As a young adult, I moved from my small hometown in Upstate New York to Manhattan, where I lived in a run-down apartment making little to no money. I didn’t have the budget to explore the incredible restaurants around me, nor could I afford or access many ingredients in the cookbooks I read. Knowing how to prepare and enjoy nutritious meals powered me through each day. Food security is more than having something to eat: It’s the comfort of knowing that by not having to worry about food, you can focus on your future.
Since then, I’ve shared meals and taught all sorts of people how to cook simple, affordable and nutritious dishes. For more than two decades — long before I decided to start my foundation, which educates families about cooking, strives to end childhood hunger and grants culinary scholarships to students — I’ve used my platform to support families struggling to put food on the table, because I believe that access to a nourishing meal is a right, not a privilege. My work has never been about creating elaborate, expensive dishes. It’s about making home cooking easy so that others can nourish and inspire their families.
This is why I’ve joined No Kid Hungry, alongside more than 150 chefs and culinary professionals from every state in the nation, to urge Congress to protect children and their families from reductions to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Congress’s slashing of SNAP threatens the health and well-being of American families at a time when millions are already struggling to keep up with the rising cost of food. In 2023, an estimated 13.5 percent of households — 1 in 7 — faced food insecurity, according to the Agriculture Department. The GOP’s budget reconciliation bill, passed by the House, would shrink the program’s funding by nearly $300 billion and take away food assistance from millions of low-income children.
