Former Obama chef dreams of a better, healthier world
Sam Kass doesn’t dream of having his own restaurant. He dreams of building a better world, one recipe at a time.
A Chicago native, Kass catapulted into the spotlight cooking for the Obama family. While cooking nightly dinners for the first family in the White House, he gained global notice working with first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative.
From there, his focus sharpened on food policy. Using the kitchen as a catalyst, he’s asking home cooks to “eat a little better” — and change the world along the way. That means a little less red meat, more vegetables, more fiber.
Detailing how small choices add up to big change, Kass has produced his first cookbook, “Eat a Little Better: Great Flavor, Good Health, Better World” (Clarkson Potter, $32.50), in stores this month. From cooking for the first family to feeding his own, these are his must-have recipes for a better world.
Kass lives in New York with his wife, television host Alex Wagner, and their eight-month-old son, Cy. Question: Growing up in Chicago, what were your family meals like? How did you get started cooking? Answer: I don’t have some romantic story about my grandmother teaching me to make gnocchi or any great traditions. My family, like every Midwestern family in the ’80s and ’90s, ate very simple stuff and nothing fancy. We did have dinner as a family every night, and I do think that did ground me in the family meal.
When I got a little older, part of my chores were to cook dinner once a week. I actually wanted to be a professional baseball player, which I pursued. Ended up transferring to U of C (University of Illinois-Chicago) and majored in history. That took me abroad for a semester.
When I was in college, I’d worked in a restaurant called 312, and that gave me a taste for cooking. I knew nothing. Abroad, I got to work in one of the best restaurants in Vienna. I sort of worked there for free and they trained me. Q: How does that relate to or lead to your ongoing interest in food policy?
A: I was raised in a pretty socially conscious and politically conscious family, and I had more experiences around the world. I realized a lot of the problems around the world are rooted in what we eat, both from a health perspective and an environmental perspective.
Very early on I had that realization and put down cookbooks and started reading policy books and agriculture books and dove into those issues. I knew I wanted to be in food, but to work in that direction. … That was part of my goal of being in the White House and the work with the first lady, to make these issues more mainstream in our culture. I think we were quite successful there. Q: Tell us about the cookbook. What does it mean to eat better?
A: Eat a little better. Really, the idea is the basic premise of the book — it’s around progress, not perfection. So often people spend their time creating these ideals of what everyone should eat, which is largely unattainable to just about everybody, and most of them don’t follow their own advice.
It leads people to feel bad when they can’t consistently eat in the way that they’re supposed to. It’s been divided into eat this way and if you’re not eating this way, it is wrong.
That attitude has done a disservice to the hundreds of millions of people who are trying to make change. This book really focuses on how you can make some progress. It is making connections between our health, the environment’s health and the choices we are making on the plate. Q: How do you address cooking and climate change in the kitchen? A: Food and agriculture is the No. 2 cause of greenhouse gas emissions globally, and quickly becoming the No. 1 cause. We have the power to have a huge impact on this. It largely stems from the amount of meat
we consume.
If you had to do one thing to have an impact on climate change, when it comes to your food, it would be to eat less meat, less red meat specifically. I say that as a steak lover. I’ll never be a vegan. I’m all for having a steak, but less often. And when you do it, you can have a smaller portion. Q: Let’s talk about food idealism vs. reality. How do you put things into action at home?
A: The first step is to set yourself up. Essentially people want to eat better, but their homes are full. There are cookies on the counter, chips in the bowl and sugary drinks in the fridge. Ultimately you end up consuming that. We eat what we see and what’s around us. The first thing to do is create an environment.
Plan what you’re going to cook for a week. That will give you so much more success. Trying to figure it out on a Tuesday night when you’re tired and running late and your kids need to get homework done, that’s when people say forget it I’m going through the drivethrough. Just have a plan. Take some time to set up your week. Q: What’s one food that you seek out when you visit Milwaukee? A: It has got to be a bratwurst. There’s only one answer to that question.