Senator Carper Encourages Young Delawareans to Enter Recipe Challenge Promoting Healthy Eating

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) highlighted the upcoming April 5, 2014 deadline to enter the third annual Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids’ “State Dinner” hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Education and Epicurious Magazine.

Children between ages 8-12 and their parents or guardians are encouraged to create and submit an original lunch recipe that is both healthy and affordable. The recipes must adhere to USDA’s MyPlate guidance and represent each of the food groups, with fruits and vegetables comprising roughly half of the plate.

“Part of fighting obesity and helping Americans lead healthier lives starts with building good nutritional habits at home,” Sen. Carper said. “This is a great opportunity for our kids to see that meals can be both healthy and yummy and will, hopefully, be the beginning of healthy decision making that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.”

Each state will have one winner selected, and Delta Air Lines will fly the winning child and their parent/guardian to Washington, D.C., where they will attend a Kids’ “State Dinner” at the White House hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama.

Recipes can be submitted through April 5, 2014, online at recipechallenge.epicurious.com, or by mail to:

“The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge c/o Epicurious.com”

1166 Avenue of the Americas

15th Floor

New York, NY 10036.

Winners will be notified in May and the dinner will take place during the summer.  For more information and contest rules visit recipechallenge.epicurious.com.