To My Surprise As A Food Revolution Ambassador for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (Bowling Green, Kentucky)
For three years now and going into my second year as the Food Day coordinator for all of Kentucky, I consider myself blessed in many ways. First and foremost I consider it an honor and a privilege to be welcomed into such amazing movements. The wonderful people I have met from around the globe and the food education I have received while on my real food culinary journey has been priceless.
This year as Ambassador I am harvesting many crops that have been planted throughout my journey. What’s so amazing about this crop is the willingness of this community to nurture the seeds I planted and give of themselves freely so everyone can benefit from its bounty. When I started the Food Revolution it was me on my computer with more ambition than any human should ever have and tons of ideas and no idea how to move forward with them.
The moment this all changed is when I adapted to Jamie Oliver’s advice — he said, “Don’t do this alone. It can be very lonely if you do.” He was right. I had a resource of over 300 ambassadors and a community that was in dire need of food education and resources galore that I needed to tap into. The first year on my journey was the year I planted seeds and planted ideas in the community’s minds about what we all could do to raise awareness.
To my surprise, the stories resonated with people.
My speeches did not go unheard; they are forever planted in the minds of the community that is so desperately seeking change, starving to be nourished by real food and thirsting to understand the confusing world of food. Things in my community and around the world are changing and I consider myself to be lucky to watch this miraculous growth.
While I have been watching, the community has banned together more and more of us want and demand real food. To my surprise the supermarkets are adapting to this overwhelming amount of need for real organic foods.
America is no longer the most overweight country (as of now).
My friends, family, and loved ones are healthy and happy and they are living better lives because of the switch to real foods. I have even put myself under the gun. I have stopped drinking soda. I just went 80 percent meat free, gluten free, and started to exercise. This year I will be hosting the first Food Revolution Day at the SoKY Market Place Farmers market.
We are going to welcome the community to join us as we educate everyone about real food and enjoy the day. I will continue the entire season advocating for Real Food every Saturday morning at this market also. I will also be holding basic cooking classes at Hotel, Inc, a place that helps the less fortunate get on their feet.
I am currently working on getting into the school system and looking for sponsors for year-round events. I will also speak my real food jive anywhere I am invited.
What is coming up in the near future?
The farmers market I am working with is going to open up a state of the art kitchen that will have the ability to host cooking classes. I am starting a campaign this year called STOP-EDUCATE-THINK. I am encouraging everyone to STOP before they eat, EDUCATE themselves about the food they eat, and THINK strongly if the consequence is really worth it. I truly hope this change progresses and we finally win this Real Food fight. I am positive anything can happen to my surprise.
Chef CJ Miller everyone!
Thank you for stopping by, CJ, and for doing so much in the way of improving food options throughout all communities.
You can reach him through Facebook now and I really hope you stop by his page to see what else he’s been up to.