Chef scared by ‘fattest town in the US’

LONDON - A British TV chef who promotes healthy meals has said his brush with the food habits of an American town has made his hairs raise.

Celebrity cook Jamie Oliver said his visit to Huntington - described by the media as the unhealthiest town in America - was an eye-opener.

“I’ve only worked with a couple of families so far and all I can tell you is it makes the hairs raise on the back of your arm. I feel emotionally connected to this project, Oliver told Sky News.

“They are all anaemic with information. They are not stupid, they are not ignorant - it’s just they have never had food from scratch in their life,” said Oliver, who became famous in Britain after persuading state-run schools to ditch unhealthy meals such as pizzas and potato chips.

Oliver said Huntington, which was dubbed Americas fattest town after a study showed 45.3 percent of its population was obese in 2006 (the figure came down to 32.4 percent in 2007), suffers from their food being controlled by big corporations who process it and sell it back to communities.

The cookery star will be filming for three months and will try to change everything in the town - from school meals to supermarket shelves.