Daily Archives: April 23, 2010

This is a piece I wrote for the Environmental Media Association’s newsletter (I added in the hyperlinks) – you can find the whole newsletter online at http://www.ema-online.org/emails/2010/april/index.htm or just read this online at http://www.ema-online.org/emails/2010/april/index.htm#article-6

JAMIE OLIVER AND TED

This year’s TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference was deliciously full of sustainable food talk, from chef/Blue Hill restaurant owner Dan Barber’s love affair with a fish to cancer researcher William Li’s talk about which local, sustainable foods will help prevent cancer. But the highlight of the event, which ran February 9 – 13 in Long Beach and Palm Springs, was Jamie Oliver’s TED prize speech and wish.

Every year, the TED prize is awarded to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and “One Wish to Change the World”. This year, Oliver’s wish is “for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”

Oliver is known for his bestselling cookbooks, award-winning TV shows and for changing the school lunch program in Britain. He has now landed on American soil and is taking on the childhood obesity epidemic here, partly through his new ABC television show and partly through winning this year’s TED prize.

The plan is to “set up an organization to create a popular movement that will inspire people to change the way they eat. The movement will do this by establishing a network of community kitchens; launching a travelling food theater that will teach kids practical food and cooking skills in an entertaining way and provide basic training for parents and professionals; and bringing millions of people together through an online community to drive the fight against obesity. The grassroots movement must also challenge corporate America to support meaningful programs that will change the culture of junk food.”

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