Ann Cooper is a professional chef and someone who has dedicated herself and her life to improving the eating habits of children in America. Her own website states that she has helped to provide healthier food for more than 400,000 children (CAF, 2016). Cooper runs the Chef Ann Foundation which takes action in order to ensure that as many schools as possible are able to provide healthy food for children. Cooper describes herself as someone who is committed to the health of individual children and who, as a result, was deeply upset by the quality of food that was being served in many of the nation’s schools. As a trained chef, Cooper felt that was able to provide the necessary advice that schools needed in order to begin to provide healthier food for children, as a campaigner, she realized the importance of taking affirmative action in order to make sure that this food was provided. Cooper herself argues that, given the fact that one in three children born now will develop diabetes in their lifetime, healthy eating in schools is “social justice issue” and not simply a matter of personal taste or preference (Cooper, 2016). Ensuring that this attitude is taken seriously involves commitment and campaigning from both Cooper and from those who work for her organization.
For me, it is this combination of knowledge, conviction and dedication that makes Cooper and inspirational woman. Not only was she able to use her expertise to develop healthy eating programmes, but she also made sure that this was combined with political activity that ensured that her long term goals could stand a chance of being realized. Most important, I consider Ann Cooper to be someone who has dedicated themselves to changing the public perception of healthy eating, and to turn what may appear to be simply a matter of personal taste into a question of social justice.
- Chef Ann Foundation – Home Page. (n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2016, from http://www.chefannfoundation.org/
- Chef Ann Foundation – Our Story. (n.d.). Retrieved July 31, 2016, from http://www.chefannfoundation.org/about-us/our-story/
