Woman Who Grew Up Poor Shares The Reasons That Many Poor Families Depend On Junk Food
Having healthy options at the dinner table is a privilege that many people do not realize they have.
Many of us are well aware of Jamie Oliver. He is the English celebrity chef who transformed the options at school cafeterias and spends his time preaching about how easy and simple it is to eat healthy food.
He forgot to add the important detail that many poor people know: the fact that it is easy and simple to eat healthy food if you can afford it and have the time to cook.
This is not a privilege that all of us have, and the rhetoric he spouts, without acknowledging the very real economic factors that influence people's lifestyles, means that healthy eating is not the cheap and easy option he claims it to be.
The thread begins by acknowledging that Jamie Oliver was campaigning to add a "sugar tax" to foods, making unhealthy foods more expensive.
sibylpain on TwitterBut she began to share her own experience of growing up poor...
sibylpain on TwitterExplaining that not all families have the time or experience to prioritize healthy eating.
sibylpain on Twitter
Being "time poor" as well as "money poor" means that you cannot spend hours cooking each day; you have bigger things to worry about.
sibylpain on Twitter
Fruit and vegetables can be expensive. Not to mention, they spoil really quickly if not eaten.
sibylpain on Twitter
Some people simply have bigger and more valid priorities than Jamie Oliver does.
sibylpain on Twitter
Meanwhile, Jamie Oliver whips out his mortar and pestle and goes on about how easy everything is!
sibylpain on Twitter
Cooking is HARD work.
sibylpain on Twitter
Claiming that it's easy to eat well is good in theory, but life doesn't always work that way.
sibylpain on Twitter
Unhealthier foods often tend to be quick and easy.
sibylpain on Twitter
Raising the price of food will not mean people will eat healthier; it will mean that they do not eat at all.
sibylpain on Twitter
There are so many things that can be done that will ACTUALLY make a positive difference in people's lives.
sibylpain on Twitter
Taxing unhealthy food will do nothing but add more stress to people who are already stressed.
sibylpain on Twitter
Stop! Blaming! Poor! People! And! Help! Them! Instead!
sibylpain on Twitter
Also, has no one told Jamie Oliver to undergo some cultural sensitivity training? Or just... not be rude?
UrbanNathalia on Twitter
Kids eating is more important than kids eating healthy.
NarahSarah on Twitter
Judging does nothing but further stigmatize the poor.
NarahSarah on Twitter
OOP. Watch out, Jamie....
teaforpterosaur on Twitter
Besides, of all the foods, I do not think pizza is the worst.
NotTimorous on Twitter
!!!
teaforpterosaur on Twitter
Thanks, Jamie, for ruining my school dinners and hating poor people xx
praxxxxxis on Twitter
