The Community Garden hosted its annual Food Day, a potluck that brings the community together to pursue healthier lifestyles.
Plant City joined thousands of other towns across the country in the annual Food Day, a day dedicated to enjoying real food and pushing for improved food policies.
The Plant City Commons Community Garden hosted its annual potluck Sunday in honor of the event. Guest brought non-GMO, organic food and participated in an open dialogue about fighting toward a healthier diet and food justice issues, like those regarding farm workers, animal rights and the environment.
Karen Bornstine, president of the community garden, said attendees stepped up their game this year and brought items like sweet potato and red lentil chili, blueberry cobbler, a seasonal variety of beans in the shape of a rainbow and non-GMO organic nachos.
“The potluck makes people be aware of what they’re cooking, what ingredients they use and where they get them,” Bornstine said. “On that end of it, the potluck is kind of important. We had a really nice open dialogue right after we ate about Food Day and food justice and I was pleasantly energized by the participation in that conversation.”
In 2015, more than 8,000 events took place across the country with celebrations ranging from small potlucks, like here in Plant City, to panel discussions with experts on food justice.
The event began as a response to the growing rate of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other diet-related health problems in the U.S. The goal is to have a day focused on learning how to affordably eat healthy food in order to jump start a year-long journey toward a revitalized diet.
Bornstine said there is a common misconception that protein and meat are exclusively the same thing. She said part of the purpose of food day was to tackle that mindset, to let people know that there are an abundance of ways one can get the nutrients they need from less conventional resources. She said they are in no way saying you have to live a vegetarian lifestyle, but to simply be more aware of what you’re eating, the quantity you’re consuming and where that food came from.
“I had an encounter at a restaurant recently where I had ordered a Greek salad, which usually has some kind of cheese on it, and the server asked me if I wanted protein,” Bornstine said. “I told him ‘No thanks’ and he confusedly asked me how I would get enough protein. When I explained to him there was protein in cheese he said he had never thought of that and he was probably in his early 30s.”
The Plant City Community Garden has been working to provide food education and healthier resources for years. It dedicates the produce from multiple barrels to organizations like the United Food Bank of Plant City and local churches that feed the homeless and those in need.
It also is in the process of partnering with the Lions Club so their high school chapters, the Leos, can use barrels at the garden to grow food for charity focused entities in Plant City.
Bornstine said Food Day is just one of the many ways she hopes the garden can give back to the community. Next year, she said she hopes even more residents will attend so they can further the conversation on pursuing a healthy lifestyle.
