirelessly used his celebrity to bring attention to better food for children, particularly in schools. In 2005, he initiated a campaign called "Feed me Better" whose sole mission is to move British schoolchildren towards eating healthier, "real" foods and cutting out sugary junk food.
Jamie Oliver has now set his sights on an all-out war against childhood obesity and educating the youth of the world to become more educated about where foods come from. One clip in his TED speech shows Jamie in an American school in West Virginia and he is doing a basic show-and-tell of some of the staple vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes and broccoli. It was sad seeing that most of the children couldn't identify these simple food items and the reason is simple... we, as adults don't utilize "real" food in the home as much as our parents, and our grandparents and as each generation passes so does the use of these foods in our homes. Jamie Oliver delivered a powerful, hard-hitting speech to make his case and his one wish...
“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”
Oliver's TED speech, like all others, was a very brief 20 minutes, but it was one of the most profound and eye-opening 20 minutes I've had in the last 4 years of starting Pizza Fusion. It is one of the same reasons why we teach a monthly 'Kids Organics Class' which teaches the children of our local community simply where food comes from. I am committed to supporting Jamie Oliver and helping make Pizza Fusion a big part of the solution as opposed to the problem.
See his video below.
Pizza Fusion is committed to making our foods using only the freshest foods that have little or no processing or artificial ingredients. By using organic and local ingredients whenever possible also shows our integrity in our mission. We truly care about the health of our local community and it has to start with the businesses and restaurants that service them. Pizza Fusion is a franchise with a heart!
Can pesticides make you fat? According to Stephen Perrine, author of "The New American" Diet, YES! It can also cause diabetes as well. Perrine's newest book discusses certain chemicals found in common foods called "obesogens" and how they play a role in the American obesity crisis.
Obesogens are chemicals that disrupt the function of hormonal systems; many researchers believe they lead to weight gain and, in turn, numerous diseases that curse the American populace. They enter our bodies from a variety of sources—natural hormones found in soy products, hormones administered to animals, plastics in some food and drink packaging, ingredients added to processed foods, and pesticides sprayed on produce. They act in a variety of ways: by mimicking human hormones such as estrogen, by misprogramming stem cells to become fat cells, and, researchers think, by altering the function of genes.
Author Stephen Perrine (editor of Children's Health, editor-at-large of Men's Health) and co-author Heather Hurlock research and discuss the link between obesogens and the American obesity crisis, as well as increases in rates of diabetes, depression, heart disease, declining birth rates and sperm counts, and possibly autism.
In the clip below, Stephen Perrine chats with The Early Show host, Harry Smith about obesogens and their role in obesity and diabetes. He also goes to great lengths about how avoiding these chemicals are as easy as switching to an organic diet and eating grass-fed meats free of synthetic hormones.
Perrine even discusses the impacts of eating foods packaged in certain plastic containers and BPA. This guy may be onto something... Hmmm... Eating Organic is not only good for you, it can help you lose weight!
This morning I happened to catch this interesting question on twitter; "How do vegans feel about non-vegan companies selling vegan products?" I think it's a pretty relevant question, which is why I want to extend Vegan Mainstream's concept here on the Pizza Fusion blog to see what others think. Now if you know me, you know I'm not a super strict vegan, but I do my best. I think the important thing to consider here is, what is a vegan company? I'm sure it's safe to say we're all familiar with businesses "going green", but let's get real, the only "vegan companies" must revolve around a vegan product or service, right? Or maybe I am missing the point. Sure it bothers me when company's pretend to be something they're not, but does the rising trend of cruelty-free products help or hurt the industry? I say it helps.
Either way, this post reminded me of a conversation which took place between my brother and I a few weeks ago during lunch @ Pizza Fusion Fort Lauderdale. While enjoying my Very Vegan personal pizza and him his Free Range Roasted Chicken Sandwich, he asked me, "What does free range chicken mean?" Basically, I replied, "it means your chicken got to at least enjoy it's life sort of before you ate it." We both shared a laugh and finished our lunch.
Friday, February 19, 2010 at 6:34AM 
