Citation
Mr. President, I have the great honor of presenting an individual whose life’s work has been all about eating well: Michel Nischan. Mr. Nischan is a James Beard Award-winning chef; co-founder and executive chairman of Wholesome Wave; founder and CEO of Wholesome Crave; and guest and advisor to presidents on the urgency of making healthy foods available to everyone regardless of race, age, ethnicity, income, or location.
Mr. Nischan, you developed a deep appreciation for local, organic, and sustainable agriculture from childhood, when your family cultivated a miniature backyard farm in your hometown of Evanston, Illinois. As a professional chef and advocate for a more healthful and sustainable food future, you continually built on those childhood values to catalyze change in the inefficient and wasteful local and regional food systems that kept too many unfed and undernourished. You have done so despite meeting early resistance from agricultural interests that saw little value in your quest to fill tables respectfully, equitably, and compassionately.
In 2007, you co-founded Wholesome Wave, a national nonprofit established on the belief that choosing healthy food is a fundamental right for everyone, and you were honored by the James Beard Foundation as the 2015 Humanitarian of The Year for this groundbreaking work. You also have regularly testified in both houses of Congress, and were a White House guest during the Bush, Obama, and Biden administrations. As a stakeholder member of the Biden-Harris Transition team, you were invited to participate in the White House Conference on Hunger, Health, and Nutrition.
Mr. Nischan, in 2019 you founded Wholesome Crave, a plant-based food company that devotes a percentage of gross revenue sales to support Wholesome Wave’s groundbreaking work toward meaningful systems change. Named a lifetime Ashoka Fellow in 2010, you have diligently and creatively worked to meet the demand among low-income Americans for healthy, locally grown foods with the kind of affordable pricing that makes securing these fresh, nutritious foods a daily reality.
Mr. Nischan, as a chef of the highest order you have served many an inspiring meal. And as an advocate for a healthier and more just food system, you elevate us all by serving the greatest good.
Mr. President, on behalf of the trustees, faculty, students, and staff at Clark University, it gives me great pleasure to request that the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, be conferred upon Michel Nischan.