Andrew Zimmern and Sam Kass: 2 Degrees
Jan 28, 2024
Larson Hall at American Swedish Institute
Part of the Climate Solutions Series
Tickets: Free
Join former Obama White House chef and political advisor Sam Kass and Minnesota-based, James Beard Award-winning chef Andrew Zimmern for a conversation about food systems and cutting edge climate solutions that impact how we cook, eat, and ultimately live together.
Andrew Zimmern is an Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, writer, and social justice advocate. As the creator, executive producer, and host of the Bizarre Foods franchise, Andrew Zimmern’s Driven by Food, MSNBC’s What’s Eating America, Magnolia Network’s Family Dinner, and the Emmy-winning The Zimmern List, he has devoted his life to exploring and promoting cultural acceptance, tolerance, and understanding through food. You can also find him judging Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend on Netflix, The Silos Baking Competition on HBO Max, and teaching live fire cooking on Outdoor Channel’s Andrew Zimmern’s Wild Game Kitchen. He has written four books, including the Ippy Gold Medal award-winning AZ and the Lost City of Ophir. Andrew is the founder and chairman of Intuitive Content, named one of the top 100 production companies in the world by Realscreen, and Passport Hospitality, a restaurant and food service development company. He is passionate about his philanthropic endeavors and sits on the boards of Services for the UnderServed, EXPLR Media, Soigne Hospitality, and Beans is How. He is on the advisory boards of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, serves on City Harvest’s Food Council, is the International Rescue Committee’s Voice for Nutrition, a Global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme as well as The Nature Conservancy. Andrew is a founding member of the Coalition for Sustainable Aquaculture and the Independent Restaurant Coalition. He resides in Minneapolis.
Sam Kass is the former Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition in the Obama administration, Executive Director of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Campaign and the Obama family chef. He is a Partner in Acre Venture Partners.
After cooking for the Obamas in Chicago for two years, Sam joined the White House kitchen staff in 2009. During his White House tenure, he took on several additional roles, including Executive Director of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign and Senior White House Policy Advisor for Nutrition. Sam is the first person in the history of the White House to have a position in the Executive Office of the President and the Residence. As one of the First Lady’s longest-serving advisors, he helped the First Lady create the first major vegetable garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden.
Currently, Sam is a Partner at Acre Venture Partners. Acre is a venture capital fund investing in the future of food with a mission to improve human and environmental health in the food system. The fund focuses on early stage, highly disruptive, impactful companies in the food system focused on agriculture, supply chain, and consumer.
In 2011, Fast Company included Sam in their list of 100 Most Creative People, and in 2012, he helped create the American Chef Corps, which is dedicated to promoting diplomacy through culinary initiatives. He is an MIT Media Lab fellow and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago.
Sam is the author of Eat a Little Better: Great Flavor, Good Health, Better World, which was published by Clarkson Potter on April 17, 2018.
The Climate Solutions Series is made possible through the generous support of The McKnight Foundation.