QUIRK: It's Hard to Change the World, Especially as a Sweet Potato

Most people in Washington know that changing the world is hard. But it's even harder when you're a sweet potato named Claude. 

But Claude is more than just a sweet potato. Claude is a symbol. 

From celebrity chefs and mom bloggers to churchgoers and YouTube stars, ONE campaign members are mobilizing en masse around the country today — World Food Day — to raise awareness of global hunger and malnutrition. These activities are part of a new campaign from ONE that’s calling on world leaders “to make measurable commitments to reduce chronic malnutrition for 25 million kids by 2016 so they can reach their full potential.”

As part of the campaign, supporters around the globe are celebrating the sweet potato, an example of a nutritious crop that can help fight chronic malnutrition. Which is why Claude is a sweet potato and not a french fry.

Every year, malnutrition is the underlying cause of more than 2.4 million child deaths — or more than one third of all deaths of children under the age of five. Chefs Mario Batali, José Andrés, Marcus Samuelsson, Spike Mendelsohn and Hugh Acheson are among dozens of celebrated chefs who will support the campaign by shining a spotlight on the humble sweet potato in the coming months.

ONE called on the public to send a mass, highly-coordinated ‘Heat Tweet’ at 12pm EST today to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging her to put global nutrition on the international agenda. (.@StateDept #SecClinton Create a #recipe4change. Put global nutrition on the agenda. 25mm kids are counting on it)

Already, more than 150,000 people have signed the Nutrition Petition at ONE.org asking world leaders to take concrete action on behalf of the world’s chronically malnourished children.  Everyone is also invited to submit their favorite sweet potato recipes at ONE’s Recipe4Change Cookbook.

Brandon Hook is the Online Assistant at Sojourners.