What is the Future of Food?
Industry leaders, poets, chefs, environmentalists, farmers, and consumers will come together to discuss and shape the answer to this question at the Future of Food Conference this Wednesday, May 4th at Georgetown University. Our own CE-Yo, Gary Hirshberg, will join leaders in food systems from around the world in a panel discussion titled The Future of International Food.
Featured speakers include The Prince of Wales, a lifelong environmentalist and organic farmer, Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation,” and Wendell Berry, winner of The National Humanities Medal.
As consumers of organic foods, we vote with our dollars every day for a sustainable future.
What are your hopes for the Future of Food?
Let us know in the comments section between today and May 9th at 9:00 a.m. and as a thank you, you’ll be entered to win one of four prizes connected to speakers at the conference. We’ll choose four winners at random to receive one of these great prizes: The Stonyfield Cookbook, Food Inc. DVD, Duchy Originals Cookbook, or Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food by Wendell Berry.
Tune in to the conference live at The Washington Post beginning at 9 a.m. EST May 4.
I eat according to my blood type but I hope that the foods that I eat are grown healthier and more organic. I am giving thought to growing my own veggies.
My hope is that people will eat less processed food, use less food packaging waste, eat more grass-fed and free-range meat, eat less total meat, consume more local organic produce, and enjoy the pleasures of home cooking with fresh ingredients shared with friends and family. We miss out if we just hit the drive through and eat in the car on our way to and from somewhere. I hope for more home gardening, more whole grains, and, of course, more organic yogurt! I hope America wakes up and realizes that much of the food she is eating is making her sick. Why can’t we be one of the fittest nations on earth instead of one of the fattest? We are a great nation with so many resources.
The future of our food is SO important as it is what fuels our bodies and keeps us living! If we don’t do anything about our food supply, then we will be consuming nothing but overly processed,genetically modified, chemical treated food. Not to mention the 43543487583 475 miles the food travelled before it enters your mouth. SUPPORT LOCAL FARMING!!! My hope for the future of our food is that people take a stand and stick to their beliefs and ways of organic farming. It’s not only better for us, but for the environment, the animals. We need to BACK AWAY from the fast food. We need more healthy restaurants and places that offer organic options. Pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs, and animal cruelty all need to be ended. The Government needs to stop acting like they are “protecting” us when really half of the things in the food industry are harming us. It is a sad thing, and something can only be done if people take a stand and educate others and their community about living a healthier lifestyle and the organic ways. I hope more and more people catch on to this movement. We need to become a healthier & safe place! OUT with the unnatural things and in with the Natural please!
I hope that the people of America truly wake up, learn, understand and get angry about what the majority is eating. Then that they take that emotion and take action by choosing to buy local, organic, sustainable, humane food- crippling the multinational chemical companies (Monsato), crippling the factory farming industry. I hope for the day that everyone, everywhere has easy access to affordable and healthy food. I hope for the day that we are one of the healthiest nations- people and environment.
I hope that there’s more consumer education and thus push-back by consumers resulting in safer foods with less chemicals and pesticides and safer packaging (ie, BPA-free cans). I wish organic foods would become mainstream, driving the price down so that even middle class families could afford them. In addition, mandatory labeling of foods that have genetically modified ingredients.
The live blogging is cool!
http://washingtonpostlive.com/conferences/food/live
I hope their is a continued movement towards homemade foods and foods made from scratch. That their would be a surge in planting home gardens and farming again! I also hope their is clearer labelling of products.
The future of food must be one of a widespread understanding that because food is a NEED and not a DESIRE, the food industry is inherently and significantly different than any other industry.
Because food is a NEED, the worldwide food industry should be set up as a not-for-profit industry supplying food as needed thru out the world. This of course is impossible at this time or any time in the near future.
The next best thing is to regulate the existing industry to push it towards producing healthy local food where possible, and to having the big producers sell exclusively to those places where food is difficult or impossible to grow in sufficient quantity and quality. Local for locals who can, the big guys shipping to those who can’t.
My hope is that affordable, local, seasonal food is the norm, and processed sugary food is frowned upon.
I hope that the future of food is sustainable and fresh. It breaks my heart to see children shoving processed foods in their mouths and their parents not thinking twice about the amount of packaging they’re wasting, preservatives that they are ingesting, and the vitamins they are not getting. Additionally, as an expectant mother, I’m constantly bombarded with literature and articles about eating fresh, healthy food. I hope that in the future, the promotion of nutritional food is not limited to pregnant women, but is pushed to all people.
We are hurting our environment by our farming practices, and in the circle of life we are harming all organisms. We pump confined animals with all the technology available. Our focus has been on money and not on what is best for the health of our Earth and all living things, people included. My hope is that enough people have the desire for change that not only will the individual have better food practices, but that public policy and large scale practices will be aiding the health of the environment and not a few people’s pocketbooks.
My hope is that food sources and processes will be disclosed so that consumers can vote with their wallets and the market can tell farmers that people want healthy, wholesome foods that are grown/raised with humane, sustainable, organic methods. My biggest hope is that doctors and research can come together to defeat the secrecy of the food industry so that we can TRULY address what is going on with health and obesity in this country (and that we’re exporting to the rest of the world). You shouldn’t have to be rich to be healthy in this country.
I hope that the future of food includes less processing, less chemicals and non- GMO ingredients.
I hope for homegrown, homemade food. I hope people get to know the men and women who grow lettuce for their salads and bake bread for delicious sandwiches and raise livestock. I hope for an end to inane subsidies and high-fructose corn syrup. I hope all people in New Jersey take the time to grow (and enjoy)tomatoes, even if only on their fire escapes.
I hope that one day we all will realize the importance of the small farmer and respect both the earth and those that cultivate it. Food should be natural, sustainable, and delicious…all of which can be accomplished by using organic methods, taking care of the incredible nature that we have been entrusted with, and supporting small, local farms! Sadly, many consumers do not realize the dire importance of agricultural sustainability or understand why we should avoid chemicals both in the field and in the food itself. Conferences like this are awesome for bringing publicity to the “slow food” movement!!!
My hope is for food that doesn’t sicken/poison/harm us and other organisms.
My hope for the future of food is that people/manufacturers go back to basics and seek out less processed ingredients and non-factory farmed animal products.
I hope that food goes back to basics too with as few ingredients listed in the nutrition label with all words that even a child could understand!
My hope that food comes back around full circle and people start eating it more in it’s natural God-given shape and taste.
I hope that the school systems can find a way to serve more nutrient rich, less processed foods and that eating local becomes mainstream. I would also like for companies to develop packaging that uses less plastic & less waste. More reusable containers like glass and bulk products would be a great idea.
My hopes for the future of food are:
1) organic food is mainstream and chemically treated foods are forbidden
2) healthy foods are readily available and affordable for all Americans
3) children are taught the joy of cooking and eating healthy foods
My hope is for the continued growth of Farm-to-Table programs in our schools that teach kids where their food comes from, how to garden responsibly, and how to prepare (and try!) healthy meals.
My hope is that junk food will become obsolete when people see what it is doing to their bodies and eschew all of it. I hope that future generations will have readily available and affordable healthy food sources.
I hope to see a day when we can alleviate hunger by providing sustainable, natural food production, without the use of GMO crops. My dream includes solving domestic issues like food deserts, as well as tackling global hunger issues.
I really hope in the future that having healthy foods in our every day diet comes natural to everyone! I feel that society makes it seem so difficult and impossible for this to happen. Eating foods such as fruits, veggies, whole grains, fiber, and proteins should be a way of life and not a task to conquer
My hope for the future of food is that it’s healthy, sustainable and fair trade
My hopes for the future of food is that our government, corporations, markets, advertisers, etc. realize how important it is to provide the people with healthy, natural foods. To realize that it’s morally wrong to make a buck off of making people unhealthy and sick. We’ve been placed into a food coma that has shielded us from the truth of what we are really eating. There was a time when food was food, plain, simple and natural. Now, that is not true, so education of what really is sold and eaten in this country and elsewhere needs to be a priority.