by Daniel Schwartz

Created on: March 27, 2010

            I’ve never been much into the reality TV scene. Most of them seem unreal or somewhat staged.  I won’t say that Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is that much different but it is worth watching.  Unlike most of the other brain numbing idiotic reality shows, Oliver’s touches on a real issue facing our country today.

            It is sad that someone from another country has to come over and teach us the correct way to eat when we have so many great chefs in this country.  In Food Revolution that is what the famous British chef aims to do.  He wants to teach us how to eat fresh wholesome food instead of all that fat, artificial and processed stuff.

            The premier episode takes place in Huntington West Virginia, which according to 2008 CDC statistics is the unhealthiest place in the United States and if you watch the show you will see why.  Jamie starts his revolution in a local elementary school, which is called by the unimaginative name “Central Elementary School”.

            Here he is appalled to find the children eat pizza for breakfast, processed chicken nuggets for lunch (which they also have for supper), tons of chocolate and strawberry flavored milk that is full of sugar and addition to the pizza and another item from the bread group.  Mr. Oliver’s challenge is to convince not only the children that this stuff is not good but the adults as well.

            Confronting Jamie is a local popular radio host who thinks it is a mortal sin to eat anything green, cafeteria workers who think that it is better not to challenge the system rather than do what is right for the children and a bureaucratic principal bent on following questionable USDA guidelines.  Worst of all he has only a week to try to change years of conditioning.

            He begins his experiment by preparing fresh marinated chicken and a salad.  He mistakenly believes the children will choose his meal over the usual chicken nuggets meal.  To his utter surprise the opposite happens and over half of his food gets thrown away.  That is only the small part of his

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