Being passionate about a cause

Just as Jen Maiser, Jessica Prentice, Sage Van Wing, and DeDe Sampson have a passion for a locavore lifestyle that considers their food choices in terms of their political, environmental, economic, and health impacts, there are plenty of amazing people who are leading changes in food policies, both domestically and globally, due to their passions around various causes.

I don't pretend to have a complete grasp of all the food issues that exist.  And truth be told, I probably do not have a well founded point-of-view on many of the more complex food policy issues.  But becoming better informed and more aware of the impact my choices have is part of this journey I've embarked on.  Part of this education, I believe, is in learning from the lead of others.

Along those lines, last week the New York Times highlighted "Young leaders who are changing the way we eat (and drink)."   I found most of these stories to be inspiring and provacative, and while I know there are more people out there like them, I figured I'd start by introducing this group and their causes to you:

• Severine von Tscharner Fleming - food policy and farming advocate & film documentarian who is highlighting organic entrepreneurs under the age of 40 in her film The Greenhorns;
• Anna Lappe' & Bryant Terry - Co-authors of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. Anna is also a public speaker talking about the connections between the food system and climate change, while Bryant is a policy fellow who is also writing a book called Vegan Soul Kitchen to reframe African-American cuisine;
• Cruz Salucio, Romeo Ramirez, Silvia Perez, Geraldo Reyes & Leonel Perez - Florida farmworker advocates leading the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to help Latino, Haitian and Mayan Indian workers negotiate a 'sustainable wage' with Fortune 500 corporate customers;
• Scott Harrison - founder of Charity Water, a nonprofit that creates projects to bring clean, safe drinking water to the world's poorest peoples in Asia, Africa and Central America;
• Hillary Wilson, Alice Brooke Wilson, Tom Phillpot & Leo Gaev - owners of Maverick Farms, who seek to "build a sustainable-but-accessible and socially just food system" by expanding theirfocus beyond growing and selling produce to include a nonprofit incubator program teaching teens to farm, a bed and breakfast, a restaurant-supply business, and a produce delivery network;
• Patrick Martins - founder of Heritage Foods that is helping to rescue vanishing turkey breeds such as the Bourbon Red (and other livestock) and the farms that raise them by creating consumer demand for their meat.

These profiles and photo galleries can be read in full here.

Also, there are short podcasts from five of these people where they answer "What's inside your 'fridge.'"  I like to see how passionate people implement their passions via everyday choices.  These can be found here.

Do you have any food heroes or heroines?

Comments

[Marianne]

My daughter, Brooke! She is passionate about eating healthy, happily and pouring loving vibes into the food she prepares for her family. Peruse her blog (Brooke, Confessions of an Urban earth Mama) for some wonderful food posts:

http://babyparenting.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=babyparenting&zu=http%3A%2F%2Furbanearthmama.typepad.com%2Fbrooke%2F