First Lady To Keynote "Building A Healthier Future" Summit

Partnership for a Healthier America's two-day childhood obesity summit begins Tuesday; includes Great American Family Dinner Challenge...
First Lady Michelle Obama will give the keynote address on Wednesday morning at Partnership for a Healthier America's (PHA) Building a Healthier Future Summit. The two-day event in Washington, DC, is the first national summit hosted by the non-profit foundation established to further Mrs. Obama's Let's Move! campaign, and will bring together business and industry leaders with their nonprofit, academic, and government counterparts for panel meetings and discussions. It begins on Tuesday morning at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

Mrs. Obama serves as honorary chair of PHA, which is led by Dr. James R. Gavin III. The foundation is responsible for organizing and managing the private-sector commitments the First Lady has garnered for the Let's Move! campaign, including the pledges from Walmart and other grocers to build stores in food deserts, and from national chain Darden Restaurants to revamp its menu offerings.

At the summit, "private sector leaders from all industries will be announcing new commitments while current PHA partners will be proving updates on their progress," according to organizers.

Honorary vice-chairs Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, NJ and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., will both speak at the summit, as will Gavin.

Healthy cooking in the spotlight...
Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass is also a featured participant at the Summit. Kass will serve as the emcee for The Great American Family Dinner Challenge on Tuesday night, a cooking exhibition that will pit two teams of James Beard Award-winning chefs against each other to create a fabulous dinner on a Food Stamps budget. The chefs--Tom Colicchio and Maria Hines vs. Holly Smith and Ming Tsai--will have $10 of ingredients and just thirty minutes to dazzle the judges, who are two sets of "real" parents. (Kass, above)

A dinner on Tuesday night for all Summit attendees will be cooked by James Beard Award winners and nominees Floyd Cardoz, Koren Grieveson, Michel Nischan and Anne Quatrano.

Social media: PHA's website is here; a Facebook page for the summit is here; Twitter is @PHANews with the hashtag #PHASummit. Check out @LetsMove and Letsmove.gov for the First Lady's campaign.

*Photos by Eddie Gehman Kohan/ObamaFoodorama

read more "First Lady To Keynote "Building A Healthier Future" Summit"

Fab Food On A Food Stamps Budget: Sam Kass & The Great American Family Dinner Challenge

Chefs Tom Colicchio, Jose Andres & other James Beard Award winners join cooking showcase events at first-ever conference from Partnership for a Healthier America...
UPDATE: First Lady will keynote the summit
White House Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass will be joined on Nov. 29 by acclaimed chefs, including Top Chef host Tom Colicchio of New York, Boston's Ming Tsai of Blue Ginger restaurant, and Washington, DC's Jose Andres for two exciting cooking events during the inaugural Building A Healthier Future Summit from Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA). The James Beard Foundation is partnering to support the cooking showcases, and all the participating chefs are winners of the much-coveted Beard Awards, regarded as the Oscars of the food world. (Above: Kass at a school event in DC)

PHA is the foundation created for First Lady Obama's Let's Move! campaign, and the conference will focus on streamlining a coordinated national agenda for battling childhood obesity.

At the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC, Kass will emcee The Great American Family Dinner Challenge, a cookoff that pits two teams of chefs against each other to create a fabulous dinner on the kind of budget that's required for those participating in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as Food Stamps. The chefs will have $10 of ingredients and just thirty minutes to dazzle the judges. Colicchio and chef Maria Hines of Tilth restaurant in Seattle will wield their knives against Tsai and chef Holly Smith of Cafe Juanita in Kirkland, WA.

The average monthly household benefit for America's 45.1 million Food Stamp recipients in June was $282.31, according to USDA. The judges will be two families that have won a sweepstakes from Parents and Ser Padres magazines, co-sponsors of the event.

Three-course gourmet meals for $4.50/person...
Earlier in the day, the hundreds of expected summit attendees will experience the culinary handiwork of the other participating Beard Award winners. Andres will be joined by chefs Floyd Cardoz of New York's Tabla restaurant, Koren Grieveson of Chicago's Avec restaurant, and Anne Quatrano of Atlanta's Bacchanalia restaurant to create healthy, three-course meals that cost just $4.50 per person, an approximation of what the "average American" spends on dinner, according to PHA.

"Part of overcoming the obesity crisis in this country is helping individuals and families understand that healthy food can be affordable, quick to make and also really tasty," said PHA spokesman Drew Nannis. "These chefs have set the bar for what it means to prepare meals, and we're thrilled that they are willing to see if they can do what millions of families do every day in kitchens across the country: Put a healthy, delicious, affordable meal on the table--fast."

The Beard Foundation recently crowned Mrs. Obama with one of its inaugural Leadership Awards, which recognize "visionaries in the business, government and education sectors responsible for creating a healthier, safer, and more sustainable food world."

The Summit...
Featured speakers at the Summit include PHA honorary vice-chairs Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, NJ, and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Breakout sessions will include tracks focused on elements of the Let's Move! campaign: Making childcare healthier for children; creating opportunities for people to buy healthier foods in supermarkets; increasing physical activity; and working with schools to create a healthier learning environment.

Among other activities, PHA, chaired by Dr. James Gavin, is responsible for micromanaging the White House partnerships with the private sector for the Let's Move! campaign. Through Memos of Understanding, PHA is overseeing the commitments from Walmart and other grocers to build markets in food deserts, as well as the commitment from Darden Restaurants, Inc., the largest chain restaurant corporation in the US, to revamp its menus over the next decade. (Above: Mrs. Obama during the Darden announcement)

The Summit, Nov. 29-30, is at the Omni Shoreham in Washington, D.C.. Registration is $375 for general, government, education and for-profit association participants, with a discounted rate of $250 before Oct. 1. Corporate and business registrants pay $750, with a discounted rate of $495 before Oct. 1. Contact the coordinators at events@ahealthieramerica.org for non-profit rates. More agenda information and registration is at www.ahealthieramerica.org/summit. Registration closes on Nov. 1.

More on Let's Move is at Letsmove.gov...or this blog.

*Photos by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama

read more "Fab Food On A Food Stamps Budget: Sam Kass & The Great American Family Dinner Challenge"