Have you heard about Food Day 2011? No? I just found out about it too. This year, and in subsequent years, this worthy event will be held on October 24 th.
According to the Food Day 2011 website: Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes—to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. We will work with people around the country to create thousands of events in homes, schools, churches, farmers markets, city halls, and state capitals.
6 FOOD DAY PRINCIPLES
- 1. Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods
- 2. Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusiness
- 3. Expand access to food and alleviate hunger
- 4.Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms
- 5. Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids
- 6. Support fair conditions for food and farm workers
Food is something so essential that we cannot live without it. Access to safe, healthy and affordable foods should be a right of all people. Right now all across the globe, people are afraid to mention the " f " word.... famine.But... hunger doesn't just happen in other places.It happens right where you are too. Right here... in the US of A, there are working folks who this winter will have to choose between heating and eating.
There are some urban areas near me that do not have easy access to supermarkets or grocery stores. It shouldn't be easier to find a fast food restaurant than a market with fresh produce and meat.... and if you do find one, your meal should not be more expensive than a McWendyking meal. Imagine what kind of meals children in these areas eat? My sister teaches 3 grade children ,many of whom only get regular meals at school through subsidized programs (and don't get me started in the quality of that food). Jamie Oliver where are you?
Family farm lands are being sold to make way for a steady steam of developments mainly because small farmers can't afford to farm anymore. This means your food has to come from farther away. I for one don't want to eat food that has been nuked with pesticides and picked way before its ripe so that it can be trucked across the country or from 1/2 way around the globe by some huge agribusiness.We should keep our local green spaces open by supporting our regional farm businesses.
I had a wake up call after realizing that 1/2 of my cousins are no longer alive or have had heart attacks /strokes due to poor eating habits. I think it is time for me and perhaps you to start talking about our relationship to food. Our lives depend on it.
thank you for blogging about this. Marrying into a farm family and watching so many farms around me slowly fade away is a horrible thing to witness.
ReplyDeleteEating healthy and finding the items to eat healthy should not be harder or more expensive then non-healthy items.
You are most welcome Misty. I think we have gotten detached from our food somehow. I think it is time to remind ourselves and teach our children where food comes from.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Bebe! Very inspiring :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Boudica, as a farmer yourself,I know you know how important it is to support local farm businesses.I hope this is the beginning of a dialog with the nation especially the children about food.
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