Celeb Chef Jamie Oliver Wants to Start a 'Revolution'

By Denise Warner Posted Mar 24th 2010 03:30PM

Jamie Oliver traveled to what was called the unhealthiest city in the U.S. -- Huntington, West Virginia -- to educate the residents about the food "that's killing America" in his new series, 'Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution,' which premieres March 26 at 8 PM on ABC. (A special preview aired on the 21st.)

During his tenure, the people of West Virginia put up a lot of resistance. A radio DJ in the town bluntly told him, "We don't want to sit around eating lettuce all day!" And the women in the school cafeteria were equally upset with the British chef's presence -- causing Oliver to break down in tears. "They don't understand me," he cried.

However, the British chef persevered, determined to make a difference in everyone's diets and consciousness about their health. Jamie chatted with PopEater about his experience on the show.

"We're not painting a perfect picture of me walking in there and going 'Da da dah.' We follow what really happened. Even to the bitter end," he says.

I really enjoyed the premiere. There are so many misconceptions about the people from that part of the country, and I think you're really helping the world to understand.
Thank you. I think Huntington comes out looking just beautiful over the series. Reality TV has got a bit of a dodgy rep, so we played with it very sensitively.

Were you expecting the kind of resistance you encountered when you first got there?
Honestly, yes. I've never done anything worthwhile involving change that hasn't gotten resistance. Change is the hardest thing in the world and resistance is normal. It's never particularly much fun, but you have to just keep going and push through it and try. It did take about a month and a half before I broke the back of it. The thing that really helped was working with individual families – them spreading the word that I was there for good reasons and I actually was changing their lives and allowing them to live differently.

Watch the First Episode

It seemed that the first family you visited were much more willing and positive about the experience than others.
All of the families that I came in contact with were never saying, "We don't want you, get lost, go." It was more of the opposite. It was, "Help, please. I feel like a bad mom. I know what I'm doing is wrong, I just don't know how to do it right. No one's ever taught me to cook at home or at school, so I'm sitting here with four kids wondering, 'What on Earth do I do?'" Telling that story is quite important. I think there are going to be a lot of parents feeling a bit bad about that. You can't really blame the parents when the whole culture and the whole horizon of food is all the same. Knowing how to shop and to cook a few things gives you so many choices to live differently.

You just want to tell them it's not all their fault.
Absolutely. It's not their fault to a point. Obviously, there comes a point when they've got to deliver. It's all right saying, "You know, you're doing it wrong," but you've got to go and do it. You have to invest time in it. It's not like when your kids learn to ride a bike, they've done it straight away. You've got to invest time in that. When your kids learn to talk or walk, you have to invest time in that. Cooking is no different. Cooking knowledge is no different. I know I'm a biased, but the way I look at it, you use cooking three times a day, normally in your life. Then, probably the second biggest amount of money that you spend in your life is at the supermarket. You might as well get good at shopping and save yourself the money. I haven't actually worked with a family yet who I haven't saved them $100 to $150 dollars a week.

You said it took about a month and a half for the people of Huntington to accept you. Will we see more struggles in upcoming episodes?
The show is very fun and natural and it is what it is. We're not painting a perfect picture of me walking in there and going 'Da da dah.' We follow what really happened. Even to the bitter end ... I'm not saying it's a happy ending. I'm saying that wonderful things are achieved. Really, the happy ending is what's going to happen in the next year or two years.

What's the best advice about cooking that you have?
Oh that's a hard one. Of course, you can keep it simple. You really only need, I call it ten recipes to save your life. Recipes that you enjoy from stew to pasta to sauces to stir fry -- knowing how to make salads taste delicious and making greens taste delicious. Everyday dishes like that, that's the kind of thing you want to have in your repertoire. And ten simple recipes, as well. The other thing is when you're shopping, organizing what you buy so you don't waste money. But one of the biggest things is -- if you turn around a pack and you don't understand what's on the back, if it sounds like a science lesson, don't buy it. That's a quickie.

Tags: jamie oliver, jamie olivers food revolution

Comments

(152)

Thursday 25 March

By Misty Andrews

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I have watched Jamie for many many years. He has done so much good in his home country for the kids there. I am trying to put his plan into our school system. He changed the way I feed my family. My kids eat healthy home cooked meals. Do we buy Jamies books? You bet your hat we do!. He is amazing. For those out there saying Jamie does not care and that he is trying to sell a program or books. I am sorry, but you have no clue what your talking about. He cares about what we eat, and he is a man truly on a mission to educate. My 9 year old son and 7 year old girl have been watching and cooking with Jamie for years. They know what healthy food looks and tastes like. & yes they know what a tomato is.

By katey

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DONTFEELYOURPAIN: YOU FORGOT TO ADD OBAMA TO THAT LIST RIGHT AFTER STALIN

By ThaChill

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We Adore you Jamie Oliver,
Hey Jamie- Alabama backs you 100% brother! keep up the good fight kiddo! Like David fighting Goliath you will prevail.
1,000 high fives with Hugs and kisses to you bro!!- C

Friday 26 March

By Chris

School breakfast/lunch is sponsored by the State of WV. The state has a food director who is paid BIG bucks to help provide menus for the 55 county school districts.
These menus are sent down for the county directors to select from and then the Head cooks order the foods from the list of distributors on the State Low Bid list.
Do not blame the cooks for the meals they are told to make. If the State Director didnt approve the items on the menus then the cooks would not order Breakfast Pizza, chicken nuggets etc.
The Federal Government is also one of the biggest contributors of the Child Nutrition program.
Blame Government for Fat in America for not the poor workers putting the foods on the plates.

By julie

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Just what we need. Another foreigner with a pot belly and double chin telling us what to do. He is ONLY HERE FOR THE MONEY. He is not making a grand gesture to help those poor backward Americans, he is getting paid. He is selling books and American TV pays better. He is not a nutritionist or a dietician. He only credential is as an overweight celebrity chef. He also has alot of guts asking a mother how it feels to know she is "killing her kids". There was no better way to put this? Really?

By robyn

I loved the show, and so did my kids. We are looking forward to it tomorrow night. I hope all schools do what he is doing. I wont even let my kids eat school lunch because of how bad it is.

Way to go Jamie Oliver!!

By catsrule

Yes he cried and I would have too. Yes, morons they are!

By Mary

What a joke. This is a reality show. Please don't be naive enough to think that everything shown was as it really was and that no parts were scripted. If this little Hitler came to my door with his accusations and holier than thou attitude he would have been bounced off my property.

By Lisa

He would be bounced off your property because you are just as ignorant as the people of Huntington, WV who don't want to hear anything....what are you so afraid he is going to say to you....maybe you eat just as lousy as the folks in Huntington and you don't want to hear the truth? Think about it! It's only when people are afraid that they don't listen

How dare you call Jamie a little Hitler. What a moron. Looks like someone needs more than just food education. Your an idiot!!

By mary

lisa,
He would be bounced off my property because I hold a masters degree in nutrition and am a registered dietician so I know just how full of @@it he is. Neither I nor my family are overweight so you are showing your ignorance by hurling accusatons at people because they dont share your opinion. You know what they say about opinions... so stop being one.

Oh poor little ditzy misty. First of all it's not "your" it is "you're" a contraction of you are. Just showing your intelligence dear? if jaime wants to act like a dictator i will say he is a dictator. Get over yourself and get an education.

By cathy rohrscheib

not sure i will watch the show due to the subject matter .saddly i thought that the schools had to have there lunches approved made up by a dietition years ago. i worked for the school myself an was told to always give every child what was on the menu . it was fun on spinich day. when i worked for the high schoolungrateful people always downed the food i thought it was always fine

By mamak

Kudos to Oliver. Is Olivia Wilde eating a rhubarb stem or is that spinich? I hope it is not rhubarb. I believe the stems are poisonous.

By Lydia

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He means well, for everyone...Bless his heart!

By Lauren

Um, just saying, its WEST VIRGINIA. And I'm actually from there, and they really gave Huntington the wrong picture to the rest of the nation.

Sorry, but, everybody gets edgy on the subject. I just want to let people know, whats what.

Look, first of all Jamie went into a losing battle right from the start.
Second, the people in that town don't give a damn about eating better or their kids dying. Obesity is a huge problem all over this country but Huntington, WV is at the top of the national list for highest obesity rates and before long it will also be at the top of highest mortality(death) lists too. If these people REALLY cared about their children and the obesity in their town they would have embraced all the help Jamie was attempting to bring them. You can't help people who don't want help, you can't educate the uneducated and you can't fix stupid. This town is fat, their kids are fat too and bottom line is they don't give a damn. They will continue to gorge themselves on crap, fried foods, lousy pizzas and ultimately kill themselves and their families. They have made it VERY plain that no one in that town gives a damn about anything, so Jamie needs to go to another town where people truly want to get healthy...these people have proven they want to eat themselves into early graves....have at it Huntington, WV...you have NO ONE TO BLAME BUT YOUR OWN IGNORANT SELVES.....

By Walter

Everyone dies. Whether people deprive themselves of the things they enjoy, largely via Christian guilt, is another matter. As Redd Foxx once said, "All these health nuts are going to feel stupid one day, laying in a hospital bed dying of nothing".

By Cajaquarius

Wow, imagine if people like Martin Luther King thought like you
did.

"Oh geez, these people are resisting my ideas... I better just give up and go talk to people who already agree with me."

It is people like you who will never have the ability to really change with world in any meaningful way because you give up the moment it gets hard. In an ironic way you are very much like all of these fat people who don't exercise or eat right, you know? It gets hard and they give up.

Thankfully there are people out there with the balls to see their beliefs through to the end.

If Americans wanted to eat healthy food, they would. Supply and demand. Unhealthy food is far more popular because it tastes better to most people. It's simple really. Unless Oliver figures out a way to make broccoli taste like cheeseburgers, he's wasting his time. Unhealthy food, obviously, is unhealthy, but it's what the people like.

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