We are excited to present a major new campaign that we are launching today with some of the most prominent voices for change in the food policy world.  Organized by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Day will encourage people around the country to sponsor or participate in activities that encourage Americans to “eat real” and support healthy, affordable food grown in a sustainable, humane way.

We’ve modeled Food Day on Earth Day.  It is led by honorary co-chairs Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Rosa Delauro (D-CT), and is backed by an impressive advisory board including author Michael Pollan, 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.  Food Day also has the support of a wide range of national and local organizations focused on hunger, sustainable agriculture, animal welfare, and public health.

We envision thousands of events on October 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 potluck dinner with friends featuring locally sourced ingredients, a spirited debate on a college campus, or celebrating the harvest from an urban garden.

Food Day is all about solving local communities’ food problems.  Nationally, we’ve identified five key priorities:

– 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
Can we count on you to participate in a Food Day event near you, or better yet, will you organize a Food Day event in your community?  If none of the topics above appeals to you, is there another food issue confronting your community that needs attention?  A growing network of partner organizations, advisors, and Food Day organizing staff will help putting a Food Day event on the calendar.  (In weeks we’ll have a web-based map that lets you schedule or RSVP to Food Day events with just a few clicks of a mouse).

Please email us at foodday@cspinet.org, or call us at 202-777-8392.  Food Day is just a little more than six months out.  That’s more than enough time to plan, and let’s get started together!

You can keep up with Food Day and other exciting things by ‘liking’ Food Day on Facebook, or following us at our Twitter handle (#foodday).