Yes, it’s an actual fact.  Jamie Oliver is a brilliant man.  This is not just because he cooks beautiful meals that we drool over and the fragrance from the abundant use of herbs wafts through the TV screen.  It is because of what he dedicates his life to: keeping cooking skills alive and encouraging fresh, healthy food.

A quick history to support of this fact:

• Opening of Fifteen restaurants where he employes young adults from a disadvantaged background and trains them in the kitchen
• In response to being appalled by the food served at many UK schools, he initiated a campaign: Feed Me Better.  This was accompanied by Jamie’s School Dinners, a TV programme that reached the masses.  He released a web petition which received 270,000 signatures in just 4 weeks!  This was taken to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair and as a result a School Food Trust was set up and £280 million pledged to improve school meals   
• Jamie’s Ministry of Food, a television series involving the chef spreading cooking skills to everyday people living in Rotherham in the UK.  Numerous centres have opened up since each focusing on cooking skills
• Jamie’s Food Revolution, a television series but essentially the series acted as a catalyst to bring awareness to the amount and impact of unhealthy foods being served in the US with Jamie acting as an advocate for change
• Food Revolution Day, 17^th May 2013 will be the first Food Revolution Day!  On this fabulous day, communities across the world will be embracing fresh food and positive eating habits, sharing cooking skills and putting their cooking skills into practice by cooking for those around them

Jamie Oliver has made incredible changes to the lives of individuals, communities and countries.  He is an extraordinary advocate for fresh good food in an era where convenience foods and excess have shaped many societies.  He also has an exceptional capacity to empower individuals and communities enabling them to be advocates and thereby driving the change in their own communities.  Enabling people to create their own change – there is no greater skill.

Food Revolution Day is tomorrow!  Check out the website to be inspired.  It’s a simple message that you can get involved in: Cook it. Share it. Live it.