Hot Lunch

Tom Colicchio and Dan Kluger Join Fight to Supply Free School Lunches

Colicchio believes there is such a thing as free lunch.
Colicchio believes there is such a thing as free lunch. Photo: Getty Images

City Hall is contemplating a universal free-school-lunch program for students, and an advocacy group called Lunch 4 Learning has done some first-rate work snagging food-celeb endorsements to build on the flavor profile of its central mission. Chef (and activist) Tom Colicchio, Rachael Ray, ABC Kitchen’s Dan Kluger, and Johnathan Adler of Franny’s have all come out swinging in support of the plan, the a Daily News reports, in an effort to get funding allocated. “Taking away that stigma of the poor and making it a level playing field for everybody,” says Rachael Ray, is “supposed to be the promise of the de Blasio administration.”

These and other chefs — though mainly Colicchio, Kluger, and Waverly Inn chef-owner John DeLucie — have been hashtagging tweets #Lunch4Learning, including posts that link to the initiative’s Change.org petition. The tweets are pre-written by the group — they’re all identical, but the strategy must be working, because the group’s getting more ambitious: Lunch 4 Learning is now going after the broader spectrum of Food Network people, include ubiquitous goateed presence Guy Fieri, to spread the word.

Celebrity Chefs Say Mayor De Blasio Should Pony Up Funds to Allow Free Lunch for All City Schools [NYDN]
Related: Tom Colicchio Wants to Make Sure No One Outlaws GMO Food Labels

Tom Colicchio and Dan Kluger Join Fight to Supply Free School Lunches