CHEFS AT THE CENTER OF POWER. An army of more than 500 chefs, including celebrities like Rachel Ray and Tom Colicchio, joined First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House to launch Mrs. Obama’s Chef Move to Schools initiative on Friday, June 4^th.

As part of the initiative, the chefs, who come from a variety of backgrounds, mostly in the commercial foodservice world, pledged to adopt a school in their communities and work with that school’s nutrition department to educate children about nutrition and healthy eating, give cooking lessons and develop recipes for the dining program.

Almost a thousand chefs across the country have signed on to the program, which is being led by White House Assistant Chef Sam Kass.Pictured: John Turenne of Sustainable Food Systems (l.) and Tim Cipriano, executive director of New Haven (CT) Schools Food Services.