Jamie Oliver (Jamie's American Food Revolution) interview

In Jamie Oliver's new Channel 4 series Jamie's American Food Revolution, he travels to America's 'unhealthiest city' - Huntington, West Virginia - to see if he can persuade people to eat more healthily.

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What were your first impressions of Huntington?

"It's a lovely, normal town next to a river. The people are good, fun-loving people and were very welcoming. Obviously the challenge that I had was fairly large. I think that I was quite lucky actually as there could have been a lot of other places that were a lot harder."

How did you feel when you went to the radio station and Rod [the DJ] was so negative about your campaign?

"Having Rod be so negative was a massive disappointment. I guess his job is to feel the pulse and tempo of the town and talk about it, but Rod did not believe that Huntington needed help, did not believe that they needed to be reminded of those negative health statistics, and he didn't really believe anything needed to change. People don't like change and they react very strongly to someone rocking the boat. But not everyone felt the way Rod did and in the end it was nice for me to go into such a lovely community, get to know people and get them cooking."

What was the situation when you first arrived?

"Although some major steps had been taken in West Virginia's schools to improve food standards, the nutritional regulations set by the American Government still allowed for pizza to be served for breakfast, French fries to be served as a vegetable and junk food to be served every day without any cutlery or crockery - Sloppy Joes, burgers, bad-quality hot dogs, corn dogs, burgers, nuggets. All of this food is riddled with 'E' numbers, additives and non-food items.

"There was no regulation set for sugar intake and this was a massive problem bearing in mind one of the biggest problems is diabetes. If you speak to any paediatrician and say 'identify the main enemy' they would say sugar. There is nearly as much sugar in a carton of flavoured milk as in a can of pop! There is sugar in the cereal, there is sugar in the bread, there is sugar here, there and every-bloomin'-where!"

Why?

"Because it is cheap, and the fast food industry has gotten us addicted to it. Ultimately what I am saying is - although big steps have been made, junk food was still being served to those kids."

When you first met the lunch ladies were you surprised by their reaction to you?

"I wanted the lunch ladies, especially Alice, to be a part of this really badly. What I was trying to do was to get all of the ladies in the kitchen to totally re-think what they had been paid to do for the last 18 years. I wanted them to have a new vision and set standards and basically admit that what was being done was not their fault, but was not in the best interests of the children. It's difficult if you have a foreigner coming in or anyone coming in and questioning the way you've always done things.

"Alice is a strong lady and will be an incredibly powerful force; she has so much to offer. She is a hard worker and is very methodical. This led us to clash but ultimately every day that I was going in there I was wishing for her to come around and support me. When you're trying to move mountains you want - and need - people on your side who want to move them with you."

Were you relieved to find someone like Pastor Steve who knew of the work that you have done here in the UK?

"It was nice to meet Pastor Steve. He felt very much that I was sent to him by the 'Big Man' himself to help him with his problem. He did know of the work that I had done, but I think it's really important for anyone reading this to say that you don't need to be some celebrity chef off the TV to make change and get people's attention; any parent, any brother, any sister, any student can make change if they go to the right people and speak from the heart. Pastor Steve and I were allies from the very beginning. Ultimately that man is at the very sharp end of the story. He's the one that has to bury people and the reality is he's sick of burying his friends."

It looked like you really connected with Stacie Edwards. Was it difficult for her to open up about how she had been feeding her family?

"Stacie is a lovely woman, and like many mums in America, the UK, and the rest of the world, she is doing her best for her kids. Stacie had just never been taught the basics and she is not in the minority. If you buy largely processed stuff you are going to suffer from some of the biggest killers in America and the UK: heart disease, diabetes, obesity. We now have three or four generations of people that can't cook because they've never been taught how.

"When these people become parents it's no surprise they struggle to make the right food choices. Stacie, along with millions of other mothers around America - and in Britain - was gasping for help. She wanted change, she wanted to know how to do better and that is the consistent pattern - people want help, end of story. Time and time again, if you offer to help people learn in the kitchen there'll be queues out the door. As an added bonus for Stacie, when she started shopping for proper food instead of all that processed rubbish her shopping bill went down by $150 a week - that's $7,800 a year."


Jamie's American Food Revolution airs on Channel 4 from Monday 13th September 2010.