“It’s Time to Eat Real” is the message for Food Day, October 24, 2012, a nationwide celebration and movement toward more healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Brookline is packed with events to celebrate the day.
Food Day, a project of the Center for the Science in the Public Interest, has five priorities: Promote safer, healthier diets; support sustainable and organic farms; reduce hunger; reform factory farms to protect the environment and animals; support fair working conditions for food and farm workers. This is the second year Food Day has been celebrated nationally.
“Secrets of the Vegetable Mom” a talk by Sue Levy, Brookline parent and owner of Savory Living, is one of many ways Brookline will celebrate on Wednesday, October 24, 2012. Attendees will learn easy ways to crowd nutrient rich foods into their kids’ meals as well as how to avoid common food traps. To reach a wide audience, this one-hour talk will take place at 4pm and be repeated at 7pm, Hunneman Hall, Brookline Main Library, 361Washington Street, Brookline Village.
The Brookline schools’ Food Services Department will honor the day by serving vegetarian chili at the public schools. Children visiting the Brookline Main Library after school on that Wednesday can participate in special art activities and will be able to choose from an array of food-related books chosen by the librarians.
Local nutritionist, Judy Mabel, will speak at the Brookline Senior Center, 93 Winchester Street at 1:00 PM on October 24th. Her talk, “Healthy Food for Boomers and Seniors,” explains how to avoid prepared foods and takeout when food shopping, by learning to prepare quick, healthy meals.
Brookline also will celebrate Food Day at Town Hall with a free cider tasting from Noon to 3pm, Brookline’s Allandale Farm will sell apples and cider. Climate Action Brookline (CAB) will demonstrate how what you eat affects your carbon food print. Copies of the “Healthy Eating Plate,” a clear, easy-to-follow visual food guide created by the Harvard School of Public Health, will be available.
To get Brookline residents to embrace the spirit of the day, The Brookline Department of Public Health will have their list of “Ten Things to do for Food Day” on hand at Town Hal, among them a suggestion that residents shop at the final Brookline Farmers’ Market the next day, Thursday, October 25, and purchase root vegetables which can be donated to the Brookline Food Pantry.
The Brookline Department of Public Health will showcase its own garden when the staff works with children from St. Mary’s School to plant fall bulbs that day. The Recreation Department will take its after-school program to the community gardens at Larz Anderson to learn about the composting process.
Contact:
Lynne Karsten, Director of Community Health, 617-730-2336, lkarsten@brooklinema.gov
