Media watch: Jamie Oliver calls Sarah Palin a ‘froot loop’; Ludo’s pop-up TV show; Anthony Bourdain in Haiti

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Jamie Oliver fights fire with fire: In an interview with the Associated Press, Jamie Oliver countered the barrage of finger pointing by conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin against the Obama administration’s healthful eating agenda, claiming that Palin was a “froot loop” when it came to the nation’s food issues. Oliver, who is currently filming the TV show ‘Jamie’s Food Revolution’ in Los Angeles, lamented that the nation is in a “really dark moment” regarding childhood health and nutrition, insisting that the lack of healthful eating options and awareness in the U.S. bears the significance of a “civil rights issue.” Then there’s Rachel Ray’s take: ‘How could you criticize the idea of children playing in the sunshine and eating healthy food?’

Ludo on the Sundance Channel: Ludo Lefebvre has parlayed his pop-up restaurantconcept into a television show on the Sundance Channel. Set for July, the mini-series takes place in six different cities. Lefebvre and his wife/business partner, Kristine Lefebvre, will set up pop-up dinner events within a six-day time frame that revolve around the local community’s regional cuisine. Ludo and his wife are no strangers to the camera, having appeared on ‘Top Chef Masters’ and ‘The Apprentice,’ respectively. With the circuit starting up in Alabama, Texas and South Carolina, all eyes will be fixed on how the French chef will merge his high-end repertoire with local comfort foods such as BBQ and fried chicken. Don’t blink, it’s a short run -- just six episodes. As ever, Ludo is here today and gone tomorrow.

Anthony Bourdain in Haiti: Kicking off the seventh season of ‘No Reservations,’ Anthony Bourdain broke with his more familiar landscape of sunny beaches and Mai Tais for hard-hit Haiti. Following Sean Penn around at the sprawling tent city of his J/P HROPétionville camp, Bourdain avoided painting any fuzzy pictures of joy among the rubble. Encounters were often uncomfortable and intense, including somebody getting whacked with a belt when Bourdain tried to hand out food purchased from a street vendor. Nonetheless, the episode had a strong impact on viewers, causing the website of Penn’s relief organization to crash at one point from the flood of responses. Selecting locations that include Nicaragua and Cambodia for the new season, Bourdain has certainly grasped the notion that venturing to emotionally charged locations can raise awareness beyond his typical media antics.

-- Max Diamond