Celebrity chefs are turning up the heat on Mayor de Blasio — urging him to fork over funding so city schools can provide free lunches to all students.
Television personality Rachael Ray, “Top Chef” judge Tom Colicchio and a host of other notable cooks say free lunch for all would eliminate the shame kids feel if their families can’t afford to pay.
“You’re taking away that stigma of the poor and making it a level playing field for everybody, and that’s supposed to be the promise of the de Blasio administration,” Ray said in an exclusive interview with the Daily News.
“Well, this is a great way for him to put his money where his mouth is.”
Dan Kluger of ABC Kitchen, Alison Cayne of Haven’s Kitchen in Chelsea and Johnathan Adler of Franny’s in Brooklyn also back universal free lunch, which has gained momentum in the City Council after Public Advocate Letitia James proposed it in March.
The council included free lunch for all in its budget proposal this week. It asked for $ 20 million to $ 24 million to fund the program for all students, regardless of whether their families can pay for the meal.
“What we’re asking for the whole school year is not a huge amount of money if you think of what we’re accomplishing,” said Ray.
“This is money so well spent.”
De Blasio has concerns about the fiscal impact the measure might have because federal education funding is based on the percentage of kids who receive free lunch, said a Department of Education spokeswoman.
Still, the spokeswoman added, de Blasio “is looking forward to working with the public advocate and City Council and is looking into options as we move forward.”
About 75% of the city’s 1.1 million students qualify for free lunch, which leaves roughly 350,000 kids whose parents either earn too much to qualify or did not fill out the necessary paperwork.
Many kids are embarrassed to join the free-lunch line in the cafeteria, advocates say, and some are deprived of access to the free food because their parents are undocumented and fear submitting paperwork.
Colicchio, co-founder of the Gramercy Tavern, said his mother saw the impact of free lunch firsthand when she ran a school cafeteria in Elizabeth, N.J.
When he urged her to retire about seven years ago, she told him she wasn’t ready yet because “there are a lot of kids that come to my lunchroom, and I know this is the only meal they’re getting all day long.”
clestch@nydailynews.com
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