''Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution'' (retitled ''Jamie's American Food Revolution'' in the United Kingdom) is a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

from March 2010 until summer 2011. The show was produced by British chef

Jamie Oliver Jamie Trevor Oliver Order of the Star of Italy, OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and o ...

and

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American television presenter and producer. Seacrest is the host of '' Wheel of Fortune'', having hosted since replacing long-time host Pat Sajak in September 2024. Seacrest co-hosted and ser ...

, following Oliver as he attempted to reform the US school lunch programs, help American society fight obesity, and change their eating habits to live healthier and longer lives.

Premise

The show premiered on ABC on March 21, 2010, in the UK on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

on September 13, 2010, in Greece on Fox Life Greece in November 2010 and in Italy on Raisat Gambero Rosso Channel in January 2011. Oliver, a celebrity chef and health campaigner in the United Kingdom, used a grassroots campaign in the US to curb

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess Adipose tissue, body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classifi ...

. In the first season, his efforts were focused in

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell County, West Virginia, Cabell and Wayne County, West Virginia, Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The County seat, seat of Cabell County, the city is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, O ...

, statistically one of the unhealthiest cities in the country. In an early trailer for the show, Oliver challenged a group of first-grade schoolchildren to identify fruits and vegetables, and they were unable to do so. The show appeared to combine the concepts from at least two of his previous TV series' campaigns in the UK: '' Jamie's Ministry of Food'' and '' Jamie's School Dinners''. In the second season, Oliver took his food revolution to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, home to the US's 2nd largest public school district. Much of the season revolved around the

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a State school, public school district in Los Angeles County, California, United States of America. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the List ...

board of education's refusals to allow him to film in schools and his subsequent attempts to circumvent their decisions in creative ways. In the April 12, 2011 episode, Oliver decried the use of pink slime in American ground meat and school lunches. In the episode, Oliver explained what the product is and why he was repelled by it. He utilized

artistic license Artistic license (and more general or contextually-specific, derivative terms such as creative license, poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It ...

in demonstrating the concept by immersing beef trimmings in

liquid ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pungent smell. It is widely used in fertilizers, ...

, rather than gaseous ammonia, as in the

meat industry The meat industry are the people and companies engaged in modern industrialized livestock agriculture for the production, packing, preservation and marketing of meat (in contrast to dairy products, wool, etc.). In economics, the meat industry is ...

. Oliver has stated, "Everyone who is told about 'pink slime' doesn't like it in their food—school kids, soldiers, senior citizens all hate it." The American Meat Institute and Beef Products Inc. responded with a three-minute YouTube

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of di ...

Reception

In 2010, ''Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution'' was nominated for the Do Something TV Show Award from the VH1 Do Something Awards for promoting healthy eating at public schools. The show also won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for Outstanding Reality Program. The show was renewed for a second six-episode season on September 2, 2010. The season premiered on Tuesday April 12, 2011, at 8:00 pm Eastern/7:00 pm Central. After two episodes, the show was cancelled because of poor ratings and replaced by repeats of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

''. ABC aired the remaining four episodes in June; because of this, episodes 3-6 aired in the United Kingdom on

before the United States.

U.S. ratings

Season 1 (2010)

Season 2 (2011)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* The project's web page. * {{EmmyAward RealityProgram American Broadcasting Company reality television shows 2010 American television series debuts 2011 American television series endings 2010s American reality television series American English-language television shows Huntington, West Virginia Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program winners Health campaigns Television shows set in West Virginia Television shows filmed in West Virginia Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television series by Ryan Seacrest Productions Television Academy Honors winners