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I am a chef

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and a food policy guy,

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but I come from a whole
family of teachers.

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My sister is a special ed
teacher in Chicago.

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My father just retired
after 25 years teaching fifth grade.

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My aunt and uncle were professors.

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My cousins all teach.

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Everybody in my family, basically,
teaches except for me.

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They taught me that the only way
to get the right answers

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is to ask the right questions.

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So what are the right questions

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when it comes to improving
the educational outcomes for our children?

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There's obviously
many important questions,

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but I think the following
is a good place to start:

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What do we think the connection is

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between a child's growing mind

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and their growing body?

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What can we expect our kids to learn

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if their diets are full of sugar
and empty of nutrients?

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What can they possibly learn

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if their bodies
are literally going hungry?

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And with all the resources
that we are pouring into schools,

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we should stop and ask ourselves:

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Are we really setting
our kids up for success?

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Now, a few years ago,

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I was a judge on a cooking
competition called "Chopped."

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Four chefs compete
with mystery ingredients

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to see who can cook the best dishes.

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Except for this episode --
it was a very special one.

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Instead of four overzealous chefs
trying to break into the limelight --

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something that I would know
nothing about --

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(Laughter)

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these chefs were school chefs;

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you know, the women that you used
to call "lunch ladies,"

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but the ones I insist
we call "school chefs."

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Now, these women -- God bless
these women --

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spend their day cooking
for thousands of kids,

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breakfast and lunch,
with only $2.68 per lunch,

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with only about a dollar of that
actually going to the food.

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In this episode,

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the main-course
mystery ingredient was quinoa.

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Now, I know it's been a long time

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since most of you have had a school lunch,

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and we've made a lot
of progress on nutrition,

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but quinoa still is not a staple
in most school cafeterias.

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(Laughter)

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So this was a challenge.

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But the dish that I will never forget
was cooked by a woman

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named Cheryl Barbara.

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Cheryl was the nutrition director

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at High School in the Community
in Connecticut.

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She cooked this delicious pasta.

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It was amazing.

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It was a pappardelle with Italian sausage,

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kale, Parmesan cheese.

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It was delicious, like,
restaurant-quality good, except --

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she basically just threw the quinoa,
pretty much uncooked,

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into the dish.

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It was a strange choice,

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and it was super crunchy.

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(Laughter)

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So I took on the TV accusatory judge thing
that you're supposed to do,

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and I asked her why she did that.

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Cheryl responded, "Well, first,
I don't know what quinoa is."

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(Laughter)

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"But I do know that it's a Monday,

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and that in my school,
at High School in the Community,

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I always cook pasta."

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See, Cheryl explained
that for many of her kids,

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there were no meals on the weekends.

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No meals on Saturday.

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No meals on Sunday, either.

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So she cooked pasta
because she wanted to make sure

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she cooked something she knew
her children would eat.

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Something that would stick
to their ribs, she said.

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Something that would fill them up.

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Cheryl talked about how,
by the time Monday came,

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her kids' hunger pangs were so intense

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that they couldn't even begin
to think about learning.

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Food was the only thing on their mind.

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The only thing.

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And unfortunately, the stats --
they tell the same story.

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So, let's put this
into the context of a child.

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And we're going to focus on

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the most important meal
of the day, breakfast.

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Meet Allison.

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She's 12 years old,

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she's smart as a whip

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and she wants to be a physicist
when she grows up.

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If Allison goes to a school
that serves a nutritious breakfast

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to all of their kids,

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here's what's going to follow.

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Her chances of getting a nutritious meal,

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one with fruit and milk,
one lower in sugar and salt,

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dramatically increase.

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Allison will have a lower rate
of obesity than the average kid.

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She'll have to visit the nurse less.

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She'll have lower levels
of anxiety and depression.

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She'll have better behavior.

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She'll have better attendance,
and she'll show up on time more often.

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Why?

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Well, because there's a good meal
waiting for her at school.

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Overall, Allison is in much better health

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than the average school kid.

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So what about that kid

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who doesn't have a nutritious
breakfast waiting for him?

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Well, meet Tommy.

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He's also 12. He's a wonderful kid.

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He wants to be a doctor.

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By the time Tommy is in kindergarten,

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he's already underperforming in math.

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By the time he's in third grade,

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he's got lower math and reading scores.

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By the time he's 11,

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it's more likely that Tommy will have
to have repeated a grade.

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Research shows that kids
who do not have consistent nourishment,

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particularly at breakfast,

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have poor cognitive function overall.

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So how widespread is this problem?

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Well, unfortunately, it's pervasive.

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Let me give you two stats

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that seem like they're on opposite
ends of the issue,

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but are actually two sides
of the same coin.

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On the one hand,

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one in six Americans are food insecure,

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including 16 million children --
almost 20 percent --

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are food insecure.

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In this city alone, in New York City,

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474,000 kids under the age of 18
face hunger every year.

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It's crazy.

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On the other hand,

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diet and nutrition is the number one cause
of preventable death and disease

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in this country, by far.

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And fully a third of the kids
that we've been talking about tonight

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are on track to have diabetes
in their lifetime.

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Now, what's hard
to put together but is true

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is that, many times,
these are the same children.

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So they fill up on the unhealthy
and cheap calories

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that surround them in their communities
and that their families can afford.

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But then by the end of the month,

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food stamps run out
or hours get cut at work,

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and they don't have the money
to cover the basic cost of food.

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But we should be able
to solve this problem, right?

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We know what the answers are.

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As part of my work at the White House,
we instituted a program

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that for all schools that had
40 percent more low-income kids,

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we could serve breakfast and lunch
to every kid in that school.

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For free.

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This program has been
incredibly successful,

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because it helped us overcome
a very difficult barrier

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when it came to getting kids
a nutritious breakfast.

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And that was the barrier of stigma.

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See, schools serve
breakfast before school,

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and it was only available
for the poor kids.

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So everybody knew who was poor
and who needed government help.

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Now, all kids, no matter how much
or how little their parents make,

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have a lot of pride.

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So what happened?

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Well, the schools that have
implemented this program

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saw an increase in math and reading
scores by 17.5 percent.

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17.5 percent.

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And research shows that when kids
have a consistent, nutritious breakfast,

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their chances of graduating
increase by 20 percent.

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20 percent.

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When we give our kids
the nourishment they need,

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we give them the chance to thrive,

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both in the classroom and beyond.

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Now, you don't have to trust me on this,

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but you should talk to Donna Martin.

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I love Donna Martin.

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Donna Martin is the school nutrition
director at Burke County

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in Waynesboro, Georgia.

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Burke County is one
of the poorest districts

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in the fifth-poorest state in the country,

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and about 100 percent of Donna's students
live at or below the poverty line.

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A few years ago,

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Donna decided to get out ahead
of the new standards that were coming,

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and overhaul her nutrition standards.

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She improved and added
fruit and vegetables and whole grains.

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She served breakfast in the classroom
to all of her kids.

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And she implemented a dinner program.

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Why?

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Well, many of her kids didn't have
dinner when they went home.

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So how did they respond?

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Well, the kids loved the food.

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They loved the better nutrition,

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and they loved not being hungry.

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But Donna's biggest supporter
came from an unexpected place.

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His name from Eric Parker,

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and he was the head football coach
for the Burke County Bears.

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Now, Coach Parker had coached
mediocre teams for years.

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The Bears often ended
in the middle of the pack --

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a big disappointment in one
of the most passionate football states

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in the Union.

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But the year Donna changed the menus,

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the Bears not only won their division,

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they went on to win
the state championship,

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beating the Peach County Trojans

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28-14.

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(Laughter)

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And Coach Parker,

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he credited that championship
to Donna Martin.

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When we give our kids
the basic nourishment,

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they're going to thrive.

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And it's not just
up to the Cheryl Barbaras

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and the Donna Martins of the world.

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It's on all of us.

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And feeding our kids the basic nutrition
is just the starting point.

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What I've laid out is really a model

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for so many of the most pressing
issues that we face.

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If we focus on the simple goal
of properly nourishing ourselves,

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we could see a world
that is more stable and secure;

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we could dramatically improve
our economic productivity;

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we could transform our health care

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and we could go a long way

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in ensuring that the Earth can provide
for generations to come.

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Food is that place
where our collective efforts

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can have the greatest impact.

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So we have to ask ourselves:
What is the right question?

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What would happen

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if we fed ourselves more nutritious,
more sustainably grown food?

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What would be the impact?

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Cheryl Barbara,

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Donna Martin,

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Coach Parker and the Burke County Bears --

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I think they know the answer.

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Thank you guys so very much.

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(Applause)