Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is starring in a reality TV show next year on ABC where he will go to Huntington, West Virginia, a city that has been labeled the unhealthiest city in the US. The mission? To save it from itself.
This endeavor is not new to Oliver as he has done shows in his native Britain that focused on improving school lunch programs and other areas with the goal of getting people to eat healthier. This one, however, is meeting a lot of resistance from the very people it aims to help.
The show is said to be shining a negative light, yet again, on Huntington as the unhealthiest and fattest city in the US, a label given by an Associated Press article last November that used data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A label which residents claim is unfair.
How did Huntington win the not-so-prestigious award? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of its residents are obese, one-quarter suffer from heart disease, and a close majority of residents over 65 years old are toothless.
Doug Sheils, the director of marketing and public relations at Cabell Huntington Hospital has gone on the record to say that the AP analysis, which is what drew Oliver’s production company to the area in the first place, was based on data for five counties including some in Ohio and Kentucky- but yet only Huntington gets the bad rap.
‘The Fattest City in the US’ is going to be a hard label to shake, and where most of the sensitivity on the issue comes from is that the perception seems to be that Huntington’s citizens aren’t doing anything about their health crisis on their own, which city officials claim is untrue. Oliver’s own statements stirred controversy when local media outlets ran stories where Oliver told British Sky News service that residents he’d met with lacked information about healthy eating and didn’t know how to cook from scratch.
The show, yet to be titled, will feature segments where Oliver meets with school officials about cafeteria menus and discusses budget with grocery store managers. And its not as if he doesn’t know what he’s doing: The Naked Chef persuaded former prime minister Tony Blair to allocate an additional $453 million to add healthier meals to school lunch programs.
It seems as though any help that can be given to the citizens of Huntington is a positive thing, and everyone involved in the show has said residents have been nothing but cordial. That might change, however, depending on how respectful the show comes across when it airs.
Do you think Huntington residents have a legitimate gripe, or that their the health of their citizens is more important than their stigma?
Comments
Lindsay
October 13th, 2009 - 2:16:15 PM
okay, okay, so Huntington is one of the five fattest cities in the US, that make it any better? point is: they're unhealthy, and frankly, i don't see how this kind of help could hurt well, if he's a jackass about it, sure. i mean, some British dude telling you "you're doing it wrong" probably won't convince people to change their eating habits, but i have to imagine Jamie Oliver has a little bit of class & charm, no?
Kelly Turner
October 14th, 2009 - 5:04:45 AM
Lindsay- I have to say, yes, he's quite charming ;) although I find most British men charming- except for Hugh Grant. He makes me uncomfortable for some reason.
Sagan
October 18th, 2009 - 12:08:19 PM
*swoons over Jamie Oliver* I hope that these kinds of shows have a positive effect of raising awareness about the importance of good health.