The Jamie Oliver Food Foundation (USA) is a non-profit delivering food education to schools and youth groups, businesses and communities. Working collaboratively with its United Kingdom counterpart and the Good Food Foundation in Australia, JOFF raises food awareness, promotes policy changes and offers hands-on training to instill food skills and knowledge.
Founder Jamie Oliver, a 38-year-old chef from the UK, is well known through his television series The Naked Chef and Jamie’s Kitchen as well as broader efforts to educate on the link between food and health. His USA foundation is developing relationships and campaigns as it seeks to “scale nationally.”
The Foundation promotes the Food Revolution Day and movement as well as the ABC television show of the same name. Food Revolution is an extensive program with multiple campaigns, and its flagship projects include Toolkit for Change resources for schools and teachers to use in creating lesson plans or learning activities, and the Learn Your Vegetables and Big Rig Teaching Kitchen, which deliver education directly to school children. In addition, JOFF supports volunteer ambassadors that “fight for food change” and individuals who want to find or start Food Revolution campaigns.
Food Revolution Day, held around the world each May, is a “day of action for people to make a stand for good food and essential cooking skills. It’s a chance for people to come together within their homes, schools, workplaces and communities to cook and share their kitchen skills, food knowledge and resources.” Many local activities are organized by volunteers.
In the Fall of 2009, as part of the Food Revolution show, Oliver visited Huntington, West Virginia, known for high obesity rates and health issues, and opened a kitchen. He wanted the kitchen to remain open to provide a place for local people to learn to cook with fresh, wholesome ingredients, and it has done so with the help of Ebenezer Medical Outreach, Inc., and Cabell Huntington Hospital. The kitchen has provided hundreds of cooking classes to more than 1,000 local residents and is still operating today.
