happy food day!

Food Day is a national movement to encourage people to improve their diets as well as to promote food policies to make healthy eating realistic for all. Awesome!

Food justice is one of the themes for Food Day 2014. I think this is an especially important issue to bring to people’s attention and Food Day is certainly a wonderful way to do it. In America, food justice is particularly lacking. Servers in restaurants still make a base pay of $2.13/hour, farm workers are paid less than minimum wage often in poor conditions and there are still 49 million Americans living in food insecure households.

This graphic of a tomato from Bon Apetit/Food Day shows one aspect of inequitable our system is. Farm workers get paid only 1-2 cents per pound for tomatoes that cost us $2.00 at the grocery store. Where is the rest of the money going?

unsublime tomatos from https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/foodday/pages/24/attachments/original/1407159732/14-4621TableMini-Tomatoes3.jpg?1407159732

Take a second to also look at the graphic from the Food Chain Workers Alliance which provides a great illustration of everyone involved in our food system. According to their survey, over 86% of workers in the food system are paid less than minimum wage.

from: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/foodday/pages/9074/attachments/original/1409952225/Behind_Food.jpg?1409952225

Food Day is so great because it teaches us about important food issues and empowers us to do something about it.

So what can we do to improve food justice?
• Take the time to learn where your food comes from and choose to buy foods that were produced by workers who were treated well. Most of us grew up thinking cheap food is the best food and it’s hard to get out of this mindset. But when you think about it, it is unjust that the people providing your food aren’t getting paid enough to eat well themselves.

• Eat local foods when you can. While local foods don’t automatically equate with livable wages, you have the opportunity to talk to the farmers about their practices and how they treat their workers. This will help you make a more informed decision about your food purchases.

• Speak up and write letters or make phone calls to your local government to raise the minimum wage for all workers.

• Volunteer at a food bank or donate money to a local food charity that you believe in. Do what you can to help others eat well.

What are your plans for Food Day or ideas to promote food justice? I’d love to hear them. If you need some inspiration, check out local Food Day events in your area at http://www.foodday.org/events