Where Our Food

Comes From

To the Editor:

Americans are presently more disconnected from the food they eat than at any other point in history. This may be hard to believe, as the increasing measures of our waists tend to say otherwise, but it is precisely this fact that proves my point.

Meals eaten outside of the home have increased dramatically over the last six decades. The present food system is greatly concentrated; few, large-scale corporations are responsible for the majority of food on grocery shelves. And due to the rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes, this generation may be the first in American history to die at a younger age than their parents. Hearing these reasons alone should convince many that a change in our relationship with food is desperately needed.

In a time when people are extremely concerned about homeland security, it is astonishing that we do not even know how to grow our own food. Many do not even know where the food on their plates came from or how it got there. And we are not educating our children about food.

Sure, there is health class — they know what calories are and that exercise is important — but they are totally unaware of the history (and many times, quality) of the food being served to them in their school cafeteria lunch. If our children are so important to us, then why are they being sent off to school with $5 to buy pizza and french fries?

The need for healthy lunch programs, school gardens, and a curriculum more focused on food, farming, and nutrition is long overdue in Newtown schools. Many schools nationwide have already implemented such programs and they are proving to be a huge success: kids are eating more organic, fresh fruits and vegetables and are having a great time learning how to grow their own food.

Children are not the only ones who stand to benefit from these programs. If fruits and vegetables (and even dairy and meats) for school lunches are purchased from nearby organic farms, then schools are also contributing to a local farmer and supporting a good food system.

The establishment of school gardens, and more specifically a direct farm to school program, will be a challenge, but I think the need and potential benefits for such a program outweigh the hardships. Even if a salad bar containing local, fresh vegetables is made available to kids only once a week, it will be a great step in the right direction.

I hope these proposals raise awareness and cultivate initiatives to grow such a program.

Sincerely,

Kelly Collier

8 Smoke Rise Ridge, Newtown                                      April 23, 2007