A parade through the neighborhood became the hearty appetizer on a nourishing menu of food−related issues — from school lunches and obesity to public policy and sustainable farming — when the “the good food movement” gained meaty momentum at John Jay High School with the Brooklyn Food Conference.
The New Orleans−style march, complete with brass bands and a puppet processional, headed for the Park Slope school, 237 Seventh Avenue, for the inaugural unification, empowerment and discovery forum which drew an estimated 3,000 visitors and volunteers who pressed flesh with, among others, farmers and sociologists, labor leaders and school kids, chefs and vegans, and participated in more than 60 workshops to learn about how to achieve, maintain and multiply a lifestyle of personal, economic and social well−being by making sound choices about what food they eat, how and where its grown, and what happens to it before — and after — it reaches their plate.
The eclectic group discussed everything from breast feeding to the importance of Fair Trade chocolate, and viewed screenings of food−related documentaries, including “Life & Debt” and “Super Size Me,” while being empowered through food demonstrations and a fair for kids about how best to nourish themselves, their families and their communities.
Keynote speakers included Dan Barber, executive chef and co−owner of Blue Hill Restaurant at Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate; LaDonna Redmond, head of Chicago’s Institute of Community Resource Development; and authors Anna Lappe, “Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen,” and Raj Patel, “Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System.”
