b'asked & answered FOOD FOR THOUGHTLet me switch from a veryand learn the basics. Because,about lowering health care serious subject to somethingagain, I can learn five chordscosts, lets have a discussion perhaps a little lighter. Whatsand play a lot of songs. Itabout keeping people healthy your favorite food at home? doesnt make me a musician.and that starts with food.I tell you, Ive been cookingSo, if you have a cookbook pretty much breakfast, lunchthat you like to go to and and dinner since the pandemicfollow that recipe, it limits whatIf we want to actually have a started, and Im getting tiredyou can do. Youre learningreal discussion in this country of my own food. No, when Ithat recipe. Learn how toabout lowering health care cook at home, its homey stuff. braise. Learn how to roast. I was gone for two monthsLearn how to saut. Learn acosts, lets have a discussionshooting Top Chef. So I wasvery easy thing: What growsabout keeping people healthy in Portland, Oregon, for abouttogether, goes together. And and that starts with food.two months [and when] Ithen you can kind of do it.came home, my garden was really overgrown and I hadDo you think cooking moreYou know what Id love a whole bunch of poblanois something that wouldto see? Lets put home peppers. So, I just roastedbe beneficial for people[economics] back into schools. them all with a wholebunchin the United States? Lets teach kids about nutrition of onions and then mixed aYeahgoing back to the 50s,and about cooking at home. bunch of cannellini beans init was all about convenience.You know, its a life skill. Im with them. And that was great.You look at all those Mad Menstarting to see younger So to me, its all homey stuff. Illads back in the 50s and 60s,people are more interested [in TOP Your work in support ofis a filmmaker so she decidedcalled Food Policy Action. Weroast chicken, [put] a piece of[it was] all about convenience.cooking]. Listen, I do a reality Colicchio andpoverty alleviation in theto explore the issue [of] hungerpublished a scorecard at FPAfish on a grill, vegetables. ItsThey actually basically said,TV show. I see kids watch the members of FEAST, aUnited States, includingin America. Of course, Iand graded Congress on hownever a composed plate. IveCooking is a chore, a horribleshow, and theyre getting more nonprofitduring this time of thethink worldwide hunger isthey voted on food issues,never plated food, meaningthing to do. Were going to freeinterested in cooking. Every he supportsCOVID-19 pandemic, is reallyvery clearly something thatespecially issues of hunger,theres never a pretty plateyou up! Do all these thingsday on social media, I have dedicated to equalizingadmirable. Perhaps you couldwe accept and know, but wefarming and transparencyof food. Its all family style. that make it easy. And thensome parent who sends me access to healthytalk a little bit about that? have a major problem within [the] food system. fast food comes along becausea picture of their kid in a Top ingredients through foodFor the last 30, 40 years Ivehunger and malnutrition rightWe learned that we canI come from a line ofhey, you can run out and getChef get up or something.educationbeen a chef in New York. Ivehere in the United States. end hunger in America. Wechefs actually as well, anda burger in no time at all. AndClearly people are cooking programs,always been active as a chef,[My wife] wanted to explorejust dont have the politicalunfortunately the talent hasthey kind of billed it as beingat home now. What Im hoping grocery scholarships andespecially around food andthat deeper and she madewill to end hunger in America.been declining over time. nutritious. Now we know itsnow is [that] families are support groups.food insecurity, workinga film called A Place at theAnd so, I decided to makeNo, no its not. Heres the thing.not at all, so we have to slowspending more time at home FEAST works in under-resourcedwith a lot of anti-hungerTable, and it did quite well. Andthis my lifes work. But I workPeople ask me all the time:down a little bit and find aand cooking. What theyre neighborhoodsorganizations in and aroundbecause of my recognitionreally just to get the messageHow can I be a better cook? Sotime to do that. It takes morereally getting is the benefit that areNew York City. Around sevenfrom TV and being a chef, itout there. I do work withI tell them, [grabs guitar] See Itime to go to farm stands. of sitting around a table and hardest hit by the COVID-19or eight years ago, my wifegave me a real soap box. Itvarious organizations, butplay this guitar every day, andI think that at some point,having dinner with each other. pandemic. was mentoring a younggave me an opportunity toIm not someone whos onthats the only way Im goingwere going to have to comeWe did a lot of outdoor dinner woman. Her family was livingbring these issues of hungerthe ground feeding peopleto get better at it, right? Im notto terms with our health careparties. Thats what I really miss in a shelter in Brooklyn and itinto the forefront, and so we there are organizationsgoing to get better if it just sitscosts. Were currently spendingthe most. Its just being with was clear that she was hungrytook the film all around thedoing that. For me, it wasin the corner, looks pretty and$200 billion a year in healthpeople and having a good time, whenever wed see her. Wecountry: to college campuses,about really using our voice,I dont play it. If you want tocare costs that are associatedand thats when you sit back, would send food home with hercommunity centers and toreframing the conversation.be a better cook, youve got towith poor diets. Let that sink in.the phones go down and you and her family and help her out.Congress. That led to meAnd COVID-19 really exposedcook every day. Get out of theSo, if we want to actually have ajust kind of enjoy people and And my wife [Lori Silverbush]co-founding an organizationthe size of the problem. cookbooks, learn techniquereal discussion in this countryslow things down a little bit.n20| SUMMER 2021 HEIFER.ORG |21'