IACP Impacts Chefs Move to Schools

Yesterday IACP members Dan Traster, Judy Rusignuolo and I and a room full of Washington, D.C., culinary professionals attended a Chefs Move to Schools meeting sponsored by the National Restaurant Association DC chapter's educational foundation and Share Our Strength.  The first speaker was everyone's favorite, White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass.  He gave a pep talk and then asked for questions.

I brought up research that came out last week from the Edible Schoolyard.  It said that children who had been in the Edible Schoolyard program in elementary school did not eat more vegetables in middle school.  In fact, they ate less veggies than when they had been in the Edible Schoolyard program.  Kass said the results meant that children and youth need to be supported at every step as they develop. 

We can support young people in school all we like, I replied, but if we don't involve the families, the youth will experience cognitive dissonance when they are eating at home.  My suggestion:  Bring together the first two pillars of the Let's Move campaign against childhood obesity with youth/parent partner cooking classes.  

One pillar seeks to give parents the information they need to provide healthy meals for their families.  The second is to improve school food.  (The third pillar is a goal of sixty minutes a day of physical activity, and the fourth is to eliminate food deserts.)

Interestingly, of the twelve speakers who followed, three of them commented on the importance of family participation.  They mentioned ways they are helping families in their healthy eating programs.  For instance, Share Our Strength's Operation Frontline has a curriculum in use for youth/parent cooking classes.  Many chefs who are adopting a school are considering teaching cooking classes as a way to share their expertise.

Chefs Move to Schools, but first to White House

On June 4, 700 chefs from over 37 states gathered on the South Lawn of the White House in support of the "Chefs Move to Schools" initiatiave, a part of the First Lady's Let's Move campaign to end the epidemic of childhood obesity.  Sixty IACP members were among them.

The day began with breakfast across the street from the White House at the J. W. Marriott hotel, sponsored by Share Our Strength.  A lineup of speakers explained the program concepts.
Chefs were asked to adopt a school, to nurture it in a variety of ways, with the goal of producing healthier school food and healthier young people. Many of the suggested activities listed in the breakfast printed program would involve a significant donation of time, funds and energy.

Following breakfast, IACP members joined the other chefs for a tour of Mrs. Obama’s kitchen garden. Non-vegetable gardeners were surprised to see fennel, broccoli and Swiss chard all ready to harvest in early June in Washington, D.C. (The arugula, however, looked too pockmarked by insects to serve to any but the most convinced organic foodies.)

Part of the fun was standing next to well-known, respected television cooking teachers and sometimes engaging them in conversation.

It was exciting!

And the photos, with the White House as a backdrop, what could be better?

Read the transcript of Mrs. Obama’s remarks or watch her speak.

Once home again, food bloggers posted a flurry of reports, many on the topic, “Me at the White House.”

Now the challenge for IACP members and their fellow supporters of Chefs Move to Schools is to keep their commitment and to help realize the worthy goals of the First Lady’s Let’s Move campaign against childhood overweight and obesity.

Already IACP’s Kids in the Kitchen section has enlisted the support of several of the breakfast speakers, to participate in IACP teleforums in the months ahead and to discuss with IACP members the practical application of how to adopt a school. Included will be Janet Poppendieck, author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America; innovative school volunteer Chef Bill Telepan of the eponymously named New York City restaurant; and Ellen Teller, lobbyist for the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill.
 
In addition, incoming IACP Kids in the Kitchen Co-Chair Michelle Stern has established a free listserv for the purpose of continuing the conversation about the Chefs Move to Schools movement. A listserv archives messages but also stores related files, links, photos, and polls. To sign up, IACP members may contact IACPchefsmovetoschools@yahoo.com.