One of the few events in which everyone pulling out their smart phones is a great sign!
Over the past week, I’ve sampled pies, biscuits, muffins, salads, gnocchi, cheesecakes, croquettes and about a thousand things featuring our star ingredient, the sweet potato. A short and “sweet potato” hiatus is definitely in order!
But all of this was for a good cause. ONE staffers, fueled by the vitamin A found in the humble sweet potato, have been in “sweet potato mode” over the past several weeks, gearing up for six amazing events to commemorate World Food Day with ONE members and celebrity chefs.
I traveled up to New York City to help out with our World Food Day event with former Top Chef Sam Talbot and ONE members new and old. We gathered at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City to eat a few sweet potato dishes, learn about nutrition, tweet a message to Sec. Hillary Clinton, and watch a cooking demonstration from Chef Sam Talbot. The goal? put sweet potatoes on the menu and nutrition on the agenda.
ONE Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Davidoff welcomed the crowd and introduced our great line-up of speakers. Dr. Sharon Akabas, Ph.D, a professor of nutrition at Columbia University started off the program with an informative and accessible discussion of global childhood malnutrition and stunting. David Weber, the founder of the New York City Food Truck Association spoke next. As the owner of several popular food trucks himself, he understands the food industry and highlighted issues of nutrition, market access and mobile food that drew connections between nutrition here at home and in countries in Africa.
Last but not least, Chef Sam Talbot shared how he became involved in ONE’s Sweet Potato campaign. He explained how his own experiences living with Type 1 Diabetes shaped his perspective on issues like global hunger and malnutrition, and made him all the more aware of how critical it is to know where your next meal is coming from. Chef Talbot then shared his mouthwatering recipe for a sweet potato salad with bacon and chives (I’m hunting down the recipe!) and we all sampled sweet potato cheddar croquettes, sweet potato pie and Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s recipe for whole wheat sweet potato muffins.
At noon, everyone pulled out their phones to compose their tweets to Secretary Clinton and watch other #recipe4change tweets roll in from around the country.
Take a minute to thank Chef Talbot on Twitter (@ChefSamTalbot) for supporting ONE and sharing his delicious cooking with New York ONE members to celebrate World Food Day.
