On Monday, October 24th, the SSU Slow Food Club participated in National Food Day by celebrating with local ingredients from the beautiful Sonoma State Environmental Technology Center Garden. Students, faculty, and staff came out to enjoy a lunch of creamy goat cheese polenta served with kale and chard harvested from the ETC Garden moments before being sauteed with caramelized onions and garlic.
We all gathered around an electric stove, smelling the tantalizing aromas from the wilting greens, which sparked the imaginations of our salivating taste buds, eagerly anticipating the lunch cooked by Ivan Redus, a local cook who works at Shimo in Healdsburg. Amongst the chatter between students, faculty and staff alike, there was a certain sense of solidarity, which was reflective of a nationally organized event taking shape in grassroots movements across the country. It felt empowering even on a scale as small as our event to be a part of a movement that was being cooked up across the U.S. These meals brought together Americans from a multitude of backgrounds- from students and teachers to health professionals and chefs, all who were present at our event. The premise of Food Day is to demand healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. It is a right that we all deserve, but it is one that needs to be actively pursued and fought for. As individuals, our collective diets make up the food system, so if we conscientiously ascribe to a food philosophy that we envision America adopting, we will gradually make this a reality. By making a scrumptious local and organic meal together, we are on course to eating our way to changes in America’s food system. Moreover, we signed a petition to our Members of Congress to support the Eat Real agenda of Food Day:
1. Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods
2. Support sustainable farms and limit subsidies to big agribusiness
3. Expand access to food and alleviate hunger
4. Protect the environment and animals by reforming factory farms
5. Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids
