Civil Eats

This past weekend over 600 policy wonks, city officials, public health advocates, food policy council members, good food advocates, community gardeners, and other interested parties gathered in Portland for the first-ever national conference on local and state food policy, hosted by the Community Food Security Coalition. The goal of the gathering was “to create a space for policy makers and advocates to share their experiences in organizing for and implementing food policy,” via an array of workshops, plenaries and networking sessions.

As I’m committed to sharing ways in which we can all continue to work towards a major paradigm shift in our social, cultural and democratic structures as they relate to our food system, I would like to offer the following notes. Read More

Despite the efforts of many communities that are working hard to support local agriculture and improve nutrition standards, the majority of the food consumed in the USA is still highly processed, unhealthy and unsustainable. Mark Winne, the co-founder of Connecticut Food Policy Council, End Hunger Connecticut!, and the National Community Food Security Coalition and author of the recently published Food Rebels, Guerrilla Gardeners and Smart-Cookin’ Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture talks about the myths of Big Agribusiness, the possible casualty of American democracy and how Food Citizenship can reclaim our dilapidated food system. Read More

Organizations and activists across the country are calling for America to celebrate their Food Independence by making the choice to support local farmers by eating locally grown. Our choices as consumers have the potential to revitalize rural America and restock the produce aisle in every neighborhood grocery store with foods that meet our culinary and cultural desires. The freedom to have a variety of choices available to us must also be celebrated and protected. The democratic process helps many of our country’s residents define and protect their freedom of choice at the dinner table. But democracy has been a relatively forgotten opportunity and as one county in Colorado is discovering, the path that will redefine our role as eaters in our food and farm industry is clouded by a global agricultural industry that is marketing our choices right out of the marketplace. Read More