Blocked From L.A. Schools, Jamie Oliver Takes Food Revolution to the Streets

Jamie Oliver is quickly learning that the best lessons are oftentimes learned beyond school walls. Undeterred by the Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) stubborn refusal to allow the celebrity chef to film inside its schools, Oliver continues to push for school lunch reform on the streets of L.A. From outdoor cook-offs with students to cooking classes on wheels, Oliver's truancy looks to be helping to bolster his efforts to teach kids about nutrition and may even convince LAUSD to rethink his expulsion from its cafeterias.

Last weekend, 32 students from eight Los Angeles County high schools joined Oliver for a cooking competition on Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade to inspire healthy cooking amongst their peers. The culinary spectacle also featured seven local chefs serving as mentors to the kids, including school garden supporter Ben Ford. The large-scale cooking demonstrations Oliver hosted during Food Revolution's first season in Huntington, West Virginia helped garner tremendous public support for the campaign. And holding the junior Iron Chef-style competition on the country's second-most traversed stretch of walkway (allegedly after Main Street, Disneyland), the 3rd Street Promenade, will surely help heighten the scope of Jamie's efforts in L.A. Inviting local star chefs who can help carry the school lunch reform torch for L.A. was a wise move as well.

Last month Oliver also opened Jamie's Kitchen in the L.A. neighborhood of Westwood, a temporary location that will offer student cooking classes and demos until a permanent location opens sometime this summer. The Food Revolution home base will include an herb garden, a simulated market stand, tables and chairs for meals, and plasma screens to virtually connect with other campaigns in West Virginia, England, and Australia.

And given the vast expansiveness of L.A.'s landscape, Oliver plans to spend much of his time spreading the good food word from a mobile teaching kitchen. Beginning sometime in March, the truck will allow Oliver to connect with L.A. residents in the city's underserved communities beyond affluent Westwood. Both Jamie's Kitchen and the truck will likely also serve as rallying points for parents, students, and other supporters of the Food Revolution looking to change LAUSD's stance.

Bringing healthy cooking demonstrations to the streets, inviting students and parents to his stationary and mobile kitchens, and even giving a nutritious spin to L.A.'s fast food stalwarts, Oliver is helping bring school lunch reform to the forefront of L.A.'s public forum. LAUSD has already conceded to allowing the chef to plan three weeks of healthy meals for the school district, and if school board members continue to witness an outpouring of support from parents, students, and community members, perhaps they'll agree to let the cameras roll. L.A. could show the country how empowering students with healthy food choices has the potential to stem the rising tide of childhood obesity. Let's tell LAUSD the time has come to bring the lessons of the Food Revolution into the school cafeteria.

Sign our petition asking the Los Angeles Unified School District to let Jamie Oliver film inside L.A.'s schools.

Photo credit: Lord Jim via Flickr