A four-time James Beard Foundation Award winner, he is the cofounder and chairman of Wholesome Wave, Founder and President of Wholesome Wave, Co-Founder of the James Beard Foundation Chefs Boot Camp for Policy & Change along with Chefs Action Network, as well as Founder and Partner with actor Paul Newman of the former Dressing Room Restaurant.
Nischan wrote three cookbooks during his years as a chef known for local, organic, and sustainable wellbeing: Taste Pure and Simple (Chronicle Books 2003), a 2004 James Beard Award winner, Homegrown Pure and Simple (Chronicle Books 2005), and Sustainably Delicious (Rodale Publishing 2010).
Nischan’s book Taste Pure and Simple won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2004.
Nischan won a second Beard Award in 2008 for his work on the PBS television series Victory Garden.
[4] Nischan serves on the boards of the Amazon Conservation Team, the James Beard Foundation and Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment.