Tonight on ABC, we saw a one hour sneek peek into Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution show. This show is produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions. Jamie has taken a leave from his family back in London to come to America to tackle one of the biggest jobs in his life – to turn around the lives of those in Huntington, WV.

A CDC report in 2008 listed Huntington, WV as the most unhealthiest city in America. In the report, it stated that nearly 50% of the the adults in Huntington are overweight. Huntington leads in a half-dozen other illness measures, too, including heart disease and diabetes. While the report has been out for 2 years, it is amazing that most of the town of Huntington isn’t even aware of the report.

It was this report that brought Jamie to America. He wants to come to the town of Huntington and show them there is a better way. Get rid of the processed foods, the junk food and make better eating choices with fresh, raw ingredients. He visited the home with 3 kids, all in their teens, all overweight. A very caring mother whose husband drives tractor trailers for 2-3 weeks a month, stood in shock as she saw the amount of junk food and processed, frozen food she server her children weekly. Jamie went thru the daunting task of cooking all that food and then displaying it on the dining room table. A good portion of that food was fried foods. A weeping mother looked at the table and said the didn’t want to kill her children. Jamie said she no longer had to worry. Jamie started that family with a fresh pasta meal and left recipes and shopping lists for a weeks worth of meals. Jamie promised to come back in a week to check up on her.

Meanwhile, Jamie is at an elementary school cafeteria where 450 meals are served for breakfast and lunch. Jamie’s first role is to assess what is being made and how. We find a kitchen run by 5 dutiful women – all school cafeteria cooks who are very set in their ways, especially one named Alice. They all don’t know why Jamie is there and what it is he is going to do. After watching children eating pizza for lunch, he witnesses frozen chicken nugget being prepared and mashed potatoes. He asks when they need to start peeling pototatoes and they all laugh at Jamie. The make the mashed potatoes from something called Potato Pearls. These pearls are “nuggets” of potatoes that are mixed with water and must be mixed rigorously and placed into the warming tray before it gets hard in the bowl. Jamie said it was like pouring concrete. After lunch service he sits with the ladies and reviews all the processed food that is in the freezer. He asks the ladies if any of them had a problem with all the preservatives and unknown chemicals in the food. Alice was first to point out to Jamie that the first ingredients in the boxes was real food. Jamie was trying to say that it was also all the other ingredients that had him worried. None of the ladies had a problem. Jamie did. Jamie was also appalled at the amount of food waste that was happening. It was interesting to note that the only fresh item made on the tray that day was bread and most of it ended up in the trash. It was also interesting to note that almost every child opted for chocolate or strawberry milk, not regular 2% milk. Jamie was just heartbroken to see all food go to waste.

The next day Jamie brought in fresh vegetables, fruit and chicken to serve. Now, he was serving it opposite pizza that was being served that day. The students were asked if they wanted chicken or pizza. Jamie had roasted chicken, brown rice, salad and fruit. Now…if you’re a kid used to eating pizza and chicken nuggets, are you going to choose the chicken? Very few chose the chicken and of those that did, most of it ended up in the trash. So sad.

Then controversy exploded when some quotes that Jamie made were put out of context and put on the front page of the local paper. The school principal and the cafeteria staff confronted Jamie about the article and Jamie said that his statements were put out of context. It was NEVER his intention to belittle the town of Huntington or to say that  the town was dumb and stupid. He went on record with one of the local station to state that the article was misquoted and that he was there to help the town not to belittle or insult the town.

This was a sneek peek into this new and controversial show. Here is some English guy walking into their town basically telling them that they are killing themselves and the he is there not to put them down, but to show them a different way and to show them they can overcome the hurdles. They can overcome the fact that this generation of kids is going to live shorter than their parent. They can overcome the high percentage of diabetes and heart disease.

Can he do it? Is this just some reality tv show that is looking for ratings? Is having Ryan Seacrest’s name attached to this project part of the reason people aren’t taking it seriously?

I for one think that Jamie’s intentions are true. It think heis methods are a bit unorthodox, but maybe that’s what we need to wake up. Maybe he really wants to rattle our cages so that we wake up and understand that we are hurting ourselves.

I for one will be turning in next week for the 2 hour season premiere as he continues his battle in the town of Huntington, WV.

P.S. I thought it was interesting that there was a commercial for McDonalds during the show!