CSPI launching new Food Day observance in the fall
April 05, 2011 | 05:33 PM
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is launching a Food Day on October 24 that will be modeled after Earth Day, it announced today.
Michael Jacobsen, executive director of CSPI, said the honorary co-chairs will be Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and that its advisory board will include author Michael Pollen, physicians David Satcher and Michael Roizen, professors Walter Willett, Kelly Brownell, and Marion Nestle, and prominent chefs such as Alice Waters, Dan Barber, and Nora Pouillon.
“We’re launching what we hope will become an annual event that is both a celebration of real, healthy food and a powerful, grassroots movement for change,” Jacobsen said in an email to potential sponsors of events which was obtained by The Hagstrom Report.
“We envision thousands of events on Oct. 24, 2011, from coast to coast, ranging from small events in homes and classrooms, to large rallies in public parks, and hearings in city councils and state legislatures. A Food Day event could be as simple as a vegetable-recognition contest in a kindergarten, a pot-luck dinner with friends featuring locally sourced ingredients, a spirited debate on a college campus, or celebrating the harvest from an urban garden you start this spring,” he added.
Jacobsen, who has long campaigned for healthier food and been a thorn in the side of conventional agriculture, lists these priorities for Food Day:
Food Day website
Michael Jacobsen, executive director of CSPI, said the honorary co-chairs will be Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and that its advisory board will include author Michael Pollen, physicians David Satcher and Michael Roizen, professors Walter Willett, Kelly Brownell, and Marion Nestle, and prominent chefs such as Alice Waters, Dan Barber, and Nora Pouillon.
“We’re launching what we hope will become an annual event that is both a celebration of real, healthy food and a powerful, grassroots movement for change,” Jacobsen said in an email to potential sponsors of events which was obtained by The Hagstrom Report.
“We envision thousands of events on Oct. 24, 2011, from coast to coast, ranging from small events in homes and classrooms, to large rallies in public parks, and hearings in city councils and state legislatures. A Food Day event could be as simple as a vegetable-recognition contest in a kindergarten, a pot-luck dinner with friends featuring locally sourced ingredients, a spirited debate on a college campus, or celebrating the harvest from an urban garden you start this spring,” he added.
Jacobsen, who has long campaigned for healthier food and been a thorn in the side of conventional agriculture, lists these priorities for Food Day:
- Reducing diet-related disease by promoting healthy foods
- Supporting sustainable farms and cutting subsidies to agribusiness
- Expanding access to food and alleviating hunger
- Reforming factory farms to protect animals and the environment
- Curbing junk-food marketing to kids
Food Day website
