Michel Nischan is a chef and leader in the Food is Medicine movement, as well as a four-time

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

winner. He is Co-Founder and Chairman of

Wholesome Wave Wholesome Wave is a U.S. nonprofit organization that creates partnership-based programs that enable underserved consumers to make healthier food choices by increasing affordable access to health, locally and regionally grown foods. The organization ...

, Founder and President of Wholesome Wave, Co-Founder of the James Beard Foundation Chefs Boot Camp for Policy is & Change along with Chefs Action Network, as well as Founder and Partner with actor Paul Newman of the former Dressing Room Restaurant. He and his Wholesome Wave team were successful at influencing legislative language in the 2014 and 2018 Federal Farm Bills, supporting affordable access to healthy, locally grown fruits and vegetables for low-income community members.

Wholesome Wave

Wholesome Wave was founded in 2007 by Nischan, along with friends

Michael Batterberry Michael Carver Batterberry (April 8, 1932 – July 28, 2010) was an American food writer who founded and edited ''Food & Wine'' and '' Food Arts'' together with his wife, Ariane. Batterberry was born on April 8, 1932, in Newcastle upon Tyne, E ...

, and Gus Schumacher as founding Board Chair. It was founded with funding from Newman’s Own Foundation and the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation, and supported in part by funding from Grow for Good, a philanthropic initiative of ''

FOOD & WINE Magazine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and se ...

''. The mission of Wholesome Wave is to empower underserved Americans to make healthier food choices by providing affordable access to fruits and vegetables at farmers markets and grocery retailers. Until Dressing Room closed in 2014, Wholesome Wave and Dressing Room worked in tandem to create grassroots initiatives that celebrate local food systems, affordable food access in urban and rural communities struggling with poverty, and heritage recipe restoration. Inspired by his late partner’s innovative approach to philanthropy, Nischan founded Wholesome Wave in late 2018. Modeled after Newman’s Own Inc. and the Newman’s Own Foundation, Wholesome Wave is a for-profit company founded to provide sustaining funding to the food equity work of Wholesome Wave by providing the 501(c)(3) non-profit gross revenue royalties from every sale. Of product. Wholesome Wave features healthful, clean-labeled, fully plant-based soups based on recipes from his seminal Heartbeat Restaurant in New York City and Pure Restaurant in India. Wholesome Wave sells to colleges and universities, hospitals systems, and large employers to help them reach their sustainability goals, reduce carbon footprint, provide healthy plant-based options for their eaters, and achieve meaningful social impact. Nischan wrote three cookbooks during his years as a chef known for local, organic, and sustainable well-being. Taste Pure and Simple (Chronicle Books 2003), a 2004 best-selling Beard award winner, Homegrown Pure and Simple (Chronicle Books 2005), and Sustainably Delicious (Rodale Publishing 2010).

Published works

Nischan wrote three cookbooks during his years as a chef known for local, organic, and sustainable wellbeing: ''Taste Pure and Simple'' (Chronicle Books 2003), a 2004 best-selling James Beard Award winner, ''Homegrown Pure and Simple'' (Chronicle Books 2005), and ''Sustainably Delicious'' (Rodale Publishing 2010).

Career and awards

Nischan’s book ''Taste Pure and Simple'' won a

in 2004. Nischan won a second Beard Award in 2008 for his work on the PBS television series Victory Garden. His most recent award was presented by the James Beard Foundation in May 2015 for Humanitarian of the Year. He is also an

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

fellow. Nischan serves on the boards of the Amazon Conservation Team, the

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...

and Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment. Below is a full list of his awards: 2017 Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award for Wholesome Wave Produce Prescriptions 2016 James Beard Foundation, Who's Who in Food and Beverage 2015 James Beard Foundation, Humanitarian of the Year 2015 Children of Bellevue, Honoree 2013 Food Inc. Awards, Pioneer Award 2013 Ira V. Hisckock Award for Public Health Service 2013 American Heart Association, Change the Future Award 2012 Monterey Bay Aquarium, Sustainable Chef of the Year 2012 Utne Reader Visionary Award 2012 California Small Farm Coalition Award for Excellence 2011 International Association of Culinary Professionals, Humanitarian of the Year 2010 Hummingbird Environmental Citizen Award 2010 Chefs Collaborative, Pioneers Table Award 2010 Diabetes Research Institute, Dare to Dream Award 2010 Huffington Post, Top 100 Game Changer’s Award 2010 Lifetime

Fellowship Award 2008 Marine Stewardship Council, Sustainable Seafood Ambassador Award 2008 James Beard Foundation, Best Television Segment for PBS “Victory Garden” 2007 Food Arts Magazine, Silver Spoon Award 2007 American Heart Association, Chef with Heart Award 2007 Condé Nast Traveler, Top 95 Restaurants in the World: Dressing Room Restaurant in Westport, CT and Pure Restaurant in Mumbai, India 2007 Esquire Asia, Top 10 New Restaurants in the World: Pure Restaurant, Mumbai India 2004 James Beard Foundation, Best Health-Focused Cookbook 2004 Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine – Best Airline Food, Song Airways Food for Sale Program 1988 Marriott Hotels Corporation Chef of the Year

Philosophy

A son of displaced farmers, Nischan grew up watching American agriculture move in a direction antithetical to the environment on which it depends, and on the small and mid-sized family-owned business models that made American agriculture the envy of the world. Nischan’s deep appreciation for sustainable agriculture and those who work the land informs his work to this day. As a professional chef and advocate for a more healthful, organic, and sustainable food future, he has built on those childhood values and become a catalyst for change and new initiatives in local and regional food systems. As the father of two sons living with diabetes, he holds a deep understanding of the struggles low-income families face in pursuing the healthy lifestyle choices that can help them prevent or manage this devastating disease. Nischan’s core belief is that everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, or income, should have the resources they need to feed themselves and their families well.

References

External links

* Wholesome Wav
Wholesome Wave
* Michel Nischa
Cooking And Food Blog ,
* The James Beard Foundatio
Home , James Beard Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nischan, Michel Living people American chefs American male chefs James Beard Foundation Award winners Year of birth missing (living people) Ashoka Fellows Ashoka USA Fellows