I am a chef and I am the founder of a
nonprofit organization kitchen life
skills that seeks to reduce food
insecurity through an alternative method
and I I was inspired by Murray
you know the let them eat cake
Murray yeah was she kidding people were
starving and she was offering them
dessert now unless you’re me a dessert
connoisseur that actually isn’t so bad
but if you’re Marie Antoinette then not
so good you see the controversy over the
years has been who actually uttered
those famous words that seemed to mark
the beginning of an unfortunate end but
that’s another controversy for another
day what I want to talk about today is
what’s so bad about a slice of cake
think about it they are hungry they are
being offered something to eat and isn’t
it better than the alternative but what
she was really saying at the time was
let them eat expensive egg enriched
bread killer Margiela brioche the famous
words carelessly spoken or not spoken by
the grand princess upon learning that
her loyal subjects the peasants they
were poor they were hungry and they had
no bread her answer
brioche a
cake made up of whole food ingredients
butter an egg making it far more
expensive than common bread now if that
was meant to be her answer it only
served as a short-term solution for a
long-term social issue think about it if
hunger were represented by the Grand
Canyon as a wound then a slice of cake
would only serve as a band-aid to the
Grand Canyon be indeed is cake really
food is cake really f o D
and although cake is made up of whole
food ingredients the beautiful and
unfortunate end result is it isn’t very
filling or nourishing and it won’t
sustain our bodies and although these
peasants were poor and hungry they did
know a little about economics and
nutrition and one fact was clear to them
they were suffering from food insecurity
now what is food insecurity and what is
it all about it is about the feeling of
bare cupboards and no skills or
resources to fill them it is about the
loss of security one feels when faced
with the next question of where is my
next meal coming from globally one and
nine people are faced with food
insecurity each day and four of those
nine are our children so think about it
one in nine people who pass us on the
sidewalks of lovely neighborhoods with
well manicured lawns and one in nine
people who work in that cubicle next to
ours or those four children who play
with our children on the playground each
day or sit next to us in church could it
be one and nine in this audience they
are among us and many many are easily
recognizable but then there are others
where there is no label there is no
warning sign no look of desperation no
look of shame one and nine are hiding
our insecurity when it comes to the next
meal society they see them as a degraded
part of our population the poor the
mentally ill the socially disadvantaged
it is their problem not our
right wrong this is a community issue
and it will take community to eradicate
you see the comforts of 17th century
France and our coverage today they
aren’t so different and even with all of
our modern technology we’ve sent men to
the moon we’ve eradicated many social
diseases I’ve even managed to find that
one smelly sneaker that was stinking up
my son’s bedroom which is a major
victory in my house believe me but yet
our friends our family our co-workers
are faced with food and security each
day our elderly are forced to make
decisions on buying life-saving
medication or having a life-saving meal
to which in the end one without the
other will still lead to an early grave
our children are sent to school each day
without breakfast parents are foregoing
sustenance just so their children’s can
have a dinner how secure are you are you
a decision away from food insecurity now
food insecurity has nothing to do with
solely being able to afford food it’s
actually acquired through skill and
community efforts but I’m not talking
about a Community Food Drive where the
most secure of us go home and empty our
cupboards of excess cans of food but I’m
talking about getting our friends and
our neighbors to rethink the meaning of
food security you see we must realize
where we went wrong
and travel a different path we must
realize that mixes and
quick fixes fast and overly processed
foods they’re not the answer
we must realize that our food is part of
our well-being we must also realize why
we stopped cooking and start cooking
again yes you heard me right I said it I
said the c-word not reheat but cook you
see maybe if marine would have just
given the peasants flour egg and milk
maybe things would have turned out a
little different okay maybe not but this
food insecurity thing it is about a
helping hand up not handouts we you and
I we must realize again where we went
wrong and we must travel a different
path first thing we can do is dedicate
our skills to organizations just like
mine that seek to educate that one and
nine about sustainable food cultivation
gardening then what you and I must do is
dedicate our skills to organizations
that seek to enlighten that one and nine
about the benefits of meals made from
those whole food ingredients then the
next thing we must do is
we must dedicate our resources to those
organizations that seek to empower that
one in nine how to make meals made from
those whole food ingredients and how to
make wise and economical food decisions
we can flip this you see when we
dedicate our skill our time and our
resources to organizations that seek to
educate enlighten and empower then we
will begin to eradicate food insecurity
and once we do that my friends then buy
all all means let them eat cake thank
you
[Applause]
nonprofit organization kitchen life
skills that seeks to reduce food
insecurity through an alternative method
and I I was inspired by Murray
you know the let them eat cake
Murray yeah was she kidding people were
starving and she was offering them
dessert now unless you’re me a dessert
connoisseur that actually isn’t so bad
but if you’re Marie Antoinette then not
so good you see the controversy over the
years has been who actually uttered
those famous words that seemed to mark
the beginning of an unfortunate end but
that’s another controversy for another
day what I want to talk about today is
what’s so bad about a slice of cake
think about it they are hungry they are
being offered something to eat and isn’t
it better than the alternative but what
she was really saying at the time was
let them eat expensive egg enriched
bread killer Margiela brioche the famous
words carelessly spoken or not spoken by
the grand princess upon learning that
her loyal subjects the peasants they
were poor they were hungry and they had
no bread her answer
brioche a
cake made up of whole food ingredients
butter an egg making it far more
expensive than common bread now if that
was meant to be her answer it only
served as a short-term solution for a
long-term social issue think about it if
hunger were represented by the Grand
Canyon as a wound then a slice of cake
would only serve as a band-aid to the
Grand Canyon be indeed is cake really
food is cake really f o D
and although cake is made up of whole
food ingredients the beautiful and
unfortunate end result is it isn’t very
filling or nourishing and it won’t
sustain our bodies and although these
peasants were poor and hungry they did
know a little about economics and
nutrition and one fact was clear to them
they were suffering from food insecurity
now what is food insecurity and what is
it all about it is about the feeling of
bare cupboards and no skills or
resources to fill them it is about the
loss of security one feels when faced
with the next question of where is my
next meal coming from globally one and
nine people are faced with food
insecurity each day and four of those
nine are our children so think about it
one in nine people who pass us on the
sidewalks of lovely neighborhoods with
well manicured lawns and one in nine
people who work in that cubicle next to
ours or those four children who play
with our children on the playground each
day or sit next to us in church could it
be one and nine in this audience they
are among us and many many are easily
recognizable but then there are others
where there is no label there is no
warning sign no look of desperation no
look of shame one and nine are hiding
our insecurity when it comes to the next
meal society they see them as a degraded
part of our population the poor the
mentally ill the socially disadvantaged
it is their problem not our
right wrong this is a community issue
and it will take community to eradicate
you see the comforts of 17th century
France and our coverage today they
aren’t so different and even with all of
our modern technology we’ve sent men to
the moon we’ve eradicated many social
diseases I’ve even managed to find that
one smelly sneaker that was stinking up
my son’s bedroom which is a major
victory in my house believe me but yet
our friends our family our co-workers
are faced with food and security each
day our elderly are forced to make
decisions on buying life-saving
medication or having a life-saving meal
to which in the end one without the
other will still lead to an early grave
our children are sent to school each day
without breakfast parents are foregoing
sustenance just so their children’s can
have a dinner how secure are you are you
a decision away from food insecurity now
food insecurity has nothing to do with
solely being able to afford food it’s
actually acquired through skill and
community efforts but I’m not talking
about a Community Food Drive where the
most secure of us go home and empty our
cupboards of excess cans of food but I’m
talking about getting our friends and
our neighbors to rethink the meaning of
food security you see we must realize
where we went wrong
and travel a different path we must
realize that mixes and
quick fixes fast and overly processed
foods they’re not the answer
we must realize that our food is part of
our well-being we must also realize why
we stopped cooking and start cooking
again yes you heard me right I said it I
said the c-word not reheat but cook you
see maybe if marine would have just
given the peasants flour egg and milk
maybe things would have turned out a
little different okay maybe not but this
food insecurity thing it is about a
helping hand up not handouts we you and
I we must realize again where we went
wrong and we must travel a different
path first thing we can do is dedicate
our skills to organizations just like
mine that seek to educate that one and
nine about sustainable food cultivation
gardening then what you and I must do is
dedicate our skills to organizations
that seek to enlighten that one and nine
about the benefits of meals made from
those whole food ingredients then the
next thing we must do is
we must dedicate our resources to those
organizations that seek to empower that
one in nine how to make meals made from
those whole food ingredients and how to
make wise and economical food decisions
we can flip this you see when we
dedicate our skill our time and our
resources to organizations that seek to
educate enlighten and empower then we
will begin to eradicate food insecurity
and once we do that my friends then buy
all all means let them eat cake thank
you
[Applause]
Please follow and like us: