"jamieoliver" news and stories

Let's get one thing out of the way: Jamie Oliver is not much of a a negotiator. He may inspire, rile people up and create sentimental spectacle, but if you want someone to, say, mediate a peace treaty, he may not be your man.

This was proven in the opening moments of the next-to-last Food Revolution episode. Jamie, apparently, has but six weeks to turn Huntington, W.Va., from the Hot Pocket-gorging capital of America to a paragon of healthful/fresh/natural eating. (The end may be near, but fear not -- if Jamie's ratings are any indication, ABC will no doubt extend the revolution to a city near you fairly soon.)

This being week five, things were getting pretty dire. Huntington's high schoolers were being held captive by the almighty french fry -- which counts as about five servings of vegetables, if you ask the school's nutrition board. Down the street, the elementary school kids had shifted over to Jamie's all-natural nachos and green salads without so much as a peep -- of course, it helps that their teachers had been prodding them along through their lesson plans.

We've missed Jamie Oliver, really we have. Back when he was younger and even more aggressively hip, he went by the moniker The Naked Chef -- a nudge-wink reference to the simple dishes on display, not the 20-something British-invastion rock-star-looking guy who made it -- and hosted the enjoyable BBC cooking show of the same name (rebroadcast for us Yanks on the Food Network).

In the decade since, however, he's settled down, gotten completely dressed, and refashioned himself as a crusading nutritionist/mentor to wayward youth all across the U.K., where they have a love/hate relationship with him, his teenage wardrobe and his accent. It was only a matter of time before he subjected all of us to the same -- and we subjected him to just as much love and hate.

You see, Jamie has realized that we don't eat so good, to sound like an ignorant American, and he's decided to give us "The biggest food revolution this country's ever seen!" Whether that's for good or bad is up to you, but we sure had squirm-inducing fun watching him try in his inaugural preview hour on ABC, in anticipation of a full, 2-hour premiere this Friday.

"Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver broke down and cried when many residents of the fattest city in America shunned his efforts to transform them into healthy eaters.

The TV star got the cold shoulder from people in Huntington, West Virginia, who didn't hide the fact that they wanted nothing to do with the crusade he's on in his new show Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, the U.K.'s Daily Mail reports.

More than half the residents in Huntington are obese, but that doesn't mean they were receptive to help or advice from the British celebrity chef about how to eat better. Many refused to listen or participate during filming of the series.

Photo: Hyperion

'Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals'
by Jamie Oliver
Hyperion -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

The revolution will not be supersized. Jamie Oliver is a man on a mission to reclaim traditional home cooking from the fast and processed food purveyors of the world via simple, inexpensive, appealing recipes.

The book kicks off with a rah-rah manifesto that dovetails with Oliver's televised traveling roadshows geared toward getting the least healthy eaters in the UK and the USA to back out of the drive-thru and drive home healthier eating habits, centered around the debatably lost art of home cooking. He presents a compelling argument with solid, satisfying building-block recipes and oddly heartstring-plucking photo profiles of plain ol' folks cooking at home.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Jamie Oliver, five ways. Image: JamieOliver.com.

Jamie Oliver: cowboy, sailor, Native American, construction worker, biker ... or chef?

Eat Me Daily pointed us to this can't-look-away video of the culinary celeb -- whose show "Jamie's American Road Trip" will bring him stateside this fall -- dancing as each of the different Village People... to a Village People soundtrack, of course.

It's a mesmerizing montage in which the chef known for his boyish charm reveals that he has perhaps not quite as broad a repertoire on the dance floor as in the kitchen, but it's still a grand departure from Monday afternoon tedium. Indeed, this promo video boasts much more joie de vivre than the rather staid description on JamieOliver.com: "Jamie delves deep into the social issues and diverse cultures of 21st century America."

Whatever. More dancing, please.

Episodes may crop up online on this side of the pond soon, but for those on vacay in the U.K., it's airing at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1. Now we're going to go watch that video again, as it is mightily addictive (almost as much as his recipe for monkfish skewers wrapped in pancetta -- maybe even more so).

[JamieOliver.com via Eat Me Daily]