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Jamie Oliver's New Show: Theater or Public Health Campaign?
Posted on Feb 26th 2010 12:00PM by Martha EdwardsFiled Under: Celebs & Entertainment
He's tried to clean up the eating habits of children and adults in his home country of England, and now celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is going to take on the eating habits of Americans. First stop? Huntington, W. Va., also known as the unhealthiest city in America. The first clips of the show are being promoted and it looks like Oliver has his work cut out for him. Before taking on the task, Oliver admitted that he was scared; "They are not stupid, they are not ignorant -- it's just they have never had food from scratch in their life," he said of the city's 50,000 residents.
And he certainly has high aspirations for both Huntington and himself. "I'm here to start the biggest food revolution this country's ever seen," he said in the show. But what do the residents of his first project think of the plan? They're not exactly convinced. "We don't want to sit around an eat lettuce all day," a local radio host told Oliver matter-of-factly. "He can try all he wants, but I don't think he's got it."
All the same, the town seems to need it. If the video clips are to be believed, Huntington is a place where some kids don't know the names of common produce items and French fries are considered a serving of vegetables.
Check out the clip from "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution." Story continues below.
But public health nutrition expert Marion Nestle brought up a very good question. "Is his campaign about theater or is this real public health?" A tearful Oliver seems genuinely interested in the well-being of Huntington, particularly when he urges parents to consider the health of their children. "This is the first generation of kids expected to live a shorter life than their parents," he said. "if you think that's not important, then shame on you."
Still, the fact remains that Oliver is benefiting big time from the bad habits of this infamous city, and locals are worried that this latest reality series will do little more than portray their hometown in a really negative light. Mayor Kim Wolf admitted to the Huntington News that the obesity problem "was taken a little out of context [and] sensationalized a bit by the British media." All the same, the local media labeled him as "sincere" after an early press conference.
We'll just have to wait and see if he was sincere enough to change the city for good. The show premieres Friday, March 26 at 9pm ET on ABC -- will you be watching?
Jamie Oliver isn't the only one looking at America's school lunches. It is a focus of Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign, but are her efforts enough?
And he certainly has high aspirations for both Huntington and himself. "I'm here to start the biggest food revolution this country's ever seen," he said in the show. But what do the residents of his first project think of the plan? They're not exactly convinced. "We don't want to sit around an eat lettuce all day," a local radio host told Oliver matter-of-factly. "He can try all he wants, but I don't think he's got it."
All the same, the town seems to need it. If the video clips are to be believed, Huntington is a place where some kids don't know the names of common produce items and French fries are considered a serving of vegetables.
Check out the clip from "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution." Story continues below.
But public health nutrition expert Marion Nestle brought up a very good question. "Is his campaign about theater or is this real public health?" A tearful Oliver seems genuinely interested in the well-being of Huntington, particularly when he urges parents to consider the health of their children. "This is the first generation of kids expected to live a shorter life than their parents," he said. "if you think that's not important, then shame on you."
Still, the fact remains that Oliver is benefiting big time from the bad habits of this infamous city, and locals are worried that this latest reality series will do little more than portray their hometown in a really negative light. Mayor Kim Wolf admitted to the Huntington News that the obesity problem "was taken a little out of context [and] sensationalized a bit by the British media." All the same, the local media labeled him as "sincere" after an early press conference.
We'll just have to wait and see if he was sincere enough to change the city for good. The show premieres Friday, March 26 at 9pm ET on ABC -- will you be watching?
Jamie Oliver isn't the only one looking at America's school lunches. It is a focus of Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign, but are her efforts enough?
