Abstract
Over the last decade, school food has emerged as one of the number of ways in which concerns over children and young people’s health might be addressed. In 2005 Jamie Oliver, TV chef, emerged as a significant voice, championing the capacity of school food to avert a range of potentially detrimental health conditions. This chapter attempts to identify and analyze the ways in which the complex and ambiguous figure of Jamie Oliver has and continues to claim some authority – in a variety of TV shows and social/moral enterprises such as Working in Jamie’s Kitchen and Jamie’s School Dinners – to intervene into what might be termed “the moral geographies of young people and food.” This chapter is concerned with those programs and interventions that aim to educate and encourage people (families, parents, young people, school teachers, dinner ladies) to make “better” food choices in what has been called the battleground of school dining rooms. The intervention of social/moral entrepreneurs into these issues/spaces raises troubling questions not only about knowledge, expertise, and authority in relation to young people, food, and health but perhaps more significantly on who is/can/should be an actor in programs that overwhelmingly target the children of disadvantaged/poor families. Drawing on the work of Foucault and the late Stuart Hall, the chapter explores how the figure of the moral entrepreneur might compel us to imagine the State as only one of a possible range of actors in the moral geographies of young people and food.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bauman, Z. (1989). Modernity and the Holocaust. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bauman, Z. (1990). Modernity and ambivalence. In M. Featherstone (Ed.), Global culture (pp. 143–170). London: Sage.
Bauman, Z. (1991). Modernity and ambivalence. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Blair, T. (2001). The strong society: Rights, responsibilities and reform. Labour Party: New Labour, New Britain. http://www.labour.org.uk/newsarchive/. Accessed 6 Feb 2014.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgement of taste (trans: Nice, R.). London: Routledge.
Burchell, G. (1996). Liberal government and techniques of the self. In A. Barry, T. Osborne, & N. Rose (Eds.), Foucault and political reason: Liberalism, neo-liberalism and rationalities of government (pp. 19–36). London: UCL Press/University College.
Burgoyne, J., & Clark, D. (1983). You are what you eat: Food and family reconstitution. In A. Murcott (Ed.), The sociology of food and eating (pp. 153–163). Aldershot: Gower Publishing Company Ltd.
Butler, J. (2002). What is critique? An essay on Foucault’s virtue. In D. Ingram (Ed.), The political: Blackwell readings in continental philosophy (pp. 212–228). Oxford, MA: Blackwell.
CBS America. (2006). 60 Minutes. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/12/60minutes/main1494021_page3.shtml. Accessed 26 Apr 2014.
Channel 4. (2006). Jamie’s school dinners: The campaign. http://www.jamieoliver.com/media/jo_sd_manifesto.pdf. Accessed 26 Apr 2014.
Charles, N., & Kerr, M. (1988). Women, food and families. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Dean, M. (1994). Critical and effective histories. London: Routledge.
Deans, J. (2013). Jamie Oliver bemoans chips, cheese and giant TVs of modern-day poverty. The Guardian, Tuesday 27 Aug 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/27/jamie-oliver-chips-cheese-modern-day-poverty. Accessed 13 Feb 2014.
Eschmeyer, D. (2010). Jamie Oliver: Stirring up a food fight, Civil Eats. http://civileats.com/2010/03/26/jamie-oliver-stirring-up-a-food-fight/. Accessed 26 Apr 2014.
Evans, B. (2006). Gluttony or sloth? Critical geographies of bodies and morality in (anti)obesity policy. Area, 38(3), 259–267.
Evans, B., & Colls, R. (2009). Measuring fatness, governing bodies: The spatialities of the Body Mass Index (BMI) in Anti-Obesity Politics. Antipode, 41(5), 1051–1083.
Fine, M. (1994). Working the hyphens: Reinventing self and other in qualitative research. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 70–82). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Foucault, M. (1986). The care of the self. New York: Pantheon.
Foucault, M. (1978). The history of sexuality: Volume 1 an introduction. London: Penguin.
Foucault, M. (1985). The use of pleasure. New York: Pantheon.
Foucault, M. (1991). Governmentality. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon, & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmental rationality (pp. 87–104). Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Friedman, M., & Friedman, R. (1980). Free to choose. Melbourne: Macmillan.
Gard, J., & Wright, M. (2005). The obesity epidemic: Science, morality and ideology. London: Routledge.
Garland, D. (1996). The limits of the sovereign state: Strategies of crime control in contemporary society. British Journal of Criminology, 36(4), 445–471.
Gordon, C. (1991). Governmental rationality: An introduction. In G. Burchell, C. Gordon, & P. Miller (Eds.), The Foucault effect: Studies in governmental rationality (pp. 1–52). Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Hall, S. (1988a). The hard road to renewal. London: Verso.
Hall, S. (1988b). Brave new world. Marxism Today, 24, 24–29.
Hall, S. (1988c). Changing the subject. Australian Left Review, 108, 26–31.
Hall, S. (1988d). Thatcher’s lessons (pp. 20–27). March: Marxism Today.
Hall, S., Massey, D., & Rustin, M. (2013). After neoliberalism: Analysing the present. In S. Hall, D. Massey & M. Rustin (Eds.), After neoliberalism? The Kilburn manifesto. Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture. http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/journals/soundings/manifesto.html. Accessed 2 Sept 2014.
Haraway, D. (2008). ‘There are always more things going on than you thought!’ Methodologies as thinking technologies. In A. Smelik & N. Lykke (Eds.), Bits of life: Feminism at the intersection of media, bioscience and technology. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Hollows, J., & Jones, S. (2010). “At least he’s doing something”: Moral entrepreneurship and individual responsibility in Jamie’s Ministry of Food. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 13(3), 307–322.
Hunter, I. (1993). Subjectivity and government. Economy and Society, 22(1), 121–134.
Hunter, I. (1994). Rethinking the school. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Kelly, P. (2004). The etho-politics of community: Middle class institutions, middle class manners, middle class solutions. Just Policy: A Journal of Australian Social Policy, 32(June), 3–10.
Kelly, P. (2012). Growing up after the GFC: Identity, democracy and enterprise. The Second ISA Forum of Sociology, Social justice and democratization, Buenos Aires, 1–4 Aug 2012.
Kelly, P. (2013). The self as enterprise: Foucault and the “spirit” of 21st century capitalism. Aldershot: Ashgate/Gower.
Kelly, P., & Harrison, L. (2009). Working in Jamie’s kitchen: Salvation, passion and young workers. London: Palgrave.
Lalonde, M. (1992). Deciphering a meal again, or the anthropology of taste. Social Science Information, 31(1), 69–86.
Latour, B. (2007). Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network-theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lee, R., & Smith, D. M. (2011). Introduction: Geographies of morality and moralities of geography. In R. Lee & D. M. Smith (Eds.), Geographies and moralities: International perspectives on development, justice and peace (pp. 1–12). Oxford: Blackwell.
Lewis, T. (2013). Jamie Oliver: “I cause a storm every time I open my mouth”. The Observer, Saturday 19 Oct 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/19/jamie-oliver-i-cause-a-storm. Accessed 12 Feb 2014.
Marshall, D. (2005). Food as ritual, routine or convention. Consumption, Markets and Culture, 8(1), 69–85.
Mitchell, J. (1999). The British main meal in the 1990s: Has it changed its identity? British Food Journal, 101(11), 871–883.
Monroe, J. (2013). Jamie Oliver is a “poverty tourist”. IOL Lifestyle, 28 Aug 2013. http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/food-drink/food/jamie-oliver-is-a-poverty-tourist-1.1569386#.UvruP_ZAw4Y. Accessed 12 Feb 2014.
Morley, D. & Schwarz, B. (2014). Stuart Hall obituary. The Guardian, Monday 10 Feb 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/10/stuart-hall. Accessed 26 Apr 2014.
Murcott, A. (1982). On the social significance of a “cooked dinner” in South Wales. Social Science Information, 21(4–5), 677–696.
Nietzsche, F. (2003). The Genealogy of Morals. Mineola: Dover Publications.
Pike, J. (2010). “I don’t have to listen to you! You’re just a dinner lady!”: Power and resistance at lunchtimes in primary schools. Children’s Geographies, 8(3), 275–289.
Pike, J., & Kelly, P. (2014). The moral geographies of children, young people and food; beyond Jamie’s school dinners. London: Palgrave.
Pike, J., & Leahy, D. (2012). School food and the pedagogies of parenting. Australian Journal of Adult Education, 52(3), 434–460.
Rainey, S. (2012). Jamie Oliver: When the Oven Gloves come off. The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/healthyeating/9714188/Jamie-Oliver-when-the-oven-gloves-come-off.html. Accessed 26 Apr 2014.
Rawlins, E. (2009). Choosing health? Exploring children’s eating practices at home and at school. Antipode, 41(5), 1084–1109.
Rose, N. (1999). Inventiveness in politics. Economy and Society, 28(3), 467–494.
Rose, N., & Miller, P. (1992). Political power beyond the state: Problematics of government. British Journal of Sociology, 43(2), 173–205.
Seymour, R. (2013). “Austerity cooking” has been hijacked by the moralisers. The Guardian Wednesday 28 Aug 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/28/austerity-cooking-jack-monroe-hijacked-moralisers. Accessed 13 Feb 2014.
Siegel, B.E. (2011). My problem with Jamie Oliver’s war on flavored milk. The Lunch Tray, 28 Apr 2011. http://www.thelunchtray.com/my-problem-with-jamie-olivers-war-on-flavored-milk/. Accessed 26 Apr 2014.
Weber, M. (2002). The protestant ethic and the ‘spirit’ of capitalism: And other writings. London: Penguin.
Welshman, J. (1997). School meals and milk in England and Wales, 1906–45. Medical History, 41, 6–29.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this entry
Cite this entry
Pike, J., Kelly, P. (2015). Moral Geographies of Young People and Food: Beyond Jamie’s School Dinners. In: Evans, B., Horton, J., Skelton, T. (eds) Play, Recreation, Health and Well Being. Geographies of Children and Young People, vol 9. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4585-96-5_24-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4585-96-5_24-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Online ISBN: 978-981-4585-96-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences