Celebrate the First-Ever National Food Day on October 24th!

This is a guest post written by Nora Pouillon, a chef a restauranteur. Her Washington, D.C.-based eatery, Restaurant Nora, is the first certified organic restaurant in the U.S. Nora is an advisor to National Food Day.

Putting food on the pedestal it deserves has been my goal for the last 40 years. Food is my medium. I started Restaurant Nora in 1979 with the goal of sharing healthy, wholesome food with my family, friends, and customers. In doing so, I have sought to demonstrate the importance of organically grown and raised food as a means of not only nourishing our bodies and souls, but also of preserving and improving our environment.

On October, 24, Food Day will draw attention to the dire straits of our global food system and set in motion a grassroots movement to inspire individuals to make safe, sustainable, and healthy food a priority—if not the highest priority—in their lives. Which is exactly what is urgently needed.

The statistics for lifestyle-related disease in the United States alone are staggering. A remarkable 68 percent of adults are considered overweight and 30 percent are obese. One in three children is considered overweight. Some 25.8 million adults and children in America have diabetes. And 26.8 million adults have been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, which is the number-one killer in the United States. Food has a direct link to both disease prevalence and prevention, especially in tandem with other lifestyle measures. We need a national day like Food Day to bring awareness to the fact that whatever we put in our mouths—and the quality of what we put in our mouths—is of utmost importance.

In addition to its role in sustaining or degrading health, food is inextricably linked to our lives as citizens of this planet. How we grow and raise food, starting with how the environment is treated in the process, will dictate our ability to continue to sustain life on Earth. Producing safe, healthy food is the ultimate goal of our agricultural system, which also links animal and worker welfare, social issues like food access and affordability, and again, the maintenance of environmental health.

But is the current conventional agricultural system sustainable, with its detrimental impact on the environment, its use of pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics, and its lack of concern for animal welfare? To me, sustainability encompasses environmental, social, and economic viability, and means that the system as a whole can keep going, can endure. If the environmental aspect cannot endure, however, then the other two qualities of sustainability—social and economic viability—are moot points.

The way to do this is by caring about food—where it comes from, how it is prepared, and what it does to our bodies. Food Day demonstrates that we are on the right track for improvement, and that people are aware of the need to care about food and the myriad ways it intersects with our lives.

In mobilizing Food Day, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has rallied together food professionals, activists, and aficionados to support this grassroots day of awareness. As a Food Day Advisor, I cannot stress enough that food ought to play an even more significant role in our lives.

I have always said that you are what you eat. But now the world is catching up to the realization that what you eat not only has enormous impact on your overall health and the way your body and mind function, but also on the preservation of our basic requirements—air, food, water, and shelter.

CSPI puts it best: “What we are fighting for is sustainable, humane, healthy, accessible, and safe food.” Food Day’s message highlights that only through setting these goals in motion will we as a society be able to sustain our future generations.

If you would like to celebrate Food Day by joining a food campaign or starting your own, visit Change.org's Sustainable Food page.

Photo credit: Liz (persipacious.org) via Flickr