Food Politics: A Real Food Challenge
I took notice when I saw the phrase real food combined with the last name of Steel. Last fall I published Real Food for Healthy Kids and so when I caught wind of the Real Food Challenge, led by someone with the surname of Steel, I was more than a little curious. Turns out I am related (through marriage) to this Steel and interestingly, his mission dovetails with one of the messages of my book and also with Epicurious' interests, that of supporting local, sustainable, humanely derived, and ecologically sound food.
The Real Food Challenge seeks to galvanize students to choose "food that is ethically produced, with fair treatment of workers, equitable relationships with farmers (locally and abroad), and humanely treated animals. It's food that is environmentally sustainable, grown without chemical pesticides, large-scale mono-cropping, or huge carbon footprints. Real Food is food that is healthy, tastes good, builds community, and has the potential to inspire broad-scale social change."
To that end, the RFC is a grassroots initiative to convince universities, which spend $4 billion on food, and high schools to allocate more of their food budget on sustainable ingredients. Currently, at least 300 schools grow produce, or participate in fair trade and farm-to-table projects.
This doesn't just apply to students. We should all seek out local and ecologically produced food. As Kitchen Gardeners International advocates, produce gardens should be popping up everywhere, from the White House and your house, to the rooftop, courtyard, or playground of every school.
By Tanya Steel
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