The goal seems a lofty one… to end childhood obesity within a generation, but that didn’t deter nearly 1000 chefs from around the country to take a trip to Washington DC and sit on the South Lawn of the White House on a hot, muggy day in June, dressed in their best whites, to hear First Lady Michelle Obama and a variety of other speakers as they launched the Chefs Move to Schools initiative, part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! Campaign. Chefs were called upon from groups such as the United States Personal Chef Association (USPCA), the American Culinary Federation (ACF), the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and Women Chefs and Restaurateurs (WCR), among others, and in less than two weeks, they assembled in DC, ready to hear what they can do to help achieve this lofty goal. I was there, along with fellow chapter members Chefs Catherine, Carole and JoAnn from my chapter of the USPCA, West PA Chefs and about 35 other USPCA members, including Chef Gail Kenagy, President of the USPCA.

The day started off at the JW Marriott, just a few blocks from the White House, with a Share Our Strength Breakfast and Symposium: Healthy Schools, Healthy Kids: How Chefs Can Make a Difference. Speakers there included remarks by White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Share Our Strength Founder and Executive Director Billy Shore.

Janet Poppendieck, Professor of Sociology at Hunger College, City University of New York and author of the book Free For All: Fixing School Food in America spoke about the current environment of school food service workers and administrators and the challenges they face staying within budget (less than $3.00 per meal, less than $1.00 of that goes to the actual food.)

A panel of chefs followed including Chef Andrew Nowak, a volunteer chef at Steele Elementary in Denver, CO and school principal Gene Boyer. Chef Bill Telepan, volunteer chef in New York City Schools and Chef Jorge Collazo, Executive Chef of New York City Schools joined Chef Nowak and Mr. Boyer on the podium as well as Chef April Neujean, former volunteer and current Food and Nutrition Services Coordinator for the Edible Schoolyard New Orleans at Samuel J. Green Charter School.

The Share Our Strength Symposium ended with a talk by Ellen Teller, Director of Government Affairs at the Food Research and Action Center who discussed the highlights of the Child Nutrition and Reauthorization Bill currently before Congress and the importance of it’s passage this year to ensure all kids are getting the healthy foods they need.

The symposium wrapped up and a long line of chefs in their best whites made their way to the gate by the South Lawn of the White House. Passersby had likely never seen such a large congregation of chefs in one place at one time, and many of them were stopping and snapping photos as they walked by. The hot, late morning sun beat down as the chefs were let in, single file, through two check points and then they were led through the metal detectors. After going through security, they were given toques with the Let’s Move! logo and allowed to wander the area on the South Lawn, being serenaded by the military band as they awaited the First Lady.

After another address to the chefs by White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass as well as some volunteer chefs, the moment each of the chefs were waiting for finally arrived. First Lady Michelle Obama spoke for a little over 20 minutes about her vision for the Let’s Move! Campaign and what we, as chefs, can help do in our communities and our schools to ensure that every one of our Nation’s Children is afforded the opportunity to get good, healthy and palatable meals. Not by going into the schools and taking over the school’s kitchen, but by offering our expertise in areas of recipe development, nutrition and cooking skills. Food service workers love the children in their schools and work hard within the federal nutrition guidelines to make sure their kids are getting what they need. Unfortunately, with nearly 1 in 3 American Children now being overweight or obese, and the incidence of adult diseases such as cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure on the rise in children, our nation is spending millions of dollars in health care costs for these diseases and school food service workers are sometimes overwhelmed.

The time for action is now and chefs can help by adopting a school in their area and going in and helping those schools create palatable meals, within the school’s budget and with what equipment that school has, and teaching the kids and school administrators how to use what they have and still give the children what they need. This can be done by helping the children plant a garden, by doing cooking demonstrations for the staff and the children. Chefs can help by organizing a Wellness Committee or help re-write the schools current wellness policy or offer to speak at the next PTA meeting, educating parents and asking questions to see what concerns they may have.

Mrs. Obama highlighted several volunteer chefs and emphasized that this is just the beginning. She was skeptical the Chef Kass would be able to organize such a large group of chefs in a short period of  time and called for us to help recruit even more. She also talked about how we, as a nation, not as a government, can make a difference. The government cannot tell people what to eat, but as chefs, we can show people how to eat, and how to cook it so it tastes good. She used an example of how her mother would cook broccoli until it was mushy and could be eaten with a spoon. It really would be hard to like broccoli that was prepared this way, but prepared properly, it is rather tasty.  Please click here to view the full speech by First Lady Michelle Obama.

As a personal chef, I was honored to be involved in this event. It’s not every day one gets an invitation to the White House, and while it is inevitable that some in attendance were simply there because of that, I hope that the majority of the chefs in attendance will embrace this challenge and help Mrs. Obama with her goal to eliminate childhood obesity within a generation. While it may seem a lofty goal, it only took a generation or so for us to get to this point, and with a little hard work, education and motivation, we can, as chefs, make a difference and while we will be combating messages that tell us that spending  less on our food will make us live better, it can be done.

The trick now is to get chefs all over the country to sign up and schools to sign up as well. Interested chefs and schools can fill out the form to be paired with a chef/school in your local community by going to letsmove.gov and clicking the link to take you to the appropriate form. Interested parents can contact their local schools to request their school sign up. It’s going to take all of us, and it probably won’t be easy, but with just some small changes at first, we can help to end the childhood obesity epidemic in this country within a generation so that kids born today will not face the same problems.

After the event, a group of us USPCA chefs met at the Hotel Washington to discuss our day and enjoy a nice lunch. For more images from the event, please visit my facebook page by clicking here.