Looking back at Food Revolution Day 2015

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. Helen Keller.

A little more than a week since the Food Revolution Day and though a part of me is happy and content that everything went off well (finally I can put up my legs on the coffee table and ponder about the beautiful memories we created together); if you were to ask me to be really really honest I am terribly missing all those days (read the last five months).

Endless planning, organizing, exchanging hundreds of emails, eating up each other heads, agreeing, disagreeing, sleepless nights because I was too excited to sleep before each of the events and those happy faces of all the little ones who made Food Revolution Day 2015 so very special.

Yes, I am missing it all. More importantly I am just missing being around all the wonderfully generous people who came together, who went out of their way and made this happen. Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much said Helen Keller. So true. None of this would have happened without them.

Thank you for being part of Food Revolution Day 2015. 

Thank you for going the extra mile.

Come with me for I want to take you with me through my Food Revolution Month 2015 which is what we did here at Dubai. We celebrated the entire month and we had a blast. This is going to be a long post so I suggest you sit down with a cup of coffee :)

3rd May 2015: We began the month with 100 tiny chefs from the Indian High School dancing to the Wiggles on the 3^rd of May. We squashed, we took a pledge and we asked lots of questions on why we need to eat healthy food. Finally we ate our squash it sandwiches and we loved it. 

These children were all part of the Young Chef Club at the school and some of them were even food inspectors (you read it right!) These little guys go around the junior school checking their friends’ lunch boxes!! So I decided to make these chefs/leaders in the making my partners and not just participants. They are now telling everyone about Food Revolution and have this huge responsibility on their tiny but very strong shoulders to spread the love of real food and cooking. I am so proud of them.

Thank you Principal, Indian High School for joining hands and for food educating the students. Thank you Ruby for doing this with me and thank you team Jamie’s Italian for waking up much before your work hours and becoming a part of this event.

See the full album here.

9th May 2015: Next up were the subscribers of DinnerTime. Each month I work on a menu for their subscribers as a DinnerTime Chef but the menu in the week of 10^th-16^th  was super special for through this menu I shared with them another part of my life; the Food Revolution part of my life. We invited everyone to cook Jamie Oliver’s Squash it Sandwich along with us so we included that as the vegetarian recipe in the box that week. It was a great feeling to see the subscribers joining millions across the globe.

Thank you Anette and the entire team at DinnerTime for agreeing to my request not just this time but always. You have always supported me and it truly brightens my day when you encourage me and indulge me like this.

15th May 2015: The big day. The global day of action. We were all up really early smashing it up at Jamie’s Italian. 100 children alongwith their parents. It was like a mad mad carnival where we played with food. There was “humble water” to drink, fruity ice popsicles to lick, a flour station to get our hands messy, pasta machines to see how fresh pasta is made and ofcourse nonstop squashing. Tattoos too. 

We took a pledge to eat more veggies and fruits, we swayed to the Food Revolution Anthem and proudly collected our certificates. 

Wearing colourful food revolution T shirts it was a like rainbow decided to show up in the desert that day.

Thank you Mansij, Luis, Anish and the entire team at Jamie’s Italian. You guys are the best. Always ready to go that extra bit. I am missing all our morning “meetings” where I felt as if I was a part of your team.

See the full album here.

16th May 2015: It was a long day but we weren’t done yet. 120 kids and their parents joined us at Lafayette Gourmet the next day. 120 workstations were ready to welcome them; recipe cards and pledge sheets, ingredients and rolling pins. 

The children tasted and tested different types of new foods (purple carrots!), made their own recipes for orange, green and pink juices, made ravioli from scratch (big hit!) and after all this took their places at their workstations. 

The atmosphere was simply amazing (read: Goosebumps inducing); 120 of them reading the pledge out aloud and squashing the veggies and fruits.

Thank you Chef Russell and the entire team at Lafayette Gourmet for believing in this event. For those 1000s of emails we exchanged, for your time and for always-always teaching the children about food (not just that day but all year round). Thank you Tony Lootah for that wonderful produce. Thank you Team Tavola for the rolling pins and more.

See the full album here.

I made such lovely memories and those of you who know me well, will know how I like to capture the little and big moments in my life. Food Revolution Day 2015 couldn’t have been complete without this rolling pin.

Before I end this post, I also want to share how everyone from media supported Food Revolution Dubai and me.

Thank you Suzanne and Linda for inviting me to Dubai Eye 103.8 and to your show and giving me chance to tell everyone at Dubai about Food Revolution. (Podcast part one here and part two here). We also made the squash it sandwich in the studio.

Today is Jamie Oliver's birthday & yesterday we had his food revolution ambassador, Prachi Grover from Dubai in our studio teaching Mohit how to make the 'SQUASH IT' sandwich in exactly 3 minutes
Posted by Radio Mirchi UAE on Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Thank you Mohit and Tamanna for inviting me to Radio Mirchi UAE and to your show. It was a lot of fun squashing that sandwich. Listen to the show here.

Thank you Dina & the entire team Mother Baby Child for the write up.

Thank you Cindy & Team Good Taste for sharing the events with your readers.

Thank you The Indian Trumpet for sharing Jamie’s letter with all your readers. 

Thank you Liz and the entire team at instagram for sharing my story on the Food Revolution Day with all of your followers. This was incredibly special and overwhelming. Read the complete post on their blog here.

Thank you Libby, Jo and the entire Food Revolution Team for bearing with all of us, for answering our innumerable questions and for bringing it all together. Thank you Jamie for inspiring. 

Last but not the least. Thank you parents and thank you little ones for celebrating with us. 

Keep cooking, keep trying out new things and keep making faces (because making faces and rejecting is also a part of growing up).

Give yourself a pat on your back for you are all AWESOME.

At the last event one little girl came and told me she really really had fun today and when would be the next Food Revolution Day. I whispered in her ear, guess what it is tomorrow ! That’s right. Every day is a Food Revolution Day!

Images: If you like any of the pictures on the blog and would like to use those please write to me. I put in hours of work behind each post and would love to share it with you but it would hurt me if  use those without my permission.Just ask! 

Food Revolution Ambassador Monthly Challenge: January 2015

We are already in the second month of the year which means it is time to look back at the January monthly challenges.

If you are new here: At the beginning of each month the challenges are announced. These challenges are for inspiring the entire Food Revolution team and to make deeper connections with everyone (fellow food ambassadors, friends and family, anyone who wants to be a part of this challenge too), share our stories , whether we failed or conquered and more. The idea is to complete as many challenges as one can (Read about the October , November and December challenges).

For January: 

Challenge 1: Download YOU-app. Jamie's been working on a new and exciting app called YOU-app. It focuses on four areas – food, mind, move, love – and is all about completing one micro action each day to help you live a happier, healthier life.

I can't remember who said it but a fellow Food Ambassador said "it is like instagram with an intent" and I couldn't agree more. I have to admit ever since this app got launched the first thing I do each morning is to check the micro action of the day. 

Let me take you through the app. The app encourages you to make small changes in your life each day. It could be matter of your heart, mind or body. It is about enjoying the little things we do everyday for often little things are the ones that make the biggest differences in our lives. 

It is about taking notice of our beautiful surroundings that we often ignore because life takes over. It is about making a shift to real food because you need to but without making it difficult and yet indulging in whatever you heart fancies when you want to. It is about making memories and thanking the people who make your life complete and it is about a fitter, healthier, happier and a more positive YOU. 

This app has me giddy with excitement and if you have been following me on instagram where I share my YOUapp posts as well you will see how much fun I have been having. I'd love you guys to check it out and connect with me and the lovely community there. I am orangekitchens there as well.

Read all about YOUapp and join here.

Challenge 2: 10 meals to kick-start a healthier 2015. This year we're helping you to kick-start a healthier new year with 10 delicious recipes from Jamie and his friends, plus loads of other helpful tips, ideas and inspiration. 

You don't need a New Year to kick start healthy eating but a New Year gives you a fresh plate to fill and I absolutely love new beginnings for they give us a chance to look back on how the last year was, an opportunity to start afresh, several new possibilities to grow, to learn and to experiment.  

So this year fill up your plate with foods you have never tried, cuisines you have never experienced, ingredients that have never said hello to your kitchen. Keep it healthy and keep it real. 

This Hit n run traybaked chicken we had earlier this month is a family favourite now. It took like all of five minutes to assemble and the oven did the rest of the work. It was bursting with the goodness and flavour of the bell peppers and tomatoes. We had it with some greens and some crusty bread to soak up all the ambre juice.

Get the recipe here and get many more such recipes here. 

I love it when someone had already done the menu planning and given me the list of ingredients I need to buy too. 

Challenge 3: Share the Food Revolution Day! It's 2015, which means time to start thinking about this year’s Food Revolution Day on 15 May.  

Its about the little changes and the big ones. And the big one (which I earlier shared with you lovely readers on the Orange Kitchens FB page)has been announced. Yay! Food Revolution Day is going to be on the 15th of May this year. 

"Food Revolution Day is a global day of action for people to make a stand for good food and essential cooking skills. It's a chance for people to come together within their homes, schools, workplaces and communities to cook and share their kitchen skills, food knowledge and resources. Food Revolution Day aims to raise awareness about the importance of good food and better food education for everyone by focusing on three simple actions – cook it, share it, live it".

I have put on my thinking cap, meeting and connecting with some lovely people already to plan for the big day and I'd love you all to spread the word around. Lets get our little ones into the kitchen and make some noise. 

But I am going to need your help.

All you awesome parents, hardworking teachers, the enterprising teams running local businesses and restaurants, wonderful conscientious people who are behind the farmers’ markets, the ever giving community groups and organizations, the voice of Dubai; local newspapers, radio stations and magazines who would like to be a part of this or have ideas on what I can do for our kids at Dubai or are in position to help me spread the word around please get in touch with me.

Let us make a difference in lives of our kids and bring about a Food Revolution at Dubai.

Images: If you like any of the pictures on the blog and would like to use those please write to me. I put in hours of work behind each post and would love to share it with you but it would hurt me if  use those without my permission.Just ask!