Andre Rush was born September 7, 1974 in Columbus, Mississippi. Andre's older brother died of lung cancer in 2016 and he has been an outspoken advocate for cancer screening ever since. Little else is publicly known about Andre's family. There are rumors abounding about marriages and divorces; but, I found nothing in the usual 'source document' arenas.
He played running back for Lee High School's football team. He earned a bachelor's degree in Business Management from Trident University International. He also earned an associate degree in Hotel Restaurant Management from Central Texas College and an associates degree in Hotel Restaurant Management from Central Texas. He is certified in Household/Estate Management from Starkey International; completed the Sommelier Course from Denver Colorado; and holds CCNA, ACF, and Ice Carver certificates. Besides culinary and fitness, Andre invests his time in ice carving, motivational speaking, and life coaching.
Andre joined the US Army in 1993 and served as a trainer in hand-to-hand combat as well as food service. Over his Army career, he has been stationed at Fort Steward, Fort Campbell, and Fort Bragg. In 1997, he was assigned to be a chef at The White House serving Presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump's 1st term. Andre was at the gym of the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 and volunteered for combat duties afterwards. Andre was also a member of the US Army Culinary Arts Team winning 150 medals and trophies.
In 2018, Andre was photographed preparing a Ramadan meal for a White House dinner. There is also a photo of him cooking the White House Iftar dinner at the White House which went viral on Twitter (now X).
Later in 2018, he resigned as White House chef to product a TV show called Chef in the City. In 2020 he received a celebration of service award from the Salvation Army in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 2023, he starred in Kitchen Commando (produced by Gordon Ramsay for Tubi). In 2024, he appeared in Culinary Class Wars (a Netflix South Korean cooking challenge show). He also appeared on the MBC variety show If You Rest Well, That's Good.
Andre is known for his physique, notably the 24-inch arms. Andre says he does 2,222 pushups daily as part of the 22 pushup challenge to bring awareness of the 22 Veterans who die each day by suicide. He is a supporter of the flex4forces USO campaign. Andre consumes up to 10,000 calories per day over 8 meals as published in 2021 in Men's Health. Andre states he has never consumed anabolic-androgenic steroids.
In Episode 4 of the Real Food Show, Secretary Kennedy and Chef Andre Rush make a healthy fast food favorite, Healthy Crunch Wrap along with a Chocolate Pistachio Banana "Nice" Cream for dessert. The video below is divided into 16 chapters (timestamp is included so you can go straight to that chapter in the video for more clarification).
0:00 - Chapter 1 - Intro
Chef begins by showing his Gurkha knife, gifted to him when he was in Iraq & Afghanistan when he trained with the Gurkha Nepalese. He explained that he starts his show by 'putting his knife down' (he then demonstrates what he means) and the Secretary states he's glad he didn't have his hand in the way. The Secretary mentioned Chef's YouTube Channel and then asks about push-ups.
1:29 - Chapter 2 - Push-ups for a Cause
As noted in the bio above, Chef states that he does 2,222 pushups everyday to raise awareness for Veteran mental health, suicide awareness, and also for kids who are being bullied.
1:51 - Chapter 3 - Fast Food Made Healthy
Make a healthy crunch wrap, a popular fast food. The Secretary points out that the fast food version hijacks your brain because of all the chemicals it contains making it not actually good for you. They discuss the per-portion price for the Crunch Wrap and banana dessert they will be making today. However, as noted below, I will not be addressing the price per serving here for a variety of reasons.
2:30 - Chapter 4 - Chef Rush's Knife Collection
The Secretary asks about Chef's knife collection on the wall behind them which includes daggers and throwing knives. While there may or may not be a use for them in the kitchen, Chef loves knives and his collection comes from all over the world with a lot of them are custom made from Japan. His favorite, which he used at the beginning of the episode, is called a Gurkha [a traditional Nepalese heavy-bladed, single-edged knife featuring a distinct inward curve.]
3:38 - Chapter 5 - Mise En Place [have everything ready in place that you need for the recipe]
For today's wrap, you would have ready turkey (or chicken or beef), brown rice, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, seasonings, and the rest of the ingredients. Chef states it is best to make your own seasonings, they taste better and you know what is in them.
5:11 - Chapter 6 - The Fitness Mindset
Chef asks the Secretary about working out and the Secretary responds that he lifts weights for 35-40 minutes and then he does about 15-20 minutes of cardio after, mentioning that he has done the weight/cardio routine since he played sports in college. Chef explained that he does a lot of push-ups because he is not home very often so he rarely gets to a gym. Chef says it's a mindset with 90% being what you put in your body that helps with fitness.
6:30 - Chapter 7 - Seasoning the Meat
Chef explains that you can premix your seasonings or simply add them individually to your cooking meat. He uses sea salt instead of iodized salt. Chef mentioned that there are a lot of salts available now to choose from that are not iodized. The Secretary asked Chef how he learned to cook and Chef responded that his mom taught him but that got tossed when he went into the Army because Army cooking was very different from home cooking.
7:36 - Chapter 8 - Real Food for Our Troops
The Secretary brought up Chef Robert Irvine and the work the Secretary is doing with Chef Irvine in revising the way our military eats (click here for the 1m33s video of the Secretary's visit to Fort Drum with Chef Irvine). The Secretary pointed out that Chef Irvine already had the plan ready and when the Secretary came along, the floodgates opened and the troops love the new food program (in the past the military bought food for its shelf life and Chef Irvine switched them to fresh foods). Chef mentioned his own work with Sodexo while he was in the military. Now he uses social media to reach many more people, especially children, encouraging them with ways to eat healthier. Chef is a proponent of eliminating fast food in favor of healthy foods.
9:53 - Chapter 9 - Kids in the Kitchen
The Secretary mentioned his 7 children and how 2 of them, both boys, love cooking. He sees food as a spiritual exercise where families come together. Chef says he comes from the hospitality state. They had to eat at the table with the whole family and they also had to pray together. Chef's own philosophy is service - treat everyone the same with respect and good service, this way your own standards never waiver. Chef mentioned finding a high-fiber wrap to make today's meal (many store-bought tortillas contain dough conditioners, gums, and preservatives - look for an ingredient list that is short, simple, and has ingredients you recognize).
12:30 - Chapter 10 - The Secretary's Favorite Meal
Chef asked the Secretary about what he cooks and the Secretary responded he does eggs all kinds of ways: scrambled (with cheese), omelets, sunny side up, eggs Benedict. He also loves steak. Chef said he eats between 12 and 24 eggs every morning and thinks breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The Secretary shared he eats about 5 eggs a day (but more when he was younger). Then they moved on to making the salsa for which the Secretary declined chopping the onions. Chef says don't try to go fast, speed comes with practice.
14:50 - Chapter 11 - The GRAS [Generally Recognized As Safe] Loophole
In 1948, the FDA decided they would not make companies do safety tests on commonly used ingredients, like vinegars, oils, salts, yeasts, and other items that had been being used by the food industry for years. The food industry capitalized on the GRAS program and now everything they use, even if laboratory-created, is placed in the GRAS loophole. It's why we have 10,000 ingredients in our foods whereas Europeans have about 400 ingredients in theirs. Many of the ingredients used were created in a lab (they are substances that do not occur in nature) and our bodies do not know how to digest them causing inflammation, chronic disease, and other issues. HHS is working to close that loophole which will force companies to disclose exactly what they are putting in the "food" they sell.
16:34 - Chapter 12 - Making Fresh Salsa
Start by rolling your lime using pressure to soften it before slicing and squeezing and you will get more juice out of it. Make the fresh salsa. Chef asked the Secretary which has more potassium, avocado or banana? The Secretary said avocado and Chef told him he is correct and mentioned that avocado also contains healthy fats as well.
17:57 - Chapter 13 - Assembling the Wrap
Use a dry skillet, place your wrap in the pan, then begin adding your ingredients: rice, cooked turkey, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, salsa, avocado, yogurt on 1/2 of the wrap, then fold the other half over and remove from pan. Slice into servings and eat!
19:20 - Chapter 14 - The Crunch BITE
This wrap has a whopping 32 grams of protein in it and tastes fantastic (according to the Secretary).
19:33 - Chapter 15 - A MAHA Dessert!?
Make sure you freeze your banana before making this dessert (the B6 and potassium are not cold sensitive so they survive the freezing process)! You will need a blender Chef used a Nutribullet). Many people do not know that cocoa nibs are slow roasted cacao (the slow roasting keeps the integrity of the cacao especially the fiber). Combine the banana, vanilla, unsweetened cocoa, and yogurt. Blend. Scoop into a serving bowl, top with pistachios and chocolate nibs. There is no sugar in this healthy, easy, quick dessert. So, instead of ice cream, using fresh frozen banana makes a great ice cream style dessert without all the sugar and adding 4-5 grams of protein to the whole meal.
22:26 - Chapter 16 - That's a WRAP!
The Secretary thanked Chef for being in this episode of The Real Food Show.
Optional: lime wedges and fresh cilantro for serving
Directions:
Cook the meat. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground turkey and cook, breaking it into crumbles, until browned and fully cooked, about 6–8 minutes.
Stir in the taco seasoning, cumin, dehydrated onions, onion powder, chili powder, garlic powder, and a small pinch of salt and pepper. If the meat seems dry, add 1–2 tablespoons of water and cook for another minute.
Warm the tortillas for about 15–20 seconds briefly in a dry skillet. This makes them much easier to fold without tearing.
Divide the brown rice, seasoned meat, black beans, salsa, Greek yogurt, tomato, lettuce, and avocado among the tortillas. Don't overfill them—you need enough tortilla around the edges to close the wrap.
Fold the edges of each tortilla toward the center, working your way around until you have a closed, roughly circular wrap.
Place each wrap seam-side down in a dry skillet over medium heat. Cook for 1 minute, then flip and cook another 1-2 minutes, until golden and crisp.
Slice in half and serve warm with extra salsa, Greek yogurt, or lime on the side and enjoy.
Salsa (shown in the video but not included as a separate recipe on the website)
Ingredients:
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tbs chopped cilantro
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 tbs chopped jalapeno
Directions:
Combine all ingredients, set aside
Chocolate Pistachio Banana "Nice" Cream
Ingredients:
4 ripe bananas, sliced and frozen
½ cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
2–4 tablespoons milk of choice, only as needed if too thick while blending
2 tablespoons chopped pistachios, plus extra for serving
2 tablespoons cacao nibs or finely chopped dark chocolate
Directions:
Freeze the bananas the night before. Freeze four bananas for at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight.
Peel and place the frozen bananas to sit on a plate at room temperature for about 3–5 minutes before blending. This makes them easier on the blender or food processor.
Add the frozen bananas, cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, and Greek yogurt, to a food processor or high-powered blender.
Blend until thick and creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Add 1 tablespoon of milk, only if needed to get the mixture moving. Too much milk will turn the nice cream into a smoothie.
Fold in about half of the chopped pistachios and cacao nibs.
For soft-serve texture, serve immediately. For a firmer, scoopable texture, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze for about 30–60 minutes.
Scoop into four bowls and finish with the remaining pistachios and cacao nibs and enjoy.
While this episode provides a price per serving, your price per serving will depend upon many factors, such as do you have all of the ingredients on hand (especially the spices) or will you need to buy a jar from which you will use the amount identified in the recipe; in what area of the country you live; availability of the ingredients at the store in which you shop (you might have to substitute something at a different price); whether you buy organic, what's cheapest to buy, or a favorite brand, etc. So, I will not attempt to give a price per serving based on where I live, and what ingredients I choose to buy, because it is more expensive here than other places around the country (but NOT more expensive than New York City or anywhere along the west coast!) and not everyone will buy the brands I personally buy.
Those are some of the exact words used by Google’s censors, aka 'Orwellian content police,' in describing many of our controversial stories. Stories later proven to be truthful and light years ahead of the mainstream media. But because we reported those 'inconvenient truths' they're trying to bankrupt ANP.
