The Real Food Challenge :: Making Waves Around the USA

I got involved in the Real Food Challenge's California student network after first learning about it from its co-founder, Hai Vo, a 2009 Brower Youth Award winner. I got to attend a workshop that Hai co-led at the 2009 California Student Sustainability Coalition Convergence at UC Santa Cruz.

From the Real Food Challenge Facebook page -

RFC is a nation-wide network of college students who want to see more food that is community based, fair, ecologically sound, and humane in our dining halls - food that we call "real." We are creating more student farms on our campuses, and demanding curriculum that educates about the importance of Real Food. We are working in solidarity with farmworkers and food service workers for fair working conditions and living wages. We are fighting to reduce the carbon footprint of our campus dining halls.

Here's the RFC's latest update - got this email message the other day:

The past month has been quite a whirlwind - 7 amazing Real Food events in just 3 weeks. In Montana, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, California, Massachusetts and Vermont, close to 600 young real food activists came together to learn, network, and plan campaigns that will reshape their communites' food landscape.


photo: SYFAS

Our first report is back: The Southeast Real Food Summit (aka the Southeast Youth Food Activist Summit, or SYFAS--pronounced "sigh-fess") was a big success. On a weekend with record-breaking snowfall, over 150 youth and allies made their way to UNC Chapel Hill. The big question: how do you get schools with thousands of students, spending millions of dollars on food, to invest in a truly just and sustainable food system?


photo: SYFAS

Watch your inboxes over the next week for highlights from our other events, and more about what's next for the youth food movement. For now: SYFAS!

Faithfully Yours,
The Real Food Challenge Administrative Team

p.s. Two friends from SYFAS were just in the news! Rob Jones of CROP MOB was in the New York Times. The entire University of Central Florida crew got the attention of a Florida newspaper for their hot "Honest Eats" campaign. Check 'em out!


photo: Crop Mob

From the New York Times article - The Crop Mob, a monthly word-of-mouth (and -Web) event in which landless farmers and the agricurious descend on a farm for an afternoon, has taken its traveling work party to 15 small, sustainable farms. Together, volunteers have contributed more than 2,000 person-hours, doing tasks like mulching, building greenhouses and pulling rocks out of fields.

“The more tedious the work we have, the better,” Jones said, smiling. “Because part of Crop Mob is about community and camaraderie, you find there’s nothing like picking rocks out of fields to bring people together.”

The affable, articulate Jones, 27, is part of the group’s grass-roots core, organizing events and keeping them moving. The Mob was formed during a meeting about issues facing young farmers, during which an intern declared that better relationships are built working side by side than by sitting around a table. So one day, 19 people went to Piedmont Biofarm and harvested, sorted and boxed 1,600 pounds of sweet potatoes in two and a half hours. A year later, the Crop Mob e-mail list has nearly 400 subscribers, and the farm fests now draw 40 to 50 volunteers.


For more info about the Real Food Challenge and how you can get involved in your community, go here