The White House Garden: Michelle Obama Is The First Lady Of Food Policy (VIDEO)
The White House just released a new video about the kitchen garden as the second installment of their "Inside The White House" series. The video is not just fun fiuff with nice shots of vegetables. In it, Michelle Obama makes historic statements about the importance of food, healthy eating, family meals, instilling children with lessons about food choices, and even more boldly, changing the way America eats.
At the beginning of the video, Mrs. Obama tells a personal story about how her consciousness has been raised about food and the changes the First Family has made.
We were a busy working family. I'd find it difficult to feed my family in a healthy way - quickly. So i decided to change our diet. This happened throughout the course of the campaign, with simple things. I started adding more fruits and vegetables, trying to sit down and prepare a meal as a family a couple times a week, and eating out a little bit less. Trying to eliminate processed and sugary foods as much as possible. And I saw some really immediate results with just those minor changes. I thought well, If i could help other families learn these small changes in my role as first lady, that would be a good thing.
The video also includes history and facts about the garden, such as that it's the first vegetable garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt planted the Victory Garden, and that they've planted seeds from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.
White House Chef Sam Kass talks about working with kids from Bancroft Elementary School and the education components they've done with the garden. "The kids are taking it to a level I never even imagined." He reports that as of July, over 200 lbs of produce had been harvested from the garden, and that the first meal they'd served from the harvest was a salad for top economic leaders.
Mrs. Obama is conscious of the example she's setting. Towards the end of the video she says,
"If the President of the United States can sit down and have dinner with his family, more families can hopefully sit down and find time to do the same."
She also focuses on the education aspect of what's she's doing for her family, and hopefully, the country.
How will {my kids} make choices about what they are going to eat when they are away from me? what will be the messages in their head when they are deciding if they are going to drink the soda or a glass of water? [...] I hope the garden will be an introduction to a new way for our country to think about food.
We hope so too, Michelle!
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Huffington Post | Katherine Goldstein
First Posted: 09- 1-09 11:05 AM | Updated: 10-17-09 05:12 AM