Vegetarian Star

Michelle Obama "Ladies Home Journal"

Michelle Obama’s interview with Ladies Home Journal available on the stands August 10th, reveals her suspicion of a “dislike beet gene” she shares with the president.

‘I am a believer there is a beet gene,” she said. “People who love beets love them and people who hate beets can’t stand them. Neither the President nor I have the beet gene.”

A study examining the food preference of twins found liking fruits and vegetables is somewhat influenced by genes, but environmental factors also play a big role. But judging a veggie to taste bitter may be a case of genetics of the tongue receptors.

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Jakub Mejstrik

A vegan chef is part of the 500 in Michelle Obama’s Chefs Move To Schools campaign that does a Jamie Oliver-like revolution and pairs culinary experts with schools across the nation to improve lunches and educate cafeteria workers, teachers and administrators.

Jakub Mejstrik is a vegan chef who is likely to end up in a school in the northeast Ohio area once he starts his mission. Although he knows he’s not going to turn every 5th grader vegetarian, as a vegan, his perspectives on food and health are bound to make an incredible difference.

“There is no way I can just go into the schools and tell [children and administrators] ‘this is what I believe in, this is what you should do’ — but at least I want to help them incorporate as many fresh fruits and vegetables as they can,” Mejstrik told Cleveland.com.

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Michelle Obama hosted several celebrities chefs at the White House garden, including Rachael Ray and Cat Cora, to harvest vegetables with school children to prepare a meal for the group to eat. Unfortunately, not every part of the meal was vegetarian, but the First Lady encouraged the chefs to help schools nationwide plant gardens.

About 900 chefs are signed up in the “Chefs Move to Schools” program, which pairs chefs with school communities to teach children and parents cooking skills and nutrition.

“You know more about food than almost anyone, other than the grandmas, and you’ve got the visibility and the enthusiasm to match that knowledge,” said Mrs. Obama during a speech.

The actual footage of the chefs and children harvesting vegetables from the garden takes place around minute 19:00.

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A White House Garden Cookbook

A new cookbook is set to roll out this month that features the chefs from the White House sharing favorite recipes created from vegetables from the White House South Lawn garden.

A White House Garden Cookbook keeps Michelle Obama’s standards for focusing more on plants to reduce childhood obesity and other healthcare issues.

One deliciously sounding recipe features not only plant based protein of garbanzo beans, but a vegetable broth based soup topped with soy sour cream.

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According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, although Michelle Obama is gung ho about promoting her obesity campaign aimed at slimming America’s children down, it’s not all about whole grains and apples and she’s leaving room for some play time here and there.

The First Lady has agreed to let Twinkies get pass the security in the White House.

If you’re a health obsessed parent who’s decided to let your kids dig in on junk every once in awhile, congratulations.

It may very well save them from rebelling and stashing pounds of candy in the office drawers at work when they’re 35.

You can still take precautions during the wild ride on the sweet side and make healthier Twinkies without dairy, eggs or preservatives like the ones found at the grocery store.

Two recipes to get you started.

One, at Shmooed Food, involves barley malt powder mixed with vegan butter and sugar to get that cream filling.

The second calls for tofu, white chocolate and maple syrup to help form the gooey center.

Will your child be sharing Tofu Twinkies at the lunch table this week?

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First Lady Michelle Obama invited students from a Baltimore school to join her at the White House for a discussion on healthy eating.

Hampstead Hill Academy 4th-8th graders are already ahead of the game, as they’re growing their own produce in a garden set aside in the schoolyard.

“Learning doesn’t stop at lunchtime,” Mrs. Obama said to a student who asked how schools can teach children better eating habits, but added that “The cafeteria is one of the most important classrooms in the school.”

One of the most important classrooms in schools may still not receive enough funding, even after changes to the Childhood Nutrition Act take place.

Marion Nestle, professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University and author of Food Politics, Safe Food, What to Eat and Pet Food Politics told The Atlantic that although the $4.5 billion allocated over 10 years for school meals is a 10-fold increase over previous funding in 2004, it only averages to a mere six cents more per meal.

One the plus side, the bill does provide mandatory money for schools to establish gardens like Hampstead Hill Academy does and buy food from local sources.

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The White House was scheduled to welcome chefs from one of Planet Green’s latest shows, Future Food, this weekend for the annual Easter Egg Hunt.

According to a news release, Homaro “Omar” Cantu and Ben Roche took the south Lawn to create a snack for egg hunters made from organic, locally sourced fruit.

The theme for this year’s hunt was Ready, Set, Go!, in conjunction with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign  meant to squash childhood obesity.

Hope your Easter was as much fun as in D.C.

If you threw your own hunt in the backyard, hope you used cage-free eggs.

Better yet, next Easter aim to completely take animal products out of your hunt and have children look for something equally delicious like avocados or potatoes.

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Michelle Obama’s White House garden is expanding!

The garden will be enlarged from 1,100 to 1,500 square feet to accommodate four additional vegetables of bok choy, white cauliflower, artichokes and mustard greens.

Once again, Mrs. Obama invited local school children to help plant this year’s seeds.

According to Treehugger, last year the garden yielded 1,000 pounds of food that was eaten by White House Staff and at State dinners or donated to local homeless shelters.

Another accomplishment for the garden last year was employing the use of “hoop houses,” protective structures placed over the plants to protect them from the winter’s freeze, allowing 50 pounds of food to be harvested during the winter.

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