Former White House chef Sam Kass helped First Lady Michelle Obama create the first major vegetable garden at the White House since the 1890s.

The Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan is a long way from Washington D.C., but on Tuesday, March 15, , former White House assistant chef and a senior policy advisor for nutrition policy to First Lady Michelle Obama, will be in the neighborhood talking about food.

These days, Kass travels the country raising awareness of so-called “food deserts” — neighborhoods underserved by supermarkets or grocers — and helping their denizens eat healthier. Tuesday, he’ll bring his message to The Big Apple at a forum with Congressional candidate and former Obama official Clyde Williams and Amsterdam News food writer Kysha Harris. (Williams is running for a Congressional seat in New York’s 13th District.) At the event, called Food, Health & Wellness: A Community Conversation, Kass will speak about food policy and food security, offering tips and healthy snack recipes intended to demonstrate how to make the most of the food that’s available in the community.

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Kass recently moved to New York to live with his wife, TV correspondent Alex Wagner. He is now the senior food analyst for NBC.

Catch him in person at 4:30 on Tuesday, March 15, at the YM&WHA at 54 Nagle Avenue in Washington Heights.

Michael Kaminer is a contributing editor at the Forward.

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