Berkeley Food Policy Council: Working Together for an Alternative Food System

This trip is now closed.

Since the 1960s, radical approaches to food systems change have flourished in Berkeley. From “back to the land” to Chez Panisse, experiments and innovations and have helped launch and shape the modern food movement. Today the Berkeley Food Policy Council (BFPC) connects and leverages the many efforts promoting a more equitable and healthy community and planet. On this tour, you will get a whole systems view of Berkeley’s alternative food system by exploring the connections between institutional purchasing, urban farming, youth empowerment, farmers’ markets, alternative food enterprises and an active Food Policy Council. This tour is coordinated by Bay Area Green Tours, a project of the Sustainable Business Alliance and member of the BFPC.

Tour Highlights

• Get an insider’s tour of one of the nations foremost mission driven farmers markets and interview some of the country’s most sustainable, integrated, and progressive organic farms such as Fully Belly Farm, Riverdog Farm and Blue Heron Farm.
• Meet the youth leading the next generation of food fights preventing diet related illness and increasing food knowledge and access through urban farms, produce stands, cooking classes, peer to peer education and more.
• Meet Berkeley chef/restaurateur Amy Murray and hear the tales of creating seasonal farm based root to shoot and whole hog restaurants Venus and Revival.
• Hear about institutional purchasing through the University of California and the Berkeley Unified School District changing the food that students eat from preschool to post graduate.
• Meet with City of Berkeley Food and Nutrition Policy officials to discuss their work to help fosters a sustainable local economy and assures that all people of Berkeley have access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food.

Participating Organizations

• The Berkeley Food Policy Council is a coalition of community and city groups working to increase community food access and improve health for all the city’s residents
• Founded in 1969, the Ecology Center is one of the first action-oriented environmental organizations in the country and continues to facilitate urban lifestyles grounded in sustainability, equity and local development. Among its many programs, the center runs Berkeley’s curbside recycling, the three Berkeley Farmers’ Markets, and the Farm Fresh Choice food justice program.
• Berkeley Youth Alternatives is an innovative youth employment program, providing jobs for high risk youth while engaging them in growing fresh produce for their community.
• The Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project includes a Nursery, Produce Stand, Community Farm, Community Education, and Community Harvest Project. Spiral Gardens also conducts outreach, education, and plant sales throughout the community, including a consistent presence at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market
• University of California Dining is working to change the food that students eat from preschool to post graduate
• Revival Bar and Kitchen is one of Berkeley’s premier farm-to-fork organic restaurants
• Bay Area Green Tours provides educational tours that demonstrate the sustainable economy in action, support local green businesses, and empower people to incorporate environmental responsibility and social justice into their personal and professional lives.

This trip is now closed. Please check back for future Food Justice Tours to Berkeley.

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Bay Area Food Justice Tours (Nov. 4 – 5, 2011) are brought to you by CFSC in partnership with Food Sovereignty Tours, a project of Food First/the Institute for Food and Development Policy.

For more information, contact Tanya at tkerssen@foodfirst.org or by phone at (510) 654-4400, ext. 223