First Lady Michelle Obama will have big support from chefs in her "old" hometown when she kicks off Chefs Move To Schools this afternoon at the White House. Chicago chefs have turned out in force to join the new project, which is the start of a national program that encourages chefs to adopt schools in their home communities. Watch a livestream of the event here at 12:20 ET, and if you're from Chicago, look for:
Koren Grieveson, Chef de Cuisine at Avec restaurant. Sam Kass, who is directing the new project, cooked with Grieveson at Avec before he became Mrs. Obama's Food Initiative Coordinator. Grieveson first cooked at the White House for Mrs. Obama's Healthy Kids Fair last October, and she was just honored with a James Beard Award as Best Chef/Great Lakes Region. (Above: Mrs. Obama and Grieveson during the Healthy Kids Fair)
Chef Paul Kahan, of Blackbird restaurant, is slated to show up; Kass also cooked with him, pre-White House. Kass and fellow Chicagoan Arne Duncan, now Secretary of Education, are among those addressing the chefs at a special pre-event breakfast this morning, sponsored by Share Our Strength, which has partnered with Mrs. Obama and the USDA on the new initiative.
Chicago Tribune's The Stew reports that notable Chicago chefs Gale Gand (TRU), Nick Lacasse (The Drawing Room), Todd Stein (Cibo Matto), Ryan Poli (Perennial), Jason McLeon (Ria and Balsan), Elissa Narrow, Della Gossett (formerly of Charle Trotter's) , Christine Cikowski and Joshua Kulp (Sunday Dinner Club) and Kendall College's Chris Koetke will all be at the White House, too, and pledging to adopt schools back home.The United States Personal Chefs Association has also announced that it is sending more than forty of its chefs from around America to the White House, and the International Association of Culinary Professionals has rounded up seventy-five member chefs, too.
Related: To learn more about Chefs Move to Schools, and sign up as a chef or school, visit USDA's web page here. Included among the hundreds of chefs invited to the White House is the cadre of chefs from Houston, and the American Culinary Federation has announced that it is sending 55 chefs. The First Lady announced the new initiative on May 13; Kass blogs about the program here.
Photo of Mrs. Obama/Grieveson by Obama Foodorama
