I attended the 2009 Healthy Food Policy Forum yesterday not knowing what to expect. The event, at the American Royal, covered many subjects but the main one was changing laws in both Kansas and Missouri to take advantage of local food. As keynote speaker Marion Nestle (yes, that Marion Nestle) explained, "The Midwest, Kansas, is where the farmers are. There's opportunities to put these principles in practice more than people on the East Coast because of the land."
The 200 or so attendees were fired up to do that. They included people from the State of Kansas, tiny non-profits, organic-food-lovers, urban-gardeners and slow food proponents, among others. But the most interesting conversations were among people who weren't there as part of their jobs, but because of concern about getting more local food.
Afternoon speaker Susan Roberts of Iowa made it clear though that people
shouldn't get hung up on labels. "If I know the farmer down the road
and he says he doesn't use pesticides, I'll believe him, even though he
may not be organic... the purpose is to have healthy kids."
Roberts wasn't joking. KC Healthy Kids
was the event's sponsor, and speeches by Nestle and Ladonna Redmond focused on
reducing child obesity and increasing health. "The issues are very
simple," Nestle later told me. "We just need to eat less. Activity
alone is not enough. A mile burns like 100 calories and a soda has 275
calories... activity is a good message, but it's about eating less."
Mary Hendrickson of the University of Missouri was a vital figure in
planning the conference. She said talking about food policy might sound
boring but isn't. "There's a lot of stuff bubbling. Lots
of ideas. What's interesting is that with all the actions cities and
states take, food has never been properly planned for... so as we're
developing and thinking about policy and making laws we want to find
out where the gaps are."
Working in Kansas City's favor, Hendrickson said, is not
only land but many willing participants. When she finished her
dissertation about the Kansas City Food Circle
a decade ago, there was only 15 local farms listed in the directory.
"Now, I can't keep track of them all, there's pages.... Kansas City
really has a great understanding of what it takes to make local farming
viable and we're a beacon to the nation. People come here and think, if
this can happen in Kansas City, I can make this happen in my town."
Kansas City may be leading the nation but there's always competition
from somewhere -- like say our I-70 rival. "St. Louis is a lot better in
certain areas like local food in schools," she said. "Kansas City kicks their ass
overall but we could still improve."
Everyone left the conference ready for action. Any event that involves
healthy kids, fresh food and kicking St. Louis' ass is bound to make
people excited. The Somerset Ridge Wine also helped.
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Nice article! Just a correction -- St. Louis and Kansas City could certainly have a nice and productive rivalry in locally produced food, but as a professional, I would never say "kick their a--" -- I could agree with a reporter that Kansas City has a lot on the ball, but the quote attributed is not correct.
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