by Fernanda Mueller
“Our food system is broken. Some people don’t have enough food, while others are eating too much.” With this sentence, Food Tank, a nonprofit organization, starts the conversation about how we produce, distribute and consume food – and how desperately we need to change it.
Founded in 2013, by the world-renowned researchers and speakers, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, Food Tank has helped to highlight innovative ideas to improve our food system, like regenerative agriculture, food access, and affordability, creating better policy and preventing food waste. Besides the active online presence, the Food Tank’s Summits have hosted hundreds of speakers to get people’s attention to the subject.
The 2019 New York Food Tank Summit
This year’s summit took place at New York University, on November 1st and 2nd. Among the speakers were leaders like James Rogers, a scientist that is mimicking nature to prevent food loss and waste – at Apeel‘s website you can learn more about how this technology works; Jyoti Stephens, representing Nature’s Path, a company that relies on regenerative and organic agriculture practices to restore soils and landscapes; Haile Thomas, a 18-year-old chef, author and activist on health, CEO of HAPPY (Healthy Active Positive Purposeful Youth); besides many journalists and writers that are doing a great work reporting about these issues and making people aware of it.
One of the highlights of the event was when Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything and editor-in-chief of Heated, took the stand to talk about the importance of food policy. After all, eating is a political act. He also talked about how many companies say they care about the environment and people’s health, when they’re not actually helping.
“Pepsi doesn’t really do anything good. Mcdonald’s says they want to do better, but they have to show up. Should these companies exist? Give me a magical wand and they are gone.” – Mark Bittman.
To learn more about the organization and become a member, access Food Tank‘s website.
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