Mario Batali Goes on Food Stamps

Mario Batali isn't generally associated with austerity. The celebrity chef owns more than 10 acclaimed Italian restaurants across the country and a sprawling temple to food, Eataly market, in New York City. His belly alone attests to how much he loves chowing down.

This week, Batali isn't living quite so high on the hog. He, his wife, and their two teenage sons are participating in a challenge issued by the Food Bank of New York City to survive on what a family or of four on food stamps needs to manage with. That comes out to about $31 per person for the week, or less than $1.50 per meal each.

It's become common for people to try to eat food raised within 50 or 100 miles. Last year, Shine interviewed a family who had gone a whole year without buying conventional groceries or dining in a restaurant. But Batali makes clear this is no foodie experiment. "We, hopefully, aren't pretending or being like a bunch of yuppies saying, 'Oh yeah, this is how you can do it. Look, we can grind our own oats!' he told Fox News. "We want people to think about calling and talking to their representation about cuts to the Farm Bill and the food stamp program."

Batali says the $35.8 billion cuts would cripple the food stamp and other supplemental programs. The Food Bank calls the program a "lifeline" for nearly 2 million New Yorkers.

One of the first things Batali realized was that pesticide-free, antibiotic-free, and hormone-free food was not an option. "The organic word slides out and saves you about 50 percent," he says. Not so easy for a gourmand who once rhapsodized, "You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook's year. I get more excited by that than anything else."

So, what is the family eating? Beans and rice for lunch every day and lentil stew for dinner. For meat, he purchased a cheap pork shoulder and coaxed it into two meals. As for his sons, "They're having more peanut butter and jelly than they've had in the last 10 years because bread is inexpensive and peanut butter and jelly, if you buy it at the right place at the right time, is cheap."

The chef says he plans on doing the challenge a few times every year. "Are we Darwinists - where we live and let live? Or are we nurturing as a society?" he told ABC News. "There has to be a standard of living that we [nationally] decide to support."

For more information on cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), click here.