LAST week, First Lady Michelle Obama went on a three-day national tour to mark the second anniversary of her initiative designed to combat America’s growing obesity problem. The Let’s Move! program was launched on February 9, 2010 by the First Lady who said, “The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake. “
Part of her three-day tour promoting her Let’s Move! program was in Dallas to tape a segment of the popular TV cooking show, Top Chef Mrs. Obama was one of the three judges of a competition, in which three teams, composed of Top Chef chef-testants and student sous-chefs, prepared lunches using fruits and vegetables.
The other two judges were Top Chef host Tom Colicchio and Sam Kass, the assistant White House chef and Mrs. Obama’s advisor on her healthy-eating initiative.
As 110 kids from Nancy Moseley Elementary School cheered, three teams made up of Bravo’s Top Chef contestants cooked healthy and nutritional meals within a 30-minute time limit.
Team Blue, composed of Fabio Viviani and Richard Blais, cooked spiced turkey tenderloin, carrots, peas, and chocolate pudding with no chocolate in it.
Team White, composed of Spike Mendelsohn and Jennifer Carroll, prepared smoked pork chops with apple sauce, sweet potato and Greek yogurt with whole wheat pita chips.
Team Red’s chefs, Grayson Schmitz and our very own kababayan, Paul Qui, (who earned the highest pitched squeals, according to dallas.eater.com) created turkey bacon tacos with fresh tortillas made in a baby oven. There was quinoa and slaw (made out of fennel, cabbage, and carrots) on the side; and a smoothie-like drink with skim milk and sweet melon.
After sampling the Top Chef contestants’ creations, the three judges huddled for a considerable time and then Mrs. Obama announced the winners: “Red, White, and Blue.” It was a Top Chef first- a three-way tie.
“The point in our decision,” the First Lady said, was that when you pair great chefs with schools, everybody wins.”
The first lady then spoke about her initiative to upgrade the menus of schools, announcing that 1,589 new schools had met new, higher standards this year.
“As everybody here knows, this challenge is run by the Department of Agriculture, or the USDA as we call it. And it recognizes schools that meet the highest national standards for nutrition and physical activity — the highest standards. These schools are the schools that are finding creative, innovative ways to serve healthy meals and to get kids active. So it’s a twofer — it’s not just nutrition, but it’s also physical activity. And these high-ranking schools are doing it at a time when budgets are tight — and we all know that budgets are tight — and there aren’t a whole lot of resources to go around, again, which is why this competition is important, because schools are being asked to do so much more with less,” Mrs. Obama said.
According to dallas.eater. com, Austin’s Top Chef-testant Paul Qui agreed with Grayson Schmitz that cooking for the First Lady was far less stressful than any Top Chef elimination challenge. The Fil-Am chef-testant said he had no other Let’s Move events on his roster but would “totally be into participating in others” and would like to find out more info on the Chefs Move to Schools program.
Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched by the First Lady, dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams. Combining comprehensive strategies with common sense, Let’s Move! is about putting children on the path to a healthy future during their earliest months and years. The program is giving parents helpful information and fostering environments that support healthy choices; providing healthier foods in our schools; ensuring that every family has access to healthy, affordable food; and, helping kids become more physically active.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek Feb 15-17, 2012 Sec A pg. 4)
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