Food Revolution: More Than Meets The Eye

I have been very interested in Jamie Oliver’s work long before I saw his TED talk, so seeing it was very intriguing to me. His applications of his facts “to the room” really brings new light to his point. He states statistics that apply directly to his audience. I found this to be true throughout his presentation, and it made it very engaging. His style was what sold the talk to me. He made you notice it more, due to the way he presented the information. And that’s Jamie Oliver’s style. It makes you notice. You can also really see the passion in his presentation, enhancing it even further. His voice reflects his strong beliefs about obesity and diet-related disease. At the one point in the beginning where the audience laughed, he did not. This stood out to me as one of the most important parts of what made his presentation work. His complete lack of laughter or joy of any kind in the heat of his argument made it clear that he cared about his work. He meant business and that one moment made me see that. One thing I didn’t understand was how he got the number of obesity costing us 10% of our healthcare bills. How would this be calculated? This is one point that I would’ve loved more detail on. Overall, Jamie Oliver’s presentation is one of few that I’ve seen that seem to really utilize Daniel Pink’s right-brained attributes discussed so far in the book. I see especially large use of symphony and story in his presentation. He used symphony at the end to tie all of the facts together and make a point. He also used story by providing an emotional connection to his statistics that make them more memorable and meaningful. If you look at these attributes together, Jamie Oliver really has a powerhouse of a presentation. He has seemed to master the right-brained attributes already. It’s interesting to see someone understand them that you wouldn’t normally expect to at first. He seems to understand TED a lot better than many other presenters, which is  surprising. His point describing certain people as being at the “sharp knife edge” of this revolution really reminded me of the Civil Rights movement in many respects. The Civil Rights movement was also an uphill struggle, with many people being hurt or killed as a consequence. The Civil Rights movement also consisted of very influential leaders such as Martin Luther King. So, one could say that Jamie Oliver is the MLK of the food revolution. Imagine that. I also found it very ironic that Jamie mentioned the part about the purpose of school. Education’s purpose has been discussed in nearly every TED talk I’ve seen so far. This one kind of fits in with the rest, and I can see subtle connections between all 7 talks. The formula for each talk is relatively the same, but this one touches on specific points that they all share. His specific ideas for how to fix this issue also help his presentation’s legitimacy. He provides simple, effective solutions for all the problems affecting today’s world. If we simply listen to his message, change will be swift.