It’s official: Real food will have its day! On October 24, 2011 join millions of Americans at the table for national Food Day and eat real in celebration of sustainable agriculture, local and regional food systems, and healthy diets.
Even though there’s been a boom in the number of farmers’ markets, local food systems, and emerging food cultures throughout the US, folks are still taking the easy way out at meal times, driving up to the fast food trough to get cheap, “convenient” nourishment. Still fueling up on salty, fatty, processed foods and high-calorie sweets, many Americans are not reaping the benefits of the wholesome foods that sustainable farmers sow and are suffering from record-high rates of food related illness and disease. The time for change is now!
The first-ever national Food Day aims to transform the American diet and inspire people to eat real. The grassroots campaign has blossomed into a movement to get healthy, affordable and sustainably produced food on every table in America. Food Day not only celebrates the good food movement, but it encourages everyone to cook real food from real farmers together. Food Day is committed to six principles:
Join the movement by participating in a few of the hundreds of Food Day events and grassroots actions being held across the nation, or coordinate your own on your campus or in your community! Visit www.foodday.org to pledge your commitment to the campaign, take action to urge your Congressmen to support the eat real agenda and to fix our broken food system, or cook up a few of the Food Day recipes for your family and friends.
HOMEGROWN.org has a ton of great resources to get involved in Food Day! Get your hands dirty in some soil or in the kitchen with our HOMEGROWN101s on planting and growing; cooking, baking, preserving; and making, building, and crafting. These handy DIY guides have projects for growers, chefs, and makers of all-levels. Host a Food Day event with other growing enthusiasts and build a hoop house for planting season extension. Open your kitchen up to fellow eaters and start canning the flavors of summer for good eating all winter long. Or, work from out handy HOMEGROWN How-To cards and make yourself some kale pesto, a self-watering container, or save the last of your tomato seeds for next year. Jar your pesto, save your seeds, and plant your rows with HOMEGROWN.org’s downloadable goodies – seed packets, canning labels, and garden sticks!
Start a conversation with others in the HOMEGROWN.org community about recipes, themes, and tips on how to get growing and cooking seasonally for your family. There are plenty of folks who have joined our groups with their own tips and tricks to live HOMEGROWN – it’s like Food Day every day!
However you celebrate Food Day on October 24th be sure to share your photos, videos, and events with us on HOMEGROWN.org. From potlucks to house parties, community fairs and gardening days, you can get involved in the movement to reconnect with food and build a sustainable system of agriculture. Together we can all join the effort to feed the nation with the bountiful harvests grown and produced on America’s small and mid-size farms, and to support the farmers that grow and raise food sustainably and humanely. In the name of food, farms and righteous eating, Happy Food Day!
