Sir, Jamie Oliver should not be surprised at the increase in the number of children refusing to eat his school dinners (report, Sept 8). Children will not eat what they dislike. He has lost sight of the purpose of these meals; they are meant ensure that no child goes hungry at school. They are not supposed to be a multicultural culinary experience.
Conventional school meals do not stuff children’s arteries with cholesterol, as he claims, nor is there scientific evidence that they cause constipation or poor behaviour. Children need a varied, mixed diet, but it does not matter if the protein comes from reconstituted corned beef, hamburgers or Aberdeen Angus steak. It all ends up in the blood as the same amino-acid building blocks. The nutritional make-up of bruschetta drizzled with olive oil is similar to bread and dripping.
Anxiety about obesity has led to the belief that plenty of salad will guarantee a slim figure. It ignores the fact that the fattest mammals: the whale, the hippopotamus and the elephant, are vegetarian. Obesity is caused by eating more calories than one uses; it is not just the result of diet.
STANLEY FELDMAN
University of London