Thaindian News

By Anita Thomas
Jamie Oliver renowned chef and author has been in Huntington West Virginia for three months desperately trying to change the way school system serves lunches. Processed and fatty foods are the main staple for elementary and high school students. Jamie wants the school system to only offer healthy unprocessed foods that will benefit the children throughout their lives.

With some resilient from the citizens in Huntington they eventually saw some truth in what Jamie had been preaching to them. The simple fact was that the foods they were stuffing in their mouths were going to kill them sooner then later. Jamie set up a kitchen in town that offered cooking lessons and demonstrated how easy it could be to cook and eat healthy. After weeks of dedication to the cause and Huntington allowing the change to occur things were looking up.

Huntington, West Virginia was able to achieve the goal of raising $80,000 to help fund the training and hire more help to prepare the healthy meals needed in the school districts. Huntington was well on their way to changing their eating habits and their life. Jamie succeeded in his Food Revolution for the town listed by the CDC as being the unhealthiest city in America.

Jamie’s time in Huntington had come to an end and after a street concert with county superstar group Rascal Flats, Jamie’s Kitchen was renamed Huntington’s Kitchen. This town was now left on their own to keep up the revolution Jamie started. A few months later Jamie heard things were not going well at the school where the change began. There was a freezer, a warehouse freezer full of processed foods for the schools to serve to students. The one thing Jamie worked so hard to change had just taken a giant leap back and if he was going to truly make this work he was going to need Alice.

Alice Gue head cook at Central City Elementary has now become the driving force in the food revolution and is along side Jamie when we puts together a food boot camp. Alice, Jamie and several other school lunch cooks set up camp in Huntington and talked about what the USDA is not doing to help change the system. The food boot camp was a great success, but the fight is not over. Jamie set the revolution in motion and now we, as Americans need to keep fighting to change the system and how our children eat. Their health and lives depend on the change.