No, I'm not local radio host Rod, who was Jamie's biggest detractor through the first three episodes. Rod embodied the critique of Jamie, which essentially revolved around distrust and a misplaced desire for freedom from food tyranny.
I'm not Rod, because Rod is an idiot. He turned a blind eye to the terrible choices his community was making, and seemed genuinely surprised when he realized the people of Huntington were eating themselves into a early and very wide grave. So yeah, Rod's a moron.
The one thing Rod may be correct about, though, is his allegation that Jamie has shameless motives.
Frankly, I didn't care whether his motives were altruistic or otherwise, as I just wanted compelling television. Compelling television it is not. In fact, it's not really mildly interesting, but we'll get back to that.
Jamie has come to America, specifically Huntington West Virginia to educate the fattest community in America about how to eat healthier. This is not a modest endeavor and it is a worthy one. The problem is that his approach seems entirely geared toward a television audience and not the people he is supposedly there to help.
The best example is his failure to follow state guidelines about school lunch. Not only does he fail to comply with some guidelines (that may be ridiculous), it seems he isn't even aware they exist. He then begins a righteous and correct tirade about pointless regulations, but he is missing the point altogether. The point is that he failed to understand the system or try to make it work for him. This would be fine if he was advocating a real revolution, and began proposing changes to a broken system, but he's not. He's working within the system to encourage something more akin to a food evolution.
Except that in his evolutionary process he skips steps. He ignores the idea that before you run you need to crawl and then walk. He fails to document his plans and scoffs at any sense of gradualism.
The failure for any sort of transition is evident early on, as he bans flavored milk. This is a showy gesture that isn't that meaningful, since there are things like low fat chocolate milk. This is appealing to young children and has health benefits, while not representing a radical change.
But no, Jamie wants elementary school kids to eat cauliflower and like it. I'm 22 and I don't like cauliflower, so why should these kids be expected to stomach it? Same with the coleslaw he serves with an extra side of righteous indignation. His menus early on are so un-kid friendly that i begin to channel Rod and Alice's resistance to his efforts.
Let's move on to the High SChool, where his biggest pet peeve is the prevalent role of french fires. This again is an area where he could have tried an incremental approach, which would have meant changing the way the fries are made and prepared. French Fries don't need to be deep fried and salted to death. You'd think a good chef would understand that the customer is, if not always right, at least deserving of having some of their desires listened to.
But no, Jamie confiscates French Fries and serves them all tea. (The first part of that is true.)
My main problem is that cooking nutritious food is important and it is fun. I learned that just from trying to lose weight during my spring semester of my senior year. Little things like using pam spray instead of olive oil or butter to grease a pan and using ground turkey instead of ground beef were little ways that i made drastic improvements in my health. Where are these changes?
And why isn't it fun? Jamie is making cooking seem like a chore, no matter how excited he is or how great of a dance routine he utilizes. When you're making something tasty, cooking for friends or just experimenting it can be fun. I want more of that.
Finally, why isn't the food simpler and more manageable? Jamie seems to ignore the idea that everyone can't cook as a job, and that for many people it is another hassle in a long day. He should be working in semi-homemade aspects and more frozen options. In the most recent episode he broached the idea of frozen vegetables, but he needs to do more in this arena.
Oh yeah, he also needs to do a better job of educating about food. He needs to explain why whole wheat is better than white, and that not all whole wheat is what it claims to be. He needs to expose how salad dressing can negate the benefits of a salad.
Those are my problems with his methods. These alone make me loathe the show. Unfortunately it's construction is also terribly flawed.
It's nice that the show has an episodic feel, but the challenges and climaxes feel staged and meaningless. Additionally, I think we're denied a full picture of what's going on as a result of a narrow and meandering focus.
In closing, I also loathe Jamie Oliver. He is annoying, unlikeable and unaccessible.
P.s. I did love the fact that he bragged about his ability to get the GOOD MORNING AMERICA show, an ABC program, to cover his ABC show. WOW!
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