Young Manhasset Chef Honored After White House Invite

The Town of North Hempstead last week paid recognition to a third-grader from Manhasset whose winning recipe was picked by the White House as part of their initiative to fight childhood obesity.

Peter Murphy, 9, a student at Shelter Rock Elementary School, recently represented New York State at a White House "State Dinner" as one of the 54 winners in the nationwide contest.  First Lady Michelle Obama hosted the July 9 dinner promoting healthy lunches.

His winning submission was Super Rescue Soup, which was inspired by Superstorm Sandy.

"We are proud of you that you are doing such extraordinary things at such a young age," said Supervisor Jon Kaiman. "We'd also like to acknowledge the support, encouragement, and mentoring of your parents, teachers and all those around you has helped get you to this point."

After Sandy knocked out the power for more than two weeks, Peter said his mom Jill were unable to get food supplies from the grocery store so they went to a farm stand and picked up a variety of vegetables including green beans, zucchini and carrots.  The young chef also added barley, potatoes and onions to his recipe.  That recipe ended up topping 74 others submitted by young would-be chefs from across New York State.

Peter's White House visit featured a sample of the winning recipes and a visit to the White House Kitchen's garden.