I feel very fortunate that I was raised in a multicultural family, and it came through food.

As a chef and activist, I'm particularly concerned with food politics issues such as the farm bill.

I love Europe, but we are still struggling with that kind of development. First of all, we don't have a smart conversation about the difference between an immigrant and a refugee. A refugee can't go back. An immigrant is someone - I chose to move to America. And I also have the option of saying hey, didn't work out, I can move back. That's a completely different story than someone who is locked in.

People might not protest for overtly political or social causes, but when they can't feed themselves and their family, they will take to the streets.

In Ethiopia, food is often looked at through a strong spiritual lens, stronger than anywhere else I know. It's the focal point of weddings, births and funerals and is a daily ceremony from the preparation of the meal and the washing of hands to the sharing of meals.

But one of the things I have learned during the time I have spent in the United States is an old African American saying: Each one, teach one. I want to believe that I am here to teach one and, more, that there is one here who is meant to teach me. And if we each one teach one, we will make a difference.

For many of us, clean water is so plentiful and readily available that we rarely, if ever, pause to consider what life would be like without it.