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Gail Simmons Joins NYC School Nutrition Campaign
The 'Top Chef' judge lends her voice to school nutrition activism.
Top Chef judge Gail Simmons is teaming up with anti-hunger advocates and school officials in NYC to raise awareness about the food kids eat in schools.
The mom and foodie is helping to alert others to the Child Nutrition Act and its current bill, Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which will expire on September 30. Gail, as well as the other advocates, are speaking out so that the bill doesn't change and that students will still get access to healthy foods. The Child Nutrition Act governs school meals and child nutrition programs.
"I feel very privileged to get to do what I do but I also feel like it has given me insight into the disparity of food access in this city and at the same time a platform for my voice," she says in a statement.
Additionally City Harvest has organized a letter-writing campaign to help spread awareness and get Congress not to cut funding or change the standards. "We don't want to lose the nutrition standards," says Jilly Stephens, executive director of the group.
Gail recently opened up about the influence Top Chef has had on the way Americans eat, including children who watch the program and are now foodies themselves.
"There's more interest in food. It sort of becomes a cycle," she said. "I think that Top Chef has been a huge influence in that way. I can't tell you the number of times someone has said their child wants to become a chef."
[Source: Star Tribune]
