Huntington on the Jamie Oliver project
photo: Ryan Seacrest
The Herald Dispatch has a good article about Ryan’s visit to Huntington with some quotes from Ryan and some fantastic photos — Ryan’s looking great!
It’s interesting to read the local press reports and it seems there’s a mixed reaction in the community with some acceptance of the idea of educating people about healthy eating and some concern about how a town with a reputation for being unhealthy is going to be portrayed.
There’s an feature on Jools Oliver in the December issue of Red in the UK which says: “Jamie is off to film his biggest US project to date, visiting Huntington, West Virginia, America’s fattest town, in the hope of re-educating them about their diet.” Calling Huntington “America’s fattest town” is probably the sort of description the town officials are sensitive about, though Ryan’s comments offer some assurances:
I think Huntington has gotten a bum rap to a degree with some of the black and white press and these ‘unhealthiest city’ lists that have been created, but I look at what we’re doing as leading the charge and becoming the loudest voice in making a difference. The legacy of this community is not going to be what was, but what will be.
The article goes on to describe how the project came about after Ryan heard about Jamie’s work in the UK. From Ryan’s comment about “positive buy-in from people who initially didn’t want to believe” suggests reactions are similar to those in the UK when Jamie introduced the School Dinners campaign over here. Here’s what one of the dinner ladies had to say about that:
Now we have 500-600 kids come in and enjoy this lovely food every day and not one moan. They take their salad, yoghurt and fruit and they sit down and eat the lot. Before, they wouldn’t look at veg or salad.
There’s bound to be mixed opinions and resistance to change at this stage, but hopefully Ryan’s show will have positive results. Any education about healthy eating has got to be a good thing in my opinion and I’m looking forward to watching the show when it airs in the UK.
