Celebrity chef Mario Batali • Discussing the diet he’s currently on — he’s eating like he’s on food stamps (an average of $1.48 per meal, or $31 per week) in protest of potential cuts to the federal food stamps program. His family was nice enough to join him in what he calls a conversation starter about being hungry in the U.S. Unlike most people on food stamps, he knows ways to make the best of a bad situation, smartly sticking to foods like lentils, apples, rice, beans, peanut butter and jelly. But the problem is, eating good on a diet like this is tough, so many do not. Think his family’s experiment will be effective? (via shortformblog)

Maybe this will put it into perspective for people. Y’all out there who think food stamps magically allows people to eat like kings are ignorant, and plain old stupid. A google search will yield you the info that the average food stamp allowance for a family of 4 is 280$~ a month. Sometimes less, as that is an average. Food deserts exist, and people aren’t always knowledgeable of what “good” food is, or how to prepare it. I am interested to see how this pans out to the public.

(via siddharthasmama)

Think about the fact that Batali definitely doesn’t live in a food desert, has decades of food knowledge to fall back on, and still is saying things like “you can live on it, but you can’t thrive.” And to save money from that food budget, he’s having his kids buy school lunch, since the average family on TANF would also qualify for free school lunches, which is another program that’s on the chopping block.

(via freeze-frame42)

I have and will always hold Mr. Batali in the highest regard.