QLD Premier takes a Jamie Oliver class
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh will have a personal cooking lesson with Britsh celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, along with thousands of Queenslanders and other Australians tonight.
The celebrity chef will take part in a live webcast streaming direct from his London kitchen into Australian homes and will be broadcast on a big screen at a special community event at Ipswich.
“I will be at the Ipswich event cooking along with the Mayor of Ipswich Paul Pisasale and Junior Master chef Judge Anna Gare, as we follow Jamie’s direction to create a range of tasty dishes,” said Bligh.
“We will be able to interact with Jamie, ask questions and comment on what he is cooking. It won’t be exactly like having him in your kitchen but it will be the next best thing.”
The Premier said the event was part of the Government’s $2.5 million program in partnership with the Good Foundation and Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food project with the first centre to open in Ipswich in early 2011.
“We’re supporting the delivery of this program through the Good Foundation because we believe it can make a difference,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to getting a lesson from Jamie and I’m sure it will be a lot of fun but this program has an extremely serious side to it to.
“One in five adults in Queensland is obese, and one in four children is either overweight or obese.
“This is about educating young Queenslanders about how to prepare nutritious meals and help them to lead long, healthy lives.
“We’ve also recently announced a $7.5 million package to tackle type II diabetes, including free on the spot tests at pharmacies.
“Obesity and the growing number of cases of diabetes is something that we must do everything in our power to tackle.”
The cooking classes which start at 6:00pm tonight are funded by the State Government and are provided by The Good Foundation and Jamie’s Ministry of Food Australia.
“Viewers will be able to stream Jamie’s cooking class live at www.jamiesministryoffood.com to prepare a tasty and healthy meal in their own kitchen,” said Bligh.
“Those in Ipswich will be able to view the class on a big screen at D’Arcy Doyle Place, Ipswich from 5.30pm and have the chance to be chosen from the crowd to cook along with Jamie.
“For the people of Ipswich, being chosen nationally as the recipients of Australia’s first Ministry of Food centre is very exciting and this event will give a taste of what’s to come when it opens.”
Under the State Government-funded program, the Ipswich centre will provide 10-week cooking classes with up to 12 participants per class, with up to six classes each day, six days per week, 48 weeks per year.
Classes will include information and skills development on ingredients, shopping, budgeting, meal planning, and food preparation and basic cooking, and participants will include single parents, young mothers, teenagers, families and older people.
The mobile Ministry of Food Outreach Truck will travel around Queensland delivering demonstrations and classes in communities, schools, and at community events such as the Ekka and the Mt Isa Rodeo. Both the centre and the outreach truck will be staffed by three Food Trainers.
It’s good to see that food ministries have come to the front in our country ,to see this go Australia wide including educational institutions would be great . As we see our youth being criticised for being obese yet sport is to them is sometimes denied due too high expenses for parents to afford sports attire. perhaps we are aiming in the wrong direction, and we could be getting nutrition in the minds of youth and using more understanding towards how to make food more exciting for our youth of today and utilising words and numbers that are now creeping into our aussie lingo as text in communicating the use of different meats and veggies and adding calorific content so that food appearence is more exciting using the senses (ie) sight smell taste and to keep it simple sweet good to see the meals in 15 mins.show q.l.d tas? jim