Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

        More than just another reality show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is a noble project aimed at waking up Americans to our fatal food supply system.

        It is refreshing to see celebrity chef-stardom being used responsibly toward the bettering of society rather than shameless self-promotion with cable shows and lines of cook-wear. Jamie, who has already revolutionized the food system in England’s public schools, takes on the schools of Huntington West Virginia, the town recently named the unhealthiest city in the United States, based on diet-related mortality. Met with hostility and resistance from adults in the town and schools, the positive reaction of the youths he interacts with fuels the desire for change.

         His message is very basic: eat food made from fresh ingredients. As basic as that is, many Americans eat a diet based on, if not entirely made up of, processed foods. This includes school lunches approved by government nutritional guidelines where pizza counts as two servings of vegetables. As Jamie points out, kids in third world countries are getting fed better than American school children, and parents should be pissed! While these are not new concepts, he is reaching out to those that don’t know. Regardless of how absent-minded one would have to be to allow their third grader to eat pizza for breakfast, the children should not be the ones to suffer. Theoretically, government regulations should have our backs, not exacerbate the problem for financial reasons.

         More compelling than his own tears of frustration are the stories of the youths he mentors. Rather than preaching, he shows America the problems and how unfair it is to the youth; it’s not their fault yet they are being hurt the most, like the young teenage girl who is already morbidly obese and has been told by doctors that she could have as little as 7 years to live.

          Through Jamie’s Kitchen, an educational cooking center in town, he gives free cooking lessons to the public, working with families and individuals on a personal level. He encourages healthy eating with the use of fresh ingredients like herbs and spices and simple techniques like stir frying to make cooking fun. He also infiltrates the school systems to get fresh ingredients on the menu proving that within days, children will eat healthy foods like veggie pasta and roasted chicken as readily as processed nuggets and pizza.

          People who are at the forefront of thought about food and food-politics are often too sophisticated to get down to the level of the everyday Americans, who need awakening the most. While New Yorkers and Californians worry about GMO’s and growth hormones, much of the country doesn’t even bother with fresh produce and whole foods, organic or not. Those masses are the ones that can demand change at the national level, and before we can get back to a farmer-to-consumer food system, the demand for farmed food has to be significant.

          These are the types of values Jamie instills in the community of Huntington as well as the viewers: eat real food. Cloaked in the drama of a reality show on an entertainment driven network, he knew that this would be an opportunity to reach millions, and he went for it. A definitive step in the right direction, his effort is admirable and hopeful.