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SANTA BARBARA, CA (May 15, 2026) – The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts announces Sam Kass, chef, author, former White House Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition, Executive Director of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, and Partner at Acre Venture Partners, as the 12th recipient of the Julia Child Award. Bobby Stuckey, the 11th Julia Child Award recipient, shared the announcement at a private event at Godmothers in Summerland, California, during the Santa Barbara Culinary Experience. The presentation of the Award to Kass will be held at a special event this fall.
In addition to receiving the prestigious award, Kass will utilize the corresponding $50,000 grant from the Julia Child Foundation to support three different organizations: Urban Growers Collective (UGC), American Farmland Trust (AFT), and God’s Love We Deliver. Urban Growers Collective is a Chicago-based, Black- and women-led nonprofit farm that works to build economic opportunity for BIPOC urban growers and makers, mitigate food insecurity, and increase access to high-quality, affordable, culturally affirming, and nutritionally dense food on Chicago’s South and West Sides. American Farmland Trust works to protect America’s farmland, support farmers and ranchers, and promote sustainable farming practices through advocacy, research, and hands-on programs. Founded in 1985 at the height of the AIDS pandemic, God’s Love We Deliver is a nonprofit that improves the health and well-being of people living with life-altering illnesses by providing medically tailored meals, nutrition counseling, and education at no cost to those in need.
“Sam embodies Julia’s belief that food can be a powerful force for good,” said Eric W. Spivey, Chairman of The Julia Child Foundation. “Through his work across kitchens, boardrooms, government, writing, and investing, he has championed healthier, more equitable food systems while inspiring Americans to reconsider how they cook, eat, and think about food. His impact reflects Julia’s enduring legacy, carrying her influence forward into today’s world.”
For more than two decades, Kass has been a leading voice in advancing public health and the health of the planet, work for which he was selected by the independent Julia Child Award jury. As Executive Director of Let’s Move! in the Obama White House, he helped drive a national effort to improve childhood nutrition and reshape how Americans eat. During his tenure, he also served as the Obama family’s personal chef and as Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition, and worked closely with the First Lady to establish the first major vegetable garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden.
After nearly six years in the White House, Kass shifted his focus to innovation, recognizing that the next wave of change would be driven by entrepreneurs building new solutions across the food system. For more than a decade, he has been a Partner at Acre Venture Partners, where he invests in and advises early-stage companies focused on the intersection of food, agriculture, health, and climate, evaluating their ability to deliver measurable impact on both planetary and human well-being.
Kass continues to expand his influence through media and storytelling, including appearing as an on-screen expert in the upcoming documentary How to Live on Earth, produced by One Planet and expected to premiere in June 2026, exploring the role of food and agriculture in global biodiversity loss. Most recently, Kass authored The Last Supper: How to Overcome the Coming Food Crisis (Crown Publishing Group, October 2025), a sweeping examination of the systemic threats facing the global food supply. Across his work, he remains focused on building a healthier, more sustainable food system.
“I’ve long admired what The Julia Child Foundation represents, so this recognition is deeply meaningful to me,” said Kass. “Julia helped change how Americans engage with food, not just in how we cook, but in how we consider its greater impact on our quality of life and our communities. That influence continues to shape my work, and I’m proud to use this opportunity to support Urban Growers Collective, American Farmland Trust, and God’s Love We Deliver to help advance solutions that build a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable food system. I am truly humbled to receive this honor.”
As the home of Julia Child’s kitchen since 2001, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has collaborated with the Foundation since the Award’s inception in 2015 and the Foundation has been a major supporter of the Smithsonian Food History Project.
To learn more about the Foundation and its work, visit juliachildfoundation.org. To learn more about the Julia Child Award, visit juliachildaward.com.
About The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts
The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts was created by Julia in 1995 and became operational in 2004. Its mission is to honor and further Julia’s legacy, which centers on the importance of understanding the elements and origins of good food and the value of cooking. Headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, the Foundation is a non-profit that makes grants to support research in culinary history, scholarships for professional culinary training, food writing, and media as well as professional development and food literacy programs. Since becoming operational, the Foundation has made over $3.7 million in grants to other nonprofits in support of its mission. For more information, visit juliachildfoundation.org.
About Urban Growers Collective
Urban Growers Collective (UGC) Rooted in growing food, our mission is to cultivate nourishing environments which support health, economic development, healing, and creativity through urban agriculture. UGC aims to address the historic inequities and structural barriers that exist in the food system predominately in low-income communities of color. We use urban agriculture as our tool and method to create new pathways for economic stability and abundance and to produce community and cultural impacts. UGC operates 11 acres across eight urban farms and a 30-acre peri-urban site, producing over 33,000 pounds of fresh produce annually. Urban Growers Collective has a holistic approach that goes beyond farming to address structural inequities through trauma-informed job training, STEAM-based youth programming, and innovative distribution models like the Fresh Moves Mobile Market. By cultivating nourishing environments that support health, healing, and economic abundance, UGC is pioneering a more just and resilient future for tens of thousands of Chicagoans. For more information, including opportunities to volunteer or to purchase their produce, visit urbangrowerscollective.org.
About American Farmland Trust
American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms No Food® message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families. For more information, visit farmland.org.
About God’s Love We Deliver
God’s Love We Deliver prepares and home-delivers nutritious, medically tailored meals for people affected by life-altering illness. Founded in 1985 as a response to the AIDS pandemic, the agency is celebrating 40 years of nourishing New York. God’s Love now serves people living with more than 200 different diagnoses. God’s Love addresses food and nutrition insecurity, and supports the health and well-being of their clients, by providing ongoing nutrition assessment, education, and counseling, advocating for food and nutrition support, and delivering medically tailored meals. God’s Love is a non-sectarian organization serving individuals living with illness, and their children and caregivers. With a community of 20,000 volunteers, they will cook and home-deliver 4 million medically tailored meals to 15,000 individuals this year. An accredited member of the Food is Medicine Coalition, all services are free to clients and full of love. For more information, visit glwd.org. Follow God’s Love on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
About the Smithsonian Food History Project at the National Museum of American History
Through research, programs and collections, the Smithsonian Food History Project at the National Museum of American History welcomes everyone to participate in exploring the history and ongoing significance of food technologies and cultures in the United States. Visitors are able to explore this history in the foundational exhibition, “FOOD: Transforming the American Table,” anchored by Julia Child’s kitchen.
