Michelle Takes Healthy Eating Challenge to "Iron Chef"

NONPARTISANFrom left above: Bobby Flay, Cristeta Comerford, Alton Brown, Michelle Obama, Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse. America’s First Lady Michelle Obama doesn’t hesitate to deliver her healthy eating message in new and novel ways. Michelle will premiere the Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” on Jan. 3, with a secret ingredient all chefs must use in the competition and a major message on obesity.

In a collision of politics, cooking and popular culture, Michelle Obama will reveal the secret ingredient that the chefs must use in their televised cook-off: anything that grows in the White House garden (no further spoilers here, though). Mrs. Obama will also talk about her crusade to reduce childhood obesity through better school lunches, community gardens, farmers’ markets and exercise, which around the White House has the working title Healthy Kids Initiative.

There’s more. White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford is in the competition, paired with Bobby Flay against the team of Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse. For details, read: From Michelle Obama, a Crusade for Healthy Children via NYTimes.