Reporting from New Orleans

Urban Food Link is back in New Orleans for the American Planning Association conference and boy has it been fun to be surrounded by food systems folks! The day started with a 4 hour workshop on how to conduct Health Impact Assessments, which can identify potential health outcomes of a policy or project.

Next a realization that in the midst of this conference, I was stranded in a virtual food dessert. How ironic. With all due respect to the Ernest Morial Convention Center, your food sucks. Food options during the 4 hour workshop were limited to hotdogs, candy and chips - not exactly fresh and healthy. So I ventured out into the neighborhood in search of a small grocery, a corner store, someplace where I could buy some fruit for the next few days. Alas, my search was in vain. Nary a grocery store to be found and all the corner stores were stacked floor to ceiling with powerade and beer. I know there is healthy corner store work afoot in New Orleans - I'm taking a tour of it on Monday. But today was a bust on the healthy snack front.

The day ended in the wonderful Southern Food and Beverage Museum celebrating the area's unique culinary heritage. Here the APA Food Interest Planning Group was treated to crawdad quesadillas, goat cheese brushcetta, and other savories sourced from the amazing Crescent City Farmers Market. It was a great opportunity to hear about food planning work in other cities and strategize about how to increase recognition of the value of this work. Stay tuned for more action from this Interest Group!