Photographs by William Taufic.
I was raised in Illinois but spent my summers on what was left of my grandfather’s farm in Missouri,” says Michel Nischan, who now resides in Fairfield. “On my mom’s side, cooking was a life skill. Pre-World War II, half of Americans were farmers. They grew, sold and prepared their own food.”
By age twelve, from roasting chickens to curing meats, Michel knew his way around a kitchen “blindfolded.” When he was a struggling musician, his mom suggested he get a job in a restaurant. Michel started at a truck stop in 1978 and was the chef at a French restaurant by 1981. “I started noticing problems with produce—perfectly round red tomatoes that didn’t taste like tomatoes, wilting greens,” he says. “I decided to buy directly from farmers, but I couldn’t find any!”
Michel vowed to work with farmers and advocate for a healthier, sustainable food system. Since then he created the celebrated Heartbeat restaurant in New York and cofounded the Dressing Room in Westport with the late Paul Newman. He penned several books, appeared as resident chef on the PBS show The Victory Garden, and received three James Beard Foundation awards.
While at Heartbeat, which Michel conceptualized shortly after his son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, not only did he shun ingredients like sugar and butter, he also fought to source local ingredients. At the Dressing Room, he didn’t have to fight. “Paul and I agreed on everything,” says Michel. “We had the same core values.”
In 2007, he founded Wholesome Wave, a nonprofit with a vision of “affordable, healthy, local food for all.” Michel explains, “When I did Heartbeat, I was invited to a lot of think tanks and conferences. I learned about type 2 diabetes: that it could be prevented through food, that late-stage issues could be mitigated through food. I thought, ‘Wow, I can change the world through food.’ I also learned half these people couldn’t afford healthy food.
“Our mission is to allow low-income consumers to make healthy food choices by increasing affordability.” Wholesome Wave’s National Nutrition Incentive Network enables shoppers to double the value of food stamps at farmers’ markets. A $3.77 million grant from the USDA this spring, which Wholesome Wave matched along with its partners, is facilitating access to produce to over 110,000 low-income consumers. In turn, the program benefits 3,400 small and midsize farms. The Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program helps families use healthy food to battle diet-related diseases. “The government should invest in food on the front end, rather than medication on the back end,” says Michel. His team influenced the recent Federal Farm Bill, and their research has demonstrated that low-income consumers value healthy food as much as a Whole Foods shopper. “We’ve debunked a lot of the garbage rhetoric out there,” he says.
Michel is also the cofounder of the Chef Action Network, a group of chefs using culinary clout to change food and agriculture policy. Chef Tom Colicchio, one of its members, says, “When I think of Michel, I think of someone who is full of life, with a big smile on his face … thoughtful, passionate … he just gets things done.” »