And so we come to the final episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (he can’t crank it up for a second season, can he — what would he do, become DJ Rod’s personal trainer?).
The financial math became a bit fuzzy early on during this last hour. Jamie had said he needed $150,000 to keep fresh food coursing through the Huntington, West Virginia, school system, but I only saw the local business-folk handing out two over-sized checks at a rally, one for $80,000 and another for $50,000, which brings Jamie up a bit short, doesn’t it?
Oliver promised an “epic finish” to his rally, which turned out to be a surprise free concert by Rascal Flatts. It’s nice of those country stars to donate their time, but is it mean to say that lead singer Gary LeVox could stand to eat more of Jamie’s “seven-veg tomato sauce” and less of whatever it is he’s consuming on the Flatts’ tour bus?
The real drama occurred, we were told, “three months later,” when Oliver returned to Huntington only to discover a multitude of sins:
• That beleaguered bureaucrat Rhonda was unable to cope with the government-ordered processed food supply that was piling up while the school systems’ various cook staffs used Jamie’s fresh-food recipes. So she instituted “Processed Food Friday” as a way to unload all the excess french fries and chicken nuggets down the gullets of the children. Oh yeah, and Jamie’s bete noire (vache noire?) — chocolate milk — is back in the cafeteria hand-out bins.
• Parents, apparently either sick of hearing their kids whine about having to eat veggies at school or sick of Jamie’s British accent honking on about health, started increasing the number of bag-lunches with which they sent their kids to school. Oliver asks one small child to show him the lunch her deeply caring parent prepared so lovingly for her: potato chips and jelly beans. Another kid is eating out of a bag of McDonald’s food. Says Oliver with snorting indignation, “Even makin’ an old-fashioned sandwich is out of fashion now!”
• Also dismaying: Jamie learns that, once Food Revolution began airing on ABC, Alice — the tough-minded cafeteria cook who was quite sensibly skeptical of Oliver’s promises initially — got a lot of hate mail from people around the country. Can you believe that? It’s one thing to disagree with a citizen you see on TV, but hate mail?
In the end, what was most admirable about Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is that it didn’t try to tidy up the complexities surrounding his simple fresh-is-good message. The people Oliver dealt with were frequently hamstrung by state or federal laws about what could and could not be provided to the school system or served there. And there’s also the problem you don’t have to explain to anyone who’s ever taught in a public school or attended a school-board meeting: As Jamie puts it, “Everyone is obsessed with not upsetting the parents.” The result: a combination of pushiness and spinelessness that ends up, in this case, making the good food program difficult, if not impossible, to implement.
“It’s not a happy ending,” said Oliver near the end of the show. But because you can’t end a series without upbeat elements, we got a montage of Jamie’s best moments, and out-of-nowhere endorsements for the Food Revolution philosophy from celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Heidi Klum.
Now that it’s over, I’d say Food Revolution was an above-average reality show with a very entertaining host who made a wee bit of a difference. And I’d like to see a follow-up on Huntington in a year or so, wouldn’t you?
What did you think of the show? A positive force, or a fizzle?
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Well obviously from the various results, McDonalds, Jelly Beans, etc., this whole thing was a flop. He may have changed some minds in the long run, but nothing major. It essentially was a waste of time.
West Virginia should be ashamed of themselves. Fat clowns.
First of all, Huntington is one town in the state of West Virginia. Second, sure WV has a higher obesity rate than some other parts of the country. At least that’s fixable, unlike a$$holery, which is apparently a problem your area has which WV does not. Go find your facts, it’s not just WV that has a problem with being fat, it’s not even just the US that has a problem with being fat. Try to have a little compassion for a situation that you clearly don’t fully understand. And yes, I’m overweight, but my doctor can tell you there’s a medical reason, and having addressed that problem, I am losing the weight. So don’t even try to start the “you must be one of those fat clowns” with me.
And you should be ashamed of yourself. There’s absolutely no need for name-calling.
Your comment is diabetic.
Well considering the U.S is the fattest nation in the world,that’s the same as saying the U.S should be ashamed of themselves, fat clowns! I believe you fall under that category
A medical reason? Give me a break.
I didn’t know that consuming more calories than you can burn off is a medical condition.
really–you didn’ see any change –I think the show was great and as in real life things are not tidied up with a bow. Basing your comment on the fact that some parents were brown bagging, you are deeming it all a failure. Don’t think so!
Well obviously, if even only one person was able to make a change in their eating habits as a result of this show then it most definitely was NOT a flop. Every single person counts. BTW your philosophy of ‘if at first we don’t succeed, then don’t keep trying’ really is rather droll.
Anne, I agree that if even one person changed then Jamie did good. If change was easy then everyone would eat well, not smoke, and have no bad habits. So getting even one person to change is a success.
Sometimes a pebble goes into the pond and makes a small ripple and sometimes a boulder goes in and causes a wave. Either way, the water is moving.
Still, if it takes a TV show and $130,000 in donations to make one person change their eating habits than it seems like a daunting task to get a lot of people to change.
I think we need to remember all the people who were made aware by the show and the email campaign that we have a big problem with our school lunches. That has planted a seed too. By the way, Jamie’s recipes are fabulous and easy, and we never grew so many fresh, green leafy herbs until we found him. Bravo, Jamie!
well in that case! i guess no one should ever try anything ever again. we should just accept difficult problems and live with them rather than, you know, WORKING to CHANGE them.
You described exactly what I was thinking watching this last episode. I wonder why there were only four episodes. Clearly, this is a lifetime of bad choices to change and that would be accomplished in such a short time? Jamie kept saying “America…”, but he was in Huntington, WV, would someone in Spokane, WA (just to name a far away place) identify? The UK is nothing compared to the US in size and I’m guessing he spent much more time there to turn their school food habits around. While the whole concept is great, I felt this program fell short of reaching the goal.
I’m in Spokane, WA and totally identify with the struggle Jamie was fighting against. Do you really believe that epidemic rising in type II diabetes amongst pre-teens is centered solely in Huntington? The article ridicules the idea of a season 2 with the trainer joke but what i’d like to see is Jamie actually go and get the USDA clowns and explain why chicken nuggets and pink milk is so great for America.
Totally agree. The Food Revolution is impossible given the actual circumstances which abound… USDA, School Boards in cahoots with food industrialists. And, that’s just touching the tip of the iceberg. This merits a full on documentary. Simply scandalous! The reason why there’s obesity is because people don’t even know what it is to eat properly anymore.
It has to start at home. Parents are the ones teaching their kids what foods to eat and not eat. Kids seem to be proud of the fact that they don’t have to eat vegetables. We’re being burdened with an epidemic of diseases brought on by eating processed “dead” food with no nutritional value. The Food Revolution is a refreshing wake-up call. Instead of schools he needs to go into peoples homes and start there. People would be able to relate better if they saw the same food that’s in their kitchens being criticized for lack of nutrition.
Elizabeth, Jamie can’t go to every home, so he’s focusing on schools. Children eat lunch, and sometimes breakfast, at school. Getting them used to eating one or two healthy meals a day is an improvement over what they are having now. And if they like eating healthy, they may nag their parents into buying healthier food for home.
It is not a waste. In our school district (in WA), parent volunteers have negotiated with the food rep from the school district to implement changes and alternatives. No fries, more veggies, substitute whole wheat whenever we can (pasta, bagels, etc.). We are changing the menu gradually. But as soon as the parental pressure comes off, the school district returns to the original bad menu so you have to keep the pressure on. Go Jamie!
Wow Jason, very insightful.
BTW, Jamie did go to a family home and showed them all the junk they were eating. He then tried to teach a few easy recipes. He really reached the overweight son who was tired of getting teased at school. Jamie taught the boy how to eat and cook healthy.
I would have liked to have seen a follow-up with that boy to see how his health has improved since meeting Jamie. It looked like he was doing better when I noticed him on TV last night.
@Ava – Didn’t the father say to Jamie that the family had lost a total of around 100 pounds since he’d been gone?
I can’t believe what I am reading here!! He said he was planting a ‘seed of change’. He can’t do everything. That is our problem…we want someone ELSE to fix the problem. He brought the problem to light and now it is our jobs, since it is our country and our children to continue the revolution on our own and make the change – because we know we need it. I think the show was exactly what it should be and I plan on trying to stir some change in my community. I suggest all the critics should do the same.
Then again, you can’t change what you don’t acknowledge…
I suppose that anything that makes us think about what we eat is a success. But the real goal of this show was to make Jamie Oliver a household name and a hero in the US and that it did not do. He is just irritating and clearly didn’t appeal to many people. His “Naked Chef” thing years ago didn’t do it for him either. And who was surprised that the poor woman who was the villain of the show got hate mail? Isn’t that what they intended? Not good.
it was crap take it off the air.
i completely agree it was boring television, i’m kind of sick of people talking about eating better, to be honest, i think the obese people shouldn’t receive help you’re too fat and lazy to lose the pounds, move to a city and start walking to work stop driving your suv’s and gossipping in your suburban neighborhoods, you people make me sick
So watch some food eating competition. It’s not the only thing on television you two retards. Or maybe you’re too fat to reach for the remote control.
If you knew anything about nutrition, you’d know that the processed foods that the majority of this country eats is devoid of nutrition. The body will keep wanting food until it gets what it needs to feed the cells. Unfortunately, most of this country is starving themselves (including the overweight people) because they’re eating “dead” processed food with no nutritional value.
Elizabeth, you are so right. We currently have two ads playing on TV constantly telling us that Manwich and Chef Boy R Dee ravioli are actually vegetables. The ravioli ad has the mom trying to hide from the kids that it is a vegetable and the other ad has the child teaching the parents and the whole school that Manwich is actually a vegetable.
I am sorry that you are so angry and lack compassion for others.
….
Not everybody who is fat is that way by choice or their own actions. Not everybody who is fat has access to good healthy food or money to pay for it. Processed food is cheap and easy to find and often is made with ingredients that have been heavily subsidized by the federal government for decades. Fresh food is much more expensive and isn’t subsidized. In many poor areas in this country there is very limited access to fresh food and fresh vegetables, so it is hard for people to eat right. It is particularly hard for children to eat properly when their parents are serving them processed high fat diets and then they get the same thing at school. Many schools have also eliminated physical education. Instead of being so nasty about and to fat people, be part of the solution.
I admire Jaime Oliver’s relentless optimism–but he’s also realistic, and tries to make even just a little progress in the face of several hurdles. There are enough cynics in the world (especially on reality television). I’d rather watch someone with Oliver’s can-do attitude striving to make things better with an issue he really cares about.
Well said, Garry.
I agree, well said! And I’m surprised at the negativity here – clearly he did inspire some change. His final talk with Rhonda and the superintendent showed that he was to continue working with them and making the healthy lunches work, and the Principal lost 25 pounds, seemingly because of Jaimie. Not to mention the family that in total lost around 100 pounds!
I’m surprised at the cynicism around here. It was not a neat pretty little reality show wrap up (THAT would have been crap) but an encapsulation of the message – “Hey, we did good.” The best good the show did was highlight the MANY factors that go into producing an unhealthy generation (USDA, bureaucrats, money, training, teachers, PARENTS) and make us think more about what we eat.
And I agree that I would like a Huntington update in a year or so.
The problem is two pronged; one is to change what the government believes is acceptable to feed children, and the other is to educate parents so they will raise their children from birth used to healthy food. You can’t take a five year old who’s never seen a raw vegetable, who thinks lunch means processed chicken nuggets and french fries, and expect them to happily lap up salad and whole wheat pasta. By the time they get to school it is too late.
Roma, I like your thinking, but that assumes parents are “willing” to be taught. As a former public educator, I have to say that, at least in my experience, that’s a very flawed assumption, particularly if you’re trying to give them advice on how to raise their kids. Apparently everyone’s an expert in their own mind. And most egos are too fragile to be open to learning/trying new things.
Babies go to pediatricians many times during their first two years. Same as the doctor advises on breast feeding and formula, the doctors should be giving strict instruction on feeding food as the child gets teeth and weans. Of course, this would mean the doctors would also have to have good sound nutrition backgrounds, which many of them don’t. Educate, educate, educate is the only way to get out of the health mess we have gotten ourselves into, and by school age it is too late.
I fully believe that if a child is only given the option of healthy food, they will eat it. I know that as I was growing up, we did not have much “junk food” in our house. I am thankful because now I don’t like it. It’s too salty or sugary. It is love that causes a family to cook together and eat together. Why wouldn’t a loving parent want their child to be healthy? It’s selfishness to eat a lot of prepared food. If busy,make extra and freeze. As an educator, the food in the cafeteria isn’t real food. Maybe on the salad bar, but not the main food. Mac and Cheese will stick to the tray for at least 30 minutes when upside down.
Roma touches on another huge factor–our dysfunctional health care system. We’re great at treating diseases after they start…not so good at preventing them in the first place. Government programs and private insurance both generally compensate based on procedures, not for talks about healthy lifestyle choices.
As a nation, we really need to look at ourselves and our entire approach to health, stop pointing fingers, and start finding more healthy ways of living. We have more wealth than any nation on earth, but we’re not able to translate that into healthier, fuller, longer lives.
It’s a complicated issue that can’t be solved by a simple TV show, but I applaud this show and everybody who helped create it for getting these issues into the living rooms of millions of Americans. Hopefully this is one step out of many that will make us a healthier nation.
Thank you Garry.
I admire Jaime Oliver’s relentless optimism–but he’s also realistic, and tries to make even just a little progress in the face of many hurdles. There are enough cynics in the world (especially on reality television). I’d rather watch someone with Oliver’s can-do attitude striving to make things better with an issue he really cares about.
Right on. I agree with some that he didn’t necessarily come off the way he probably wanted to… but god bless him for trying. It’s more than a lot of people do. I hope they do have a season 2 – and I hope the main set is the USDA headquarters.
Jamie is great!! This show was a real eye opener for me!I hope you bring him back, I am on board!! Thank you, Thank you!!
Comments like this are proof that the show had some success. I’m sure Jamie opened some eyes in Huntington and some more eyes around the country – that’s success.
Just goes to show how behind the times this country is regarding food. Other countries with healthier diets don’t have the health problems our country has. And people don’t want to watch or embrace the show? Well, they should enjoy their Totino’s pizzas and fried crap, and pathetic lives. Sitting on the couch doing nothing. I feel badly for the people in that town that actually ARE healthy and real, and had this show make them feel bad. It wasn’t fair to the entire town of course. But McDonalds, or jelly beans and potato chips? Healthy things ARE cheaper in the long run, if you know how to prepare and store them, but that’s always the easy way out, chips and crap. Canned veggies are very healthy, and if that isn’t viable for a school lunch, PB and J, and a piece of fruit and water, or skim milk is good. Which my daughter has taken all her school years. And also a baggie of chips, as dessert, but with a healthy wheat sandwich, fruit and water, it’s fine.
Eeew, canned veggies for a lunch? What child would eat that? Not to mention that canned veggies are extremely high in sodium. You have to rinse them really well. You also have be careful about your jelly for PB&J, but basically I agree with your school lunch options. My mom always made me nice sandwiches and things (though on Wonder Bread – this was before all the whole grain info was really publicized), and she pretty much never packed chips or cookies – no kid needs those with every single lunch!
Anyways, contrary to your sort of condescending assumptions, I am a healthy eater and exerciser who really dislikes the concept of this show – coming in to “rescue” the poooooor uneducated hillbillies – who didn’t ask for your help and in fact already know what’s healthy and what’s not. They just often make the easier choice by eating lower quality foods for various reasons. And then PUTTING IT ON TV just to humiliate these very nice people even more is what particularly gets me. Couldn’t agree more with the poster who said the goal of this show was to make Jamie Oliver a household name. It seems to me like the people who are watching the show are the people who already know better. Oliver can’t seriously have thought this was the right method to make a difference.
Shut up.
The reason this show was on was that Oliver won the
TED award…google it to see that his idea was chosen
to try to make a difference. This wasn’t a reality show
for entertainment! It was to show the “reality” of trying to put this idea into use.
I’m curious what you think would be the right method that would make a difference. Also, someone in that school district had to agree to this show or it wouldn’t have been there. This country is desperately in need of a gigantic nutritional wake-up call.
This wasn’t a reality show for entertainment? Of course it was, in part. If it were a show on school lunches, it would have been on PBS. You don’t dress up like a giant pea pod and put on a flash mob if it isn’t for entertainment. But there was a good message to it.
The concept was done this way in the UK, he did pretty much the same thing in the UK – hitting a town that was reported to be the healthiest where the people didn’t appear more or less obese than anywhere else. He met with some obstacles but in the end the method worked he bascially got the UK government to pledge millions of pounds to improving school lunches.
You really should not start a sentence with a conjunction, it makes you sound like an un-educated hillbilly.
I agree with Tim, but I also wonder, why doesn’t anyone in this town speak up? If I was in a small town and I felt like we were violated by a tv show, whether or not I signed a release, I would speak up, so if these townsfolk and families and cooks are unhappy, why not come out on the internet?
I am a former 8 year resident of Huntington who now lives in central Ohio. People is Huntington did speak up. You heard it from Alice Gue, the lunch lady and from the Cabell Huntington Hospital people. Doug Shiels specifically stated that the USDA study was for a 3 state, 5 county area, not just the city of Huntington. They were justifiably concerned with Oliver signaling out the area. WV already struggles with it’s self image. But I’m here to tell you that after living in 7 states and growing up in Minnesota, there is no where I’d rather be then WV. It’s absolutely beautiful there, the people are wonderful and the cost of living is so affordable. WV fed my soul and I miss it.
I’m so sick of Huntington being so upset about being singled out by Jamie. GET OVER IT already! The fact is it IS an unhealthy place per capita and instead of having your feelings hurt… get on board and help make a change.
The people of Huntington were never portrayed as rubes or hicks. They were shown to be people unaware of the problems their habits were causing. But, honestly, they need to watch the show and see in the crowd the number of obese (not just overweight) people there. I’m not saying that that isn’t the case elsewhere in America but it is a reality for them.
I will be mad if this show doesn’t come back. He should have gone to a more educated town that gives a crap if they are 400 pounds or not. I honestly think this show was an eye opener. However, the Friday night time slot would have been more viewed on a Sunday night spot. The only advice I can say for the show, is do more of the family involvements. Like Justin’s family. I want to see results from actual families, etc..
Hey kelley,
I live in huntington, WV, and go to Cabell Midland High School. Most of us are NOT stupid, NOT “400 pounds” (cited from some idiot woman named kelly) and DOES care even if we are a little overweight. most of us kids and teens are not. Clearly, this is not about Huntington, WV, but is covering up your insecurities about you being fat, ugly, and claerly stupid. At least next time you open that waste of space and energy that is your mouth, at least do a little effing resaerch
I live in Huntingon, WV and you don’t sound like you’re from there. You sound like you’re trolling on the internet.
Stop being a coward and stop pretending like anyone who isn’t a serial complainer is really offended at this show. Jamie didn’t talk down to anyone and was a nice guy.
Anyone who eats or feeds their kids like he showed is an idiot whether they like it or not. Anyone with an open mind can accept their own or their community’s own failings. Doesn’t make it a bad place. Everyone has weaknesses.
I moved from the city to a very affluent suburb and I have been noticing that where people are richer and higher educated (most parents have a post-graduate degree), they are skinnier. The parents are jogging, bicycling to work, and much more health-conscious. The public school has a healthy choice lunch program and a healthy ways to get to school program (walking and bicycling). Just the other day, I went to a less affluent part of the city and was appalled to see a higher ratio of overweight people and watched as many of them ordered a tub of french fries for lunch (nothing else). I don’t want to generalize but I see this as evidence of how ignorance affects our healthy choices (or lack of) that we make in our life. It is sad. That is why program like Jamie’s is important. If we could get even one person to learn something, it could rescue their family and hopefully their future generations.
This is just a start. It brought a very real problem to the forefront of our attention. Shame on us if we can’t improve on how we feed ourselves. In what universe is potato chips and jelly beans a lunch? That parent needs parenting classes. Most of us could use a Certified Health Coach to show us how to make small changes that end up in big results. Parents need to stop being on the defensive and spendiing their time pacifying children. They learn what we teach them, it’s not supposed to be the other way around. God help us all.
Thank god this waste of air time has ended. A totally unworkable situation in any school setting. Only parents who send their kids to school with fresh foods can remotely make a difference and then kids may always circumvent with trades.
Yeah we should give kids what they want. Let them carry guns and knives too!
That’s why it would be better if the school lunches were changed, especially for the poor; let’s face it, the cheapest food is the processed food.
Actually processed foods are more expensive for a family to be using. Take away the fact that the federal government subsidizing the processed food the schools receive via federal aid, they wouldn’t be so cheap for the schools to use either. Rather subsidizing the profits of the corporation supplying the processed foods , why not try subsidizing the cooks needed to prepare & serve nutritional food.
It’s because of narrow minded people like “Nope” and “sam” that smart ideas like this won’t take off. Their sense of entitlement trumps everything in the face of good health and yet, we the taxpayers will have to cover the costs when people like those two mentioned end up in the hospital.
Great show.
What else would you expect from the South?
Actually, I said that the message was good but I don’t like Jamie Oliver. Can you read?