ARCHIVED INFORMATION & RESOURCES for FAMILIES

October 24 is Food Day!

October 24 is Food Day--a nationwide celebration and movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food—for everybody!

From the official Food Day website: "Food Day aims to help people Eat Real. That means cutting back on sugar drinks, overly salted packaged foods, and fatty, factory-farmed meats in favor of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and sustainably raised protein. Food Day envisions shorter lines at fast-food drive-throughs--and bigger crowds at farmers markets."

This year's special focus for Food Day is aimed at teaching kids to cook. If kids learn how to make healthy meals they will be more likely to eat them! There are many ways to involve children in healthy meal preparation, from looking for good recipes, to choosing colorful fruits and vegetables at the grocery store or farmer's market, to chopping, slicing, and measuring ingredients.

Here are some resources to help get you started:

• ChopChop Magazine's Food Day Toolkit: In addition to a yummy fruit smoothie recipe, this kit helps kids understand how to read food labels, and how to be skeptical when watching ads for less-than-healthy foods.
• Download this four-page resource in English here: http://tinyurl.com/EnglishFoodDay
• The Spanish version is here: http://tinyurl.com/SpanishFoodDay
• 20 Recipes to Get Kids Cooking: This booklet has kid-pleasing recipes from around the world in easy-to-follow steps. Download the pdf here: http://tinyurl.com/20KidsRecipes 
• Songs for a Healthier America: Here's a free album of Hip Hop healthy music to encourage kids to be active and eat good food. Download it here: http://ahealthieramerica.org/songs/

For more Food Day—and beyond—resources to help kids learn to cook and eat healthy, check out the Food Day website resource page: http://www.foodday.org/lets_get_cooking