Last week Ashlie blogged about the
recent horror
movie-themed Burger King ads that promote late night
availability of their food for those of us with a midnight craving
for cheeseburgers. They made me LOL because as an adult, I'm still
afraid of horror movies and I saw it as another reason to avoid the
nearest BK. Sure the ads are clever, but they're almost
unnecessary. Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent annually at
fast food restaurants in the United States. The grub sells
itself.
While all the meat grease lovers out
there are beckoned by the siren song of their beloved burger joints
every week, a food revolution has slowly begun. It started with
books and movies like Fast Food Nation, Super Size
Me, Food Inc. and In Defense of Food: An Eater's
Manifesto, to name a few. They gave us a look inside the fast
food industry from the slaughterhouse to the tabletop, and what was
shown was enough to make anyone reevaluate their noms. Thanks to
marketing efforts behind these projects, more people are becoming
aware of the effect of processed food on their health and making
changes. And now the new leaders of the "slow food" movement are
getting even fresher: they're using social media to build their
armies online.
Anonymous blogger "Mrs. Q" is a school teacher in Illinois
who started her blog, Fed Up With School
Lunches, to generate public awareness about the nutritional
quality of food being served to students in U.S. schools. In
January 2010, she began eating a school meal every day. Post-lunch,
she covertly blogs about what she consumed and she's paranoid about
being caught and subsequently punished for her mealtime musings.
Why? Is the fact that French fries count as a vegetable that big of
a deal? It is to her fans. Mrs. Q has over 3,000 followers on Twitter, over 3,000
followers on her Blogspot platform, and averages 20-40 comments per
post from concerned readers looking to join the conversation. Her
efforts were featured on chicagonow.com, nydailynews.com, and several
other media outlets. So far Mrs Q. has been successful in garnering
attention for her virtual venture, and she's not
alone.
Jamie Oliver, a young, cheeky British
chef who rose to fame with his Food Network cooking show The
Naked Chef in 1998 is similar to Mrs. Q, but different. While
he's also working to change the dietary habits of Americans by
targeting school meal programs, he's using his name to do it. He
has a new TV show, Jamie Oliver's Food
Revolution, where he drops gastronomical knowledge bombs
on the school system in Huntington, West Virginia and tries to
change the operation from the inside out.
On the show's website,
visitors can sign his petition to provide better, healthier foods
at schools across the country. As of this moment, 216,562 John
Hancocks have been scribed to it. Unsurprisingly, the state with
the most number of signatures is California. California is so cool.
Visitors can also send donations online to support Jamie's mission,
become his fan on
Facebook, or follow him on Twitter.
Finally, we have veggiecation.com, a company
that strives to improve lunch programs while working with tight
budgets and fickle appetites. They have a media
kit available for download on their site and a
Facebook page with just a little over a hundred followers
so far. I have a sneaking suspicion that with the help of Mrs. Q
and Jamie Oliver, awareness for their program will build over time.
Slow and steady wins the race.
If you made it through this post, congratulations! It was a
real... whopper.