On Wednesday, Jamie Oliver, the British celebrity chef and health advocate, won the 2010 TED Prize. Winners of this prize are asked to make one wish, and the TED organization provides $100,000 to the honorees, as well as help in fundraising and implementing that plan. TED looks for individuals who can inspire change among large groups of people, and previous winners have included Bill Clinton, Bono, and Bill Gates.

Education Meets Action

Oliver embodies the kind of interrelation Farm to Table seeks to advance; he is a chef and restauranteur who sees the connection between personal health and social well-being as resting on the advancement of local and sustainable food networks and a return to personal preparation of wholesome foods.

Oliver’s wish was simple: “My wish is for you to have a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, to inspire families to cook again and to empower people everywhere to fight obesity.” The objectives set out here include a large-scale program to educate America’s children about healthy and local eating, the development of an online community to bring together and educate the various elements of the local food world, and enlisting large corporations and the US government in Oliver’s mission.

Reality TV Can Tell The Story

So what makes this different from all the other calls to improve America’s food system? On the surface, very little. But Oliver and TED have set out a very specific set of goals, and they are starting small, with a new ABC mini-series in which Oliver will be chronicling his attempts to improve the health of Huntington, West Virginia, through the promotion of local food and awareness in what he calls the unhealthiest community in America. Whether we like it or not, a TV reality show is probably one of the best ways to promote a cause and spread a good (or a bad) idea, and I for one am glad to hear he will be undertaking this project, even if it is buying into the American tradition of commercializing even the most sinere attempts at social change.

Focusing on the American food system is also a key part of Oliver’s plan for global change. Though he is British and most of his activity has been fighting for healthy and local food in Britain, Oliver admits that, “if America does it I believe other people will follow,” calling on us to lead the way. Considering it is America that perfected the system of industrialized food that plagues our own country and which we have successfully exported to the rest of the world, I feel that is a fair call-to-action. Oliver points out, “this is a global problem. It is a catastrophe. It is sweeping the world. England is right behind you [America], as usual,” he said. “We need a revolution.” (source)

Building a Community

The other interesting aspect of Oliver’s mission is that it leaves a lot of room for outside contribution. In fact, anyone can help out, simply by going to this website and clicking the “Offer Help” button. Writers, cooks, organizers, and local food enthusiasts (no idea where we’d find any of those…) are all needed to help Oliver get his project underway. There is also an opportunity for Farm to Table to lend a hand in reaching out to the online blogging and sustainable food community.

In general, the local food movement, by its very nature, will be advanced by individual farmers, chefs, and families. The changes will be personal, small, and community centered. This must be the case, as the forces arrayed against the local foods movement are themselves massive, monolithic agri-businesses and food companies. It is a fight to become more self-sufficient, a call to learn how to cook your own food, rather than simply buying healthier food from another corporation. The change will have to come from the heart of individuals, because there is a lot of economic pressure to keep us eating out of the hands of large food producers, and Oliver’s wish reflects that focus on the individual. The fact that TED has decided to help him achieve his dream, rather than having him stand as a spokesperson for a faceless movement, reflects the truth that change will come from an individual’s passion to effect change. The fact that he is a celebrity and can inspire change in other individuals makes his message that much more powerful, but doesn’t change the personal nature of what he is calling on Americans to do. Sustainable food tends to be a very insular community. By using his celebrity status, and by teaching people how to eat locally but still enjoy gourmet food, Oliver can help us reach beyond our own community to the rest of the country, which is where real change will begin to take place.

I’d like to ask all of you to think about how you might help Oliver’s mission, if only as an exercise in creativity. Maybe you can implement your ideas on your own, and maybe you will feel compelled to e-mail him. Like Farm to Table, he is not hoping to do this alone, but rather to serve as a beacon of inspiration for the community that eventually gathers around him.

Image Source: really short on Flikr