Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

A sneak peek of Jamie Oliver's new television series set in Huntington, West Virginia: Food Revolution, will air tonight at 10:00pm EST on ABC. The show follows Oliver's efforts to get an entire community cooking again. Born and raised in the restaurant business and interested in fighting the obesity epidemic by getting  everyone back in the kitchen and cooking with fresh ingredients as opposed to flavor packets, Oliver will be preaching his methods and lessons to local families and school lunch staff.

The network news promoted the show on Friday night and although the clips of Jamie arguing with frustrated school lunch ladies seemed more like a reality show than an inspirational series, I have faith that his tough love will turn this community and their food system around for the better. Think of it as a slightly more aggressive, Michael Pollan-ated type of initiative.

Apart from tonight's preview/premiere, episodes will air on Friday nights at 9:00PM EST.

Green Themes in LOST??

I admire the concept of this Treehugger post placing green themes in LOST, but sorry Mairi Beautiman from Berlin, Germany. LOST isn't Avatar. I understand the desire to bring these two wonderful things together, LOST and Environmental Conservation that is, but it seems like a bit of a stretch, don't you think? To me the show has always been about all the real things in this world that we can't actually see but can only see expressions of. The human condition. The greenest theme this blogger has pulled from LOST is that the force of nature is far stronger than humans and will undoubtedly win out in the end.

Sure the island sits on some sort of energy source, there is some sort of science going on, and the survivors' relationships with the jungle and world around them evolve but just saying... the seven green themes in Beautiman's post haven't exactly left any footprint on the fan forums.

But then again, maybe there is something in store in these last 18 episodes that will make me eat these words. Thoughts?

Cookie Monster to become Veggie Monster?

Last weekend, my little sister mentioned that the googly-eyed glutton on Sesame Street may be using his celebrity to fight the childhood obesity epidemic by trading in those chocolate chips for healthy servings of fruits and vegetables. As lovely - albeit drastic - as an idea as this is, it is not actually happening. Turns out, the rumor came about back in 2005 when producers decided to focus more strongly on sending positive health messages to their young viewers by adding segments about exercise and proper nutrition. Cookie Monster expanding his horizons to other food groups was just one part of the initiative.

PBS received letters and emails about the possible personality overhaul and an online petition even arose suggesting that folks boycott the "Veggie Monster" - but there was no such creature to protest. Can you picture the protestors on PBS's doorstep, though? Chanting: "C IS FOR COOKIE! THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!!!" stomping on bananas and snapping carrots over their knees? Too funny.

Anywho... Cookie Monster has since made appearances on the Today Show, Martha Stewart, and The Colbert Report to assure viewers that although he now enjoys an array of healthful snacks, cookies are still a part of his diet: "sometimes." The shift in the character's eating habits became a hot topic again last month when Sesame Street celebrated 40 years of programming (since November 10th 1969), making it the longest running children's program in television history.

So kudos to Sesame Street and their thoughtful initiatives. Cookie-lovers everywhere can calm down and rest assured that the Cookie Monster we know and love isn't going anywhere (thanks to a healthy, portion controlled, diverse diet).