In May of 2010, Sam Kass spoke to me after the James Beard Awards.  Would All-Clad be willing to provide a small cookware kit for the First Lady, Michelle Obama’s fight to end childhood obesity? Sam started cooking for the Obama’s during the first Presidential campaign and moved to the White House with the First Family in 2009.  He is currently the Assistant White House Chef and Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives.  I got corporate approval to develop a ‘chef’s kit’ of All-Clad products.  We asked other companies to participate, and by mid-summer pulled together a complete set of tools for schools and after-school programs to help chefs, teach kids and their parents about cooking and better, healthier eating habits.

All-Clad has donated 3000 pieces of cookware and 1000 induction hobs to the cause.  Share Our Strength  teamed up with the Partnership for a Healthier America; a bipartisan effort, to place our chef’s kits into school programs .   T-fal, Wusthof, Anchor Hocking and Tru Bamboo all donated great products, too.  

As of today, December 1, 2011, All-Clad will have shipped over 900 kits to just about every state in the union to help reverse childhood obesity within a generation. It is simple. Teach kids and their parents practical, healthier alternatives to fast food.  Drink water or skim milk instead of sugary soft drinks and get kids moving, running, playing for one hour a day.  These simple steps will rescue millions of kids from obesity and our nation from suffering under a burden of disease that spreads over every sector of our society

post by L. Callaghan, Director of Culinary Relations