National Food Day, celebrated annually on October 24, is dedicated to healthy, affordable, and sustainable food, accessible by all. Coordinated by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Day is led by a diverse advisory board of nutrition experts, policymakers, public health advocates, and agricultural innovators.
The marquee Food Day event, the Future of Food: 2050 will be held at the United States Capitol Visitor Center, in Washington, DC. Food Day’s national conference will bring together forward-thinking experts on agriculture policy, nutrition, and sustainability to discuss the future of Americans’ diet and the food system. Speakers at the marquee event will include, Eric Meade of the Institute for Alternative Futures; Andrea Thomas, Senior VP for Sustainability at Wal-Mart; Dr. David Katz of Yale University Prevention Research Center; Catherine Badgley, professor of sustainable agriculture at University of Michigan; A.G. Kawamura, farmer and former California Secretary of Agriculture; and Danielle Nierenberg, Director of the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project The discussion will cover, what will we be eating in the year 2050? How will that food be produced? Where is the food movement going?
There are many Food Day events throughout the Denver area, the largest event to be held at Denver Botanical Gardens.. The event is sponsored by Chipotle Mexican Grill, which has been recognized for pioneering sustainable food in the “fast food” industry. In a press release, Chris Arnold, communications director at Chipotle, said, “Chipotle has an unmatched track record driving positive change in the nation's food supply and is continuously working to find better, more sustainable sources for all of the ingredients we use — sources that produce food in ways that demonstrate respect for the land, farm animals, and the people involved.” The Food Day event at the Botanical garden will feature an all day festival with an expo, free food sampling and classes. Admission is free for the Food Day event at the Botanical Gardens.
The University of Denver will join over 250 college campuses across the United States to celebrate Food Day by Celebrating Campus Sustainability Day with a composting workshop that will take place during lunch (noon) in the Nelson and Centennial Dining Halls. Altogether, an estimated 30,000 students are expected to participate in Food Day events this week. They join Americans of all walks of life who will participate in more than 2,500 events nationwide
“This growing tide of student activism may in fact be the quickest way to create a healthier food system. Colleges and universities spend $5 billion of food each year and consistently lead food industry trends,” said David Schwartz, Campaign Director for Real Food Challenge in a press release yesterday. “If students are successful in their ‘real food’ efforts, this could mean new opportunities for tens of thousands of small farms and food businesses—radically shifting the US food landscape.”
“Americans are craving changes for the better in food and food policy, and nowhere is this more obvious than at colleges and universities,” said CSPI executive director and Food Day founder Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D. “What Real Food Challenge is doing on Food Day is going to have a powerful and lasting impact on students, individual campuses, and the entire food chain.”
Comments