Food System Economic Partnership of SE Michigan Plans 2010 Conference

Save the Date! FSEP Annual Conference is June 24, 2010

Do you live in Southeastern Michigan? Are you interested in learning about building a better food system in the region?

The Food System Economic Partnership's fifth annual conference "Building a Better Food System in Southeastern Michigan" is scheduled for June 24, 2010 at the Jackson Career Center located at 6800 Browns Lake Road in Jackson. More details will be posted as they develop.

Workshop session proposals are being accepted and are due February 19, 2010. Please send your submission electronically to reau@msu.edu. Put "FSEP Conference Proposal" in the message subject line. A workshop description of 150 words or less must accompany your proposal. Areas of interest include business innovation, food access and security, and nutrition and health.

Conference presenters will receive a complimentary conference registration which includes lunch. There are no funds available to cover travel expenses.

To submit a session proposal visit www.fsepmichigan.org - there is a submission form detailing all the required information.

Marketing to Kids: Let's Make it an Educational Experience!

Marketing to children has always been a commercial endeavor instead of an educational endeavor. Kid-focused marketing has long had a negative connotation caused by the commercialization of education by big business interested in increased profits. It has been concerned with selling soft drinks and high-caloric low-nutrition foods in schools to establish a life long customer relationship at an early age. Needing funds to support school programs, administrators have opted to improve revenue for the school system in exchange for exploding obesity rates and a decline in the overall health of the student body.

Marketing local food in your school food service program can be a positive educational experience and a fundraising program for your school.

Marketing for your school food service program should be directed toward the students and also to school administrators, teachers, parents and the community. Students should be encouraged to follow a healthier way of eating and their peers, teachers, parents and community members should be encouraged to support this effort. The adults in the community have a special responsibility to ensure that children are being educated about healthy nutritious food choices and not being exploited as a life long consumer.

Ways to market your school food service program:

Develop a marketing plan to support your program. Devise a program name, menu, signage, educational information to promote menu items and local food.

Establish fundraisers involving local food and food related merchandise.

Cultivate on-site school garden - use the White House garden as an educational example!

Host Harvest Lunches and invite the entire community!

Host Local Farmers visiting the schools

Create family surveys to foster family participation in the program. Keep in mind if you use a family survey you must be prepared to publicly address the feedback and your application of that feedback.

Create games involving local food.

Initiate raffles involving local food.

Plan field trips to local farms and orchards and incorporate lessons about the source of your food.

Publish recipe cards and cookbook from the school lunch program, encouraging families to eat nutritious meals at home.

Publish a school calendar with recipes, food purchasing tips, and food safety tips.

There's Room at the Table with Choices 2010

Collaboration is defined in Wikipedia as a process where two or more people or organizations work together in an intersection of common goals – by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. This year, collaboration is at the heart of the Michigan Nutrition Network’s Choices Conference with the theme, “Collaboration: There’s Room at the Table”.

Choices 2010 will be held March 10 & 11 and is expected to draw more than 200 attendees to the Michigan State University campus. Attendees will include school educators, MSU Extension educators, community and nonprofit organization members, healthcare workers, nutritionists and dietitians – with room at the table for all voices and backgrounds.

At CHOICES 2010, you'll:

* Learn how to conduct a successful urban garden project
* Discover food trends that are on the horizon
* Learn how to cook heart-healthy meals for families and vegetarian recipes
* Get on the food preservation band wagon
* Explore strategies for teaching nutrition education through school gardening

At Eat Local Food, we’re proud to be working with the Michigan Nutrition Network on the Choices Conference for the 4^th consecutive year. Eat Local Food’s “Garden Girls” was selected by the organization as the image to represent this year’s conference. Attendees will receive, among other materials, an Eat Local Food conference tote featuring the Garden Girls.

In addition to the Michigan Nutrition Network, sponsors of the conference also include Michigan State University Extension, Michigan Food & Fitness, and the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.

For the press release and more information regarding Choices 2010, click here!

Hope to see you there!

Google Chrome

I know this is way off the topic of local food, but during the development of the new Eat Local Food Store (http://www.eatlocalfoodstore.com), I tested the site with the major browsers in use today: Internet Explore, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome. I found that Chrome is typically twice as fast as the other browsers. I recommend that if you haven't, you should download Chrome and give it a try, you can always go back to the browser you use today if you don't like it. But for me, Chrome makes using the internet a more enjoyable experience.

Bob

P.S. This is an unsolicited endorsement of this product, Eat Local Food or myself have not received any consideration for posting it.

Michigan Good Food Summit in Lansing

Eat Local Food is proud of the work it is doing in support of the Michigan Good Food Summit in Lansing on Thursday, February 25. The summit will assemble food system stakeholders from across the state to shape a plan that propels Michigan towards food production, distribution and marketing to support equity, sustainability and thriving economies. Good Food is about building on our assets in ways that enable Michigan residents to thrive and our communities to prosper.

For more information, go to http://www.michiganfood.org/

The summit is being sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food & Community Program.