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Jamie Oliver sets eyes on a Guinness World Record with his Food Revolution

Jamie Oliver hopes to get one million kids cooking for Food Revolution Day. Photo: David Loftus

Jamie Oliver’s third annual Food Revolution Day is tomorrow on Friday, May 16. This year, among the many other food-filled activities lined up, the healthy eating activist and 2010 TED Prize winner is looking to break the Guinness World Record attempt for the ‘Most participants in a cookery lesson in 24 hours.’

The current Guinness World Record stands at just over 2,000 people, and the Food Revolution folks believe they can break that with a live cooking lesson that Oliver will be hosting at 2pm GMT, as part of the campaign’s goal to get one million children cooking on one day. During the 30-minute lesson, the celebrity chef—whose mission is to teach every child about healthy eating—will personally show kids how to put together the perfect Rainbow Salad Wrap, a healthy, crunchy concoction which includes carrots, pears, white cabbage, feta and beets, all piled into a tortilla.

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Schools around the world will be tuning in for the lesson—so far 8,000 schools have registered. Details on how schools can join in can be found at TES and more information on the world record attempt is posted on the Food Revolution Day website. Participating in the attempt takes paperwork, but it’s not required: companies, communities and individuals taking part in the lesson can add themselves to this interactive map instead. There is also a handful of recipes for kids to nail on their own and, because the event is for everyone, there are also recipes for adults who simply want diversify in the kitchen and try something new.

The goal of Food Revolution Day: to get as many people as possible cooking from scratch and to get kids excited about food. This is all part of Oliver’s longstanding mission to change the way people relate to food. As he explains on the Food Revolution Day website, “We need every child to understand where food comes from, how to cook it, and how it affects their body. This is about setting kids up with the knowledge they need to make better food choices for life.”

So far, more than 157,000 participants from 105 countries have registers for Food Revolution Day. Photo: David Loftus

This post originally ran on the TED Prize Blog. Read more »

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