The Proper Feeding of Children

Chefs around the country join in the fight against childhood hunger—and prepare to tackle childhood obesity.

By Brenda R. Carlos

“Hunger” is an ugly word, and when it’s coupled with the word “childhood,” it becomes even more disturbing. For many, childhood hunger is an image of a third-world child, wide-eyed and with a bloated belly. But the problem is right in our own backyard, and the victims look like any other American child.

Statistics show that one in four children in the United States goes hungry each day, and approximately 33 million American children are food-insecure, meaning they are hungry or at risk of hunger (“Household Food Security in the United States,” USDA, March 2001). The Center on Hunger and Poverty, located at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., reports that children who are hungry have difficulty learning in school, have a shorter attention span and suffer more absences because of illness. Also, children who are hungry are less likely to be productive citizens.

So, it’s no wonder that chef members of the American Culinary Federation chose to focus on childhood hunger, and created a separate organization under the ACF umbrella. In 1989, the Chef & Child Foundation was formed with the intent to “foster, promote, encourage and stimulate an awareness of proper nutrition in preschool and elementary-school children.” With the support of dedicated corporate sponsors, the foundation has sponsored educational grants to institutions for nutritional research and educational programs. The foundation has also focused on emergency food relief to victims of natural and other disasters.

Childhood Hunger Day

In 1995, ACF and the Chef & Child Foundation (ACFCCF) organized the first Childhood Hunger Day, a national awareness campaign. More than 60 ACF chapters hosted local campaigns in their hometowns, and a chef from each state headed to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of Congress. The event garnered national-media attention.

Over the years, Childhood Hunger Day has continued to grow and is still held each October. “We encourage all ACF chapters to consider hosting an event in October for Childhood Hunger Day,” says Joseph Kraft, CEC, AAC, regional director of culinary for Morrison Healthcare Foodservice, Tucson, Ariz., and an ACF National Chapter member, who is the current ACFCCF national board president. “In the past few years, we’ve stopped sending chefs to Washington, D.C., and hope, instead, that they will use their resources to promote campaigns in their own backyards. It is heartwarming to hear about all the amazing programs that take place across the country.”

In recognition of this year’s event, chapters are asked to use their unique resources to help bring about a change in their communities. The ACFCCF has put together a packet of information on hosting a Chef & Child Hunger Day event that can help chapters get started or provide information to a new CCF chair-person. Typical programs include professional chefs and cooks teaching preschool and early-elementary children about nutrition in hands-on cooking classes. Apprentice chefs and culinary students are often asked to help with the events, which include raising funds for local agencies that provide dietary assistance and nutrition education.

A focus on education

Based on the premise, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime,” CCF emphasizes teaching a combination of nutrition, culinary skills and food variety. Much of the emphasis has been on the very young child, with the understanding that early implementation of these skills will stay with a child for years to come.

“From the beginning, I knew that there needed to be a focus on nutrition education,” says Jim Perko Sr., CEC, AAC, administrative executive chef for Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, and a member of ACF Cleveland Chapter, Inc. “In the late ’80s, I developed a local program called ‘Food is Knowledge.’ Over the years, the program has grown.”

Today, the program, with the backing of Perko’s employer, is a 10-lesson curriculum designed for pre-kindergarten through first grade. Unlike many programs that put chefs in the classroom with students, this program puts chefs in front of primary-school teachers. The teachers are taught the basics of the program in an in-service setting, given the necessary tools and sent back to their classrooms.

“Currently, Cleveland Clinic is doing clinical trials on the program and helping to take it to a higher level. Once this scientific research is conducted and the results are in, it will become a resource for Chef & Child Foundation local chapters throughout the country,” says Perko, a member of the national ACFCCF board. “This program teaches collaboration between the chef and the resources in his or her community. Teachers know how to teach. If we give them the tools they need, then they can be on the front lines with the children.”

Perko says this kind of program can reach many children quickly. For example, one chef can introduce the program to a group of 25 teachers and schools. Over time, those 25 teachers can teach the first lesson to 625 or more students. “It would take a lot of chef manpower to reach that many children,” Perko says.

David Wasson, CCC, CCE, a culinary instructor at South Seattle Community College and a member of ACF Washington State Chefs Association, says in his community, many families run out of food and money by the end of the month. “Luckily, Seattle has a strong food-bank system,” he says. “About half of the food distributed from our local food banks is given directly to a child.”

Traditional families seem to be the hardest hit, Wasson says, citing the many resources for single parents but few for those intact families with financial struggles.

ACF Washington State Chefs Association has a long history of working with America’s Second Harvest, a food-bank network with headquarters in Chicago, to provide nutrition education and support. “For many years, we have done food-bank demonstrations throughout the day and evening on Childhood Hunger Day,” Wasson says. “This year we will present a mystery basket to food-bank patrons, and then help cook its contents right there at the food bank.”

Chapter members also work one-on-one with a child or family, answering questions and offering tips and demonstrations. Questions about spices are common, Wasson says, and the community has many immigrant families who don’t know how to use the ingredients from the food bank. “Many of the children of immigrant parents are learning to eat American foods at school, but their parents don’t have a clue how to prepare them at home,” he says. “This event gives people the opportunity to work with a chef and get their questions answered.”

A Collaborative Effort

Obviously, chefs can’t tackle childhood hunger alone; fortunately, companies such as Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Foods, Inc., are eager to share their resources.

“Tyson’s primary philanthropic effort is child-hunger relief, and it has donated over 39 million pounds of chicken, beef and pork to food banks nationwide through collaboration with Share Our Strength, America’s Second Harvest and other relief agencies,” says Barbara Jirka, Tyson’s marketing manager/education.

Tyson’s newest program, “Powering the Spirit,” was developed to increase Tyson employees’ awareness of child hunger and to provide employees with the opportunity to help with local childhood-hunger relief programs. “Powering the Spirit” encourages Tyson employees to join in fund-raising efforts in their own communities. With more than a hundred Tyson plants nationwide, the possibility for collaboration is great.

Lessons in nutrition

Chefs have found numerous opportunities to share beyond the one-day Childhood Hunger Day event.

“Last year, I was asked to speak about the connection between nutrition, math, cooking and science at a GEMS (Girls Exploring Math and Science) fifth-grade girls’ conference,” says Jean Hull, CCE, ACF Kona-Kohala Chefs de Cuisine Inc.’s Chef & Child chair. “I noticed that the girls were extremely hungry at our first presentation, and were famished by lunchtime. Many of them had traveled long distances to attend the conference, and others were from low-income families. I approached GEMS and my ACF chapter, and we decided to offer a nutritious breakfast at this year’s conference.”

The girls received not only a healthful breakfast, but a nutrition lesson, as well. “We used the theme, ‘Hit a Home Run for Nutrition,’” says Hull. “The room was set up like a baseball diamond, and the girls were offered different foods representing each of the food groups at the bases. At the pitcher’s mound, they received a home-run diploma that gave age-appropriate nutrition guidelines.” Hull and fellow ACF members secured sponsorships for each base.

For Childhood Hunger Day, ACF Tampa Bay Culinary Association, Inc. has traditionally served lunch at a large homeless shelter. Chapter members put together nutritious treat bags for the kids, and let them help decorate a giant sugar cookie.

“We don’t stop our activities with Childhood Hunger Day,” says Patricia Lucardie, chapter administrator.

The chapter sponsors a number of programs throughout the year, including: a pre-K through kindergarten “ABCs of Food” program; “Cooking ABCs,” a five-week cooking program for older children; an annual cookie bake (this year chapter members baked more than 20,000 cookies with the children); and an “Inner-City Breakfast with Chef Santa” program.

“It’s really easy with the amazing support we get from our chefs, their friends and family members,” Lucardie says. “We often get up to 70 volunteers to help with events.”

Raising awareness and funds

For the past several years, chefs in New Jersey have held a Childhood Hunger Day Forum at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, N.J. Working with various government agencies, including the USDA, the chefs provide an educational experience. Stations are set up that offer nutritional ideas and interactive lessons on good food choices. Elementary students from neighboring school districts attend the event.

This year, chefs from throughout ACF’s Northeastern Region will participate in New Jersey’s forum. The goal is for more states to hold statewide forums in years to come, led by those observing and participating in the New Jersey Forum this year. With local media coverage of the event, it’s an opportunity to promote the image of the professional chef, as well as the importance of proper nutrition for school-age children.

In Milwaukee, the proceeds from a fund-raiser held annually by ACF Chefs of Milwaukee, Inc., are divided among several childhood-related causes, including the Center for Blind and Visually Impaired Children, where it is used in the lunch program, and the chapter’s nutrition-education program that puts volunteer chefs and cooks in after-school daycare programs.

“This October, we will host our 5th annual fund-raiser in conjunction with Childhood Hunger Day,” says chapter member Chuck Meitner. “The first year, we had 80 people attend the gourmet dinner. Last year, we had 180, and this year, we plan on having well over 200 guests.”

The chapter hosts a five-course gourmet dinner, with each course prepared by a different chef. This year, each chef will be teamed with either a local television or radio celebrity, or an amateur. The amateurs bid for their spots during a silent auction at last year’s event, paying up to $750 to spend the day with a chef, and present a course at the event. Most of the food is donated by a regional foodservice distributor.

Chefs and cooks around the nation are encouraged to join the ACF Chef & Child Foundation, and make a difference in the lives of children. For more information, call (800) 624-9458 or e-mail chefandchild@acfchefs.net.

Expanded Agenda

Childhood hunger is not the CCF national board’s only concern.

“The average 10-year-old is five to seven pounds overweight. By the time these folks are teens, they are obese. A third of children and teens in this country are overweight,” says Joseph Kraft, CEC, AAC, regional director of culinary for Morris Healthcare Foodservice, Tucson, Ariz., and an ACF National Chapter member, who is the current ACFCCF national board president. “As culinary professionals, we are not only concerned about childhood hunger, but also childhood obesity, and in the coming year, the ACFCCF national board has decided to focus on the weight issue. In many cases, obesity is caused by consuming empty calories, not nutritional foods. We need to get the message out that children need to eat healthy foods and get more exercise.”

Frank Hu, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, has done extensive research on childhood obesity. He found a link between health problems and early death in middle-aged adults and overweight children and teens. He says, “Our results suggest that childhood obesity has adverse health effects over and above obesity during adulthood. Childhood obesity needs urgent attention.”

Brenda Carlos is based in Omaha, Neb.