How did you celebrate Food Day?

Food Day, which was yesterday, October 24th, is a celebration spearheaded by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

It was a great success around the country. The day really spread awareness about food issues and challenges, and inspired ideas for solutions. Getting people talking about food and understanding how important it is for everyone to have access to safe, nutritious foods is, to me, the ultimate drive for success.

Food Day's goals ("6 principles") are to:

• Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods
• Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusiness
• Expand access to food and alleviate hunger
• Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms
• Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids
• Support fair conditions for food and farm workers

The idea is to transform the American diet by inspiring people who want healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. This means getting people cooking real food for their families again; having fewer people at fast food restaurants and bigger crowds at farmers markets; celebrating fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains - and supporting the farms
producing them; ensuring everyone has the option to select healthy diets and avoid diet-related health issues.

How cool is that? My town, Montclair, NJ, celebrated this day with activities at the public schools and around town such as movie screenings, apple tastings, a produce drive, and food collections for the needy. The grain and bean posters pictured here are on display at my son's elementary school; I spent a good part of the weekend making them (I'm not the most creative person so I'm rather excited about the role of my new glue gun!). I can't solve the nation's food problems, but I can help teach kids about healthy foods, so why not start in my son's school?

How about you? If you didn't know about it or didn't have time this year, start thinking about how you can make a difference in your community next year!