June 2011 Blog Posts

Roots of Change
2012 Farm Bill Priorities
Posted Jun 30, 2011 @ 11:29 AM
Testimony before the State Board of Food and Agriculture Regarding 2012 Farm Bill Priorities June 29, 2011 Sacramento, CA Good morning Madam Secretary, President McNamara and Members of the Board. Thank you for inviting me here today to share with you the views of Roots of Change regarding priorities for the 2012 Farm Bill.
Read more >>
Double Up Food Bucks billboard 2010
A Michigan Nonprofit Serves Up a Double Deal for Healthier Eating
Posted Jun 29, 2011 @ 1:03 PM
(Note: The full article is available here courtesy of The Chronicle of Philanthropy.) Incentives are often referred to as “carrots.” But the Fair Food Network is also counting on broccoli, peaches, tomatoes, blueberries, and green beans. With its Double Up Food Bucks program, the Ann Arbor, Mich., nonprofit organization seeks to improve poor communities’ access to healthy, nutritious food while at the same time aiding Michigan’s farmers and rural economy.
Read more >>
Marin County event audience
On the Road with Fair Food - Mill Valley, CA
Posted Jun 29, 2011 @ 9:30 AM
Amazing event in honor of Oran and Fair Food at the gracious home and gardens of philanthropist Hans Schoepflin, founder of Panta Rhea Foundation, in Mill Valley, CA. Over 120 Marin County food activists and supporters of creating a sustainable food system gathered in the beautifully tended garden ampitheater to hear Oran speak eloquently and passionately about how we can transform our broken food system and ask him some hard questions about how we can effectively move forward.
Read more >>
Oran at Books, Inc.
On the Road with Fair Food - Books, Inc. in Berkeley, CA
Posted Jun 28, 2011 @ 2:51 PM
An overflow crowd of old friends and new faces welcomed home town boy Oran Hesterman  back to the Bay Area at Books, Inc. in Berkeley, CA and listened to him speak about the importance of moving from conscious consumers to engaged citizens to transform our broken food system.
Read more >>
Oran Hesterman and Marland Buckner
On the Road with Fair Food: Whittemore House, Washington, DC
Posted Jun 20, 2011 @ 12:54 PM
On a steamy early June afternoon in Washington, DC, a high powered array of Capitol Hill staffers, legislative aides, food activists of every description, and interested friends and colleagues gathered at the Whittemore House to celebrate Oran’s Fair Food and the local fair food movement. Virtually every part of the DC food community turned out in numbers - from folks working at the local level to people working on national agriculture policy.
Read more >>
Green Carts in NYC
Attention Shoppers: Fair Food for Low-Income Communities
Posted Jun 19, 2011 @ 10:04 AM
My book, Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All (PublicAffairs), examines our current food system in the United States and how it has failed to provide enough quality food, particularly for low-income, urban communities. This has in turn contributed to the increase in diet-related health problems such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. I wrote the book to help people who care about our food shift from concerned consumers to engaged citizens.
Read more >>
Oran's Book Signing - Brooklyn
On the Road with Fair Food: Politics & Prose, Washington, DC
Posted Jun 15, 2011 @ 4:12 PM
In a mere three hours on Sunday afternoon, June 5th, we trained from NYC to Washington, DC as we devoured the New York Times Sunday Business Section which gave Fair Food a strong, positive review. We were thrilled at the prominence and quality of the review and the thoughtful analysis of the book by the reviewer:
Read more >>
Oran at Google University, NYC
On the Road with Fair Food – Google University, NYC
Posted Jun 14, 2011 @ 10:40 AM
After two remarkably well-attended and successful book events in Manhattan and Brooklyn, Oran had the opportunity to speak at Google University, New York City in the Authors@Google program on June 2.
Read more >>
Kids planting a garden
Making School Food Good Food
Posted Jun 7, 2011 @ 2:48 PM
Why aren’t my kids school lunches healthier, and what can I do about it? Our schools should feed our children healthy food for the good of their growing bodies just as they feed them healthy ideas for their minds – but they’re not always doing that.
Read more >>
Oran's Book Signing - NY
On the Road with Fair Food - NYC II - June 3, 2011
Posted Jun 5, 2011 @ 6:14 PM
Nearly 250 enthusiastic folks interested in the fair food movement gathered at the Powerhouse Arena Bookstore in Brooklyn on Wednesday evening June 1, to celebrate the release of Oran’s book, Fair Food, and hear a rousing talk by Oran encouraging direct action for transforming our broken food system.
Read more >>