As a kid, John Legend often experienced food insecurity.
“We had a grocery store that had fresh vegetables and fruit, but there were so many people in my community who were on food stamps and barely had enough to feed their families,” says the award-winning musician, who grew up with three siblings in Springfield, Ohio. “It’s hard to feed a significant-size family with food stamps in a healthy way.”
Misty Copeland endured the same ordeal. “Growing up, I was eating horrible, canned vegetables,” the ABT principal dancer reveals.
To help draw attention to the fact that nearly 30 million Americans don’t have access to quality, affordable fruits and vegetables, the star performers have signed on as spokespersons for Naked Juice’s annual Drink Good Do Good initiative, created in 2015 in partnership with Wholesome Wave, a national nonprofit dedicated to the cause.
“Sometimes we’re in circles where we don’t see it—we don’t see that so many of our neighbors, our brothers and sisters are suffering,” Legend says. “When you look at the numbers, that’s a huge portion of the country, and I think a lot of people don’t know that.”
In previous years, the program—whose past A-list ambassadors include Kristen Bell, Bobby Flay, Tom Colicchio, and Adrian Grenier—encouraged folks to take a selfie with a fruit or vegetable. For every photo tagged #DrinkGoodDoGood on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, Naked gave $10 to support Wholesome Wave.
“Wrapping up last year’s campaign, we asked ourselves, ‘How do we break through? How do we really make a big impact?’” says Nora Quartaro, director of communications at North America Nutrition, PepsiCo, the beverage brand’s parent company. In the end, she and her team drew inspiration from jigs that have gone viral on social media in the past, from the Harlem Shake to the Lilo—challenging Emmy Award-winning husband-and-wife choreographers Tabitha and Napoleon D’umo to reinvent the old-school “Shopping Cart” dance and create an all-new craze to help spread the word.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoNInY-Bm2X/?utm_source=ig_embed
“This year, we’re asking the consumer to do a little bit more,” Quartaro says—but for a much bigger payoff. Now through November 4, for every Shopping Cart dance video, photo or Boomerang posted and tagged #FillYourCartForGood, Naked will donate $100—the monetary equivalent of one cart of fruits and vegetables—to Wholesome Wave.
“We’re using our social media platforms to bring awareness and more quality foods to the communities that need it,” Copeland says. “To see the difference when you have the access to healthy foods in your system, what it can do to change everything about how you go about your day—it’s amazing to be a part of something where we’re really making a difference.”
Founded by James Beard Award-winning chef Michel Nischan in 2007, Wholesome Wave began by handing out wooden tokens and paper coupons at farmer’s markets to folks in need. They would use them to buy quality produce from vendors who would later receive a check from the nonprofit.
“As great as that was, most low-income families are working families, and they shop at night,” Nischan says. And with farmer’s markets only open five or six hours a day, twice a week, that amount to a very limited reach. So the organization came up with a more modern solution in the form of a MasterCard-based rewards card, which low-income shoppers can now use at participating retailers including Food Lion, Stop & Shop, Kroger, and Walmart to purchase good produce.
“The fun of the shopping cart dance and campaign is really reflective of the joy that we see when these low-income families go in and see an entire produce section where, heretofore, they cannot walk—and are able to choose whatever they want and purchase it,” Nischan enthuses.
To date, Naked has donated $3 million to Wholesome Wave, helping the group reach 300,000 underserved Americans over three years. “We’ve been able to quantify the economic impact to small farms and groceries that are all of a sudden selling more produce,” Nischan says. “There are real numbers in this, and it’s just good news all around.”
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Here, Legend—who recently completed his EGOT with an Emmy win for Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, and Copeland (who plays the role of the Ballerina Princess in the film version of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, out in theaters November 2)—reveal what you’d typically find in their shopping carts, what they enjoy cooking, and what the philanthropic campaign means to them.
What’s on your grocery list?
Copeland: I became a pescatarian almost three years ago—vegetables are such a huge part of my daily diet. Lots of vegetables—kale, carrots, Brussels sprouts—broccoli, sometimes. Roasted vegetables are definitely a go-to for me. Salmon, tilapia—and then of course, maybe some mint chip Haagen-Daaz! It’s all about balance and being able to enjoy food as well as fueling your body. Being an athlete and a dancer—what we put into our bodies is extremely important—so vital for what we do, having energy and being aware and alert.
Legend: [Chrissy and I] are mostly healthy, but we have fun too. You gotta have fun sometimes! We get a lot of vegetables—we love to make fish and shrimp and chicken, sometimes steak. It’s a big mix of things, but a lot of the time it’s get a recipe—“what are we in the mood for?”—and then get the food we need to make that recipe. I’m a good cook! I’m good at executing recipes, but I don’t make up recipes. I actually make things from Cravings, Chrissy’s cookbook, sometimes. I will literally go into my wife’s book, and I’m in it—my face is there—it’s kind of weird!
MICHAEL SIMON/STARTRAKSPHOTO.COM
How did you get into cooking?
Copeland: I moved to New York and started living on my own when I was 16 or 17. You’re not in like a dormitory—you’re just thrust into the world, and they’re like, “Okay, you’re an adult!” I started cooking at 17 or 18, and I had a Rachael Ray 30-minute meals go-to cookbook. I would literally make everything from that. There’s some good veggie chili and a lot of pastas.
I love cooking because I feel like it’s a very artistic thing, and to be able to be creative in the kitchen and enjoy it afterwards is an awesome feeling. I didn’t grow up with a lot of that—my mom never really cooked, and it was a lot of takeout and anything we could get our hands on. So it’s amazing to be able to make the choices of what it is I’m putting into my body, and then knowing how good I feel doing that. I think it’s important for every community, for every child to have that experience.
Does your husband also cook?
No! I taught him how to make two meals, and he did that for like a month—then forgot and stopped. So I’m always the one doing the cooking!
What do you cook when you want to impress your significant other?
Legend: A short rib or a nice fish—we like whole fish. Lots of garlic. We’re big garlic fans. We usually make branzino. I love roasting broccoli and making a nice salad.
How about the kids?
Legend: Luna likes veggies—pasta, pizza, chicken. It’s funny because we know it’s a blessing to be able to feed your kids anything you want to feed them. That’s why I wanted to do this—because for so many people, it’s not so simple for them. They’re really counting their dollars every time they go to the grocery store. That’s why I’m so happy about doing this—because I think when you have kids especially, you start realizing all the things you want to do for them. And you realize that certain people don’t even have the ability to do things that they would like to do for their kids. That’s why we’re doing this program.
If you could perform for or alongside anyone in the world—fact or fiction, dead or alive—who would you choose?
Copeland: Mariah Carey, Sade, Aretha…Baryshnikov!
Legend: Nina Simone! We named our daughter Luna Simone as a nod to her. I would sing and play with her—that would be cool!
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This article first appeared in www.forbes.com
Guest Author: Kristin Angelie Tablang is the lifestyle assistant editor at Forbes. A native New Yorker, she’s a proud alum of both the City’s Macaulay Honors College and Bronx High School of Science. In the past she has contributed to numerous publications, from New York Family and Four Seasons Magazine to Urbanette and ZINK. An avid shutterbug and gourmand with an insatiable wanderlust, she’d travel the world with just a fork and camera in hand if she could.
