This Former White House Chef Has a Great Idea for Fixing Schools

“Proper education is not possible without proper nutrition.”

“What can we expect our kids to learn if their diets are full of sugar and empty of nutrients?” That’s the basis of former White House chef Sam Kass’ 2015 TED talk, which was released on the website last week. Kass, a self described “food policy guy,” believes that in order to improve schools, we must first focus on kids’ nutrition. Hungry students, he points out, struggle to learn.

Watch the TED talk here:

In the first season of the Mother Jones food politics podcast, Bite, we asked Kass about his work with the Obamas on school nutrition. He praised the administration’s efforts to promote healthy eating—but he also mentioned one thing the president could have done to fix food and didn’t.

Listen to the episode here:

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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