LONDON -- Turkey twizzlers once divided the nation; now they appear to have united it in a surge of national purpose for reform. This is thanks to a new political hero, chef Jamie Oliver, who, from one of the most despised backgrounds in Britain -- white working-class boy from Essex -- has shown imagination and drive in improving the diet of other working-class people.
His medium for his mission was a TV series on the lunches provided in most state schools. He compared the impoverished standard of the food served with what could be served with a little more money, much more imagination and the will to make the change.
The emblem of the execrable food was the turkey twizzler. This is a product of another Essex boy made good. Bernard Mathews rears millions of turkeys and finds ingenious ways of converting their flesh into novelty shapes. The flesh is so soft it can be made to resemble anything.