Food Systems is SO in Vogue - literally

So I was sitting at the salon the other day, trying to zone out by flipping through Vogue. I'm not a fashionista, but the salon is for fantasies right? And right there in the middle of the magazine are 3 articles about guerilla gardeners, urban agriculture, the impact of local eating on climate change. Ok so two of the three articles were really photo shoots of hipsters in stylish tweeds and expensive boots, but the premise of the shoots was food systems.

When this work makes it into Vogue magazine it has definitely become mainstream and that is a very good sign. (Thank you Michelle Obama for making gardening cool!) There are projects popping up all over Seattle - Clean Greens, Delridge's Healthy Corner Store, South Park's Mobile Market - that come from the people most affected by our broken food system. Supporting their work means continuing to engage communities to build local leadership capacity. It also means working together to create messages that resonate with diverse communities. This kind of advocacy is creating strong partnerships for addressing access to food, while at the same time raising awareness at the policy level.

It's great that the mainstream media is finally paying attention to food systems issues. Let's use that exposure to keep the pressure on our local policy makers. Food systems change starts with the demand for food justice. Working together to build leadership means empowering folks to take that demand to city hall. It's the only way to make sure that access to good food is always in vogue.

www.urbanfoodlink.com