Baker's Profile

Seth Bixby Daugherty

What motivates a critically acclaimed chef to step out of the limelight and into the fluorescent lights of a school cafeteria? For Chef Seth Bixby Daugherty of Eden Prairie, MN, the answer is simple: the chance to help people eat real food—food that isn't overprocessed, full of artificial ingredients, and laden with unnecessary fat and salt.

“I’m not a nutrition expert,” Seth is quick to clarify, “but I do know that real food simply tastes better and provides better nutrition than processed alternatives.” C&H Pure Cane Sugar is one of the real food ingredients that’s always in Seth’s pantry.

Seth’s passion for real food is matched by his concern for children. A father of two himself, he quit his job at an upscale Minneapolis restaurant, in 2006 to devote his energies to overhauling the Minneapolis school lunch program. He and his wife, Karen, started the Real Foods Initiative to help find cost-effective and kid-friendly substitutes for standard cafeteria fare. One happily received change: replacing deep-fried potatoes with roasted garlic-rosemary potatoes.

Now Seth is joining forces with The Great American Bake Sale to take his message to a wider audience. On March 30, Seth helped the Mall of America, in Minneapolis, host The World’s Largest Bake Sale. “I have training and skills that can be used to make a difference,” he says. “The Great American Bake Sale is a way to get real food to kids who simply don't have enough.” He also finds time to teach the next generation of chefs enrolled in the culinary programs at The Art Institutes International.

Seth shares this original bake-sale recipe for Mulberry Crunch with us to try at our own bake sales. Cable television’s Food Network, which is sponsoring The Great American Bake Sale along with C&H Sugar, offers this Snow-Flecked Brownie recipe to try. Find more recipes and learn more about Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale on the Share Our Strength website.