It’s Food Day today. You can officially say that you were around for the very first Food Day. I figured you might have some questions about this new concept so here’s the lowdown.
What might you ask is “Food Day”?
It is a nationwide campaign sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), which is a nonprofit group that has led successful campaigns for food labeling, better nutrition, and safer food. Like CSPI, Food Day does not accept funding from government or corporations.
Okay good. But what is the point of Food Day?
I went to foa.org and loved the mission statement that I found there.
Food Day’s goal is nothing less than to transform the American diet—to inspire a broad movement involving people from every corner of our land who want healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. In other words, we want America to eat real. We want to get Americans cooking real food for their families again. We want fewer people at drive-throughs and bigger crowds at farmers markets. We want to celebrate fresh fruits, vegetables, and healthy whole grains—and to support the local farms and farmers that produce them. We want all Americans—regardless of their age or income or geographic location—to be able to select healthy diets and avoid obesity, heart disease, and other diet-related conditions.
So can you tell me what the driving principles are?
Food Day 2011 has five key priorities:
- Promote healthier foods so fewer people get diet related diseases
- Support sustainable farms and stop subsidizing agribusiness
- Expand access to food so people aren’t hungry
- Reform factory farms to protect animals and the environment
- Curb junk-food marketing to kids
I like it. But what does it have to do with me?
People who care about our food supply are coming together throughout the country at Food Day events. People like author Michael Pollan to chef Dan Barber to academics like Kelly Brownell to me are attending or creating Food Day events. It’s a real grassroots initiative.
I just heard about this today. How can I participate?
There are lots of options:
- Go to foa.org, click on your location on the map and see what Food Day events are happening.
- Cook a healthy, whole foods dinner with your family and talk about any concerns you have about food supply issues. Foodday.org has plenty of resources to get you thinking.
- Host a spontaneous potluck with some friends and neighbors and eat some healthy food together.
- Donate some nutritious food items to your local food bank.
- Visit your local farmers market.
- Share a yummy healthy recipe with a friend.
- Take 5 minutes to think about how you can incorporate some local, sustainable food choices into your diet.
Our family is going to cook a hearty soup for dinner and we’re going to chat about where the ingredients came from and the people who made our dinner possible.
Let me know what you do for Food Day. And have a great one!
