Food Day Celebration Features Nationally Recognized Experts Offering Advice on Improving School Food

Online, October 16, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Amy Kalafa, author of Lunch Wars: How to Start a School Food Revolution and Win the Battle for Our Children's Health and producer/director of the acclaimed documentary film Two Angry Moms, and John Turenne, founder & President of Sustainable Food Systems, a nationally recognized leader and innovator in sustainable food practices, will join forces to offer two public workshops in celebration of Food Day. The afternoon event will be held in Greenwich, CT at Audubon Greenwich from 12:00 until 1:00 pm. A $10 admission fee includes a Slow Food Metro North $5 Challenge sustainable lunch catered by Concierge Foods of Bedford Hills, NY. The evening event will be in Fairfield, CT at the Pequot Library from 7:00 to 8:00 pm where the $10 admission includes light refreshments. Both workshops will be followed by a Q&A session and "Lunch Wars" book sale and author signing. Please RSVP and purchase tickets via www.brownpaperticket.com using event number 205703 for the Greenwich event and 205478 for Fairfield.

Kalafa and Turenne are highly regarded sustainable food experts and are well versed in the challenges confronted by better school food advocates - whether parents, administrators, food service professionals or public health officials. Making school meals more healthful and sustainable can be complicated and requires a skillful approach. "As long as school food is provided limited funding, cost will always be a factor. However, that doesn't mean there aren't simple ways to overcome inadequate food. We can start by step by step substituting real, whole and fresh ingredients for processed" said Turenne.

"Overcoming Obstacles to Improving School Food" is designed for all stakeholders in our children's health and wellness. "Administrators, along with students, are learning to build a healthy food system in place of one that is broken and promotes disease. These forward-thinking districts are working well beyond the cafeteria to create a school food environment that is integrated with the curriculum and the community" said Kalafa.

Amy Kalafa has produced award-winning films and television programs, and has written magazine articles related to health education for more than twenty-five years. The producer/director of the acclaimed documentary film Two Angry Moms: Fighting for the Health of America's Children, she has been featured on Good Morning America, Rachael Ray, and Fox News Live, and in USA Today and The New York Times. Kalafa lives with her family in Weston, Connecticut. http://angrymoms.org/

John Turenne and his team at Sustainable Food Systems have worked with visionaries across the country who have had the desire to make positive changes to the way they do business. Sustainable Food Systems brings those ideas and desires to reality through careful assessment, planning, teaching and development. In his role as Executive Chef at Yale University and in the creation of the Yale Sustainable Food Project, Turenne recognized the impact of food service decision-making on the world around us. Turenne quietly led the behind-the-scenes team that made Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution" work in the Huntington, West Virginia school system and was also instrumental in working with the Obama Administration in the development of the USDA's Chefs Move to Schools initiative and continues to harvest national and international recognition. http://www.sustainablefoodsystems.com/

Fairfield Green Food Guide, LLC and Slow Food Metro North are the grassroots organizers behind this Food Day event made possible through the generous support of Audubon Greenwich, Pequot Library and Concierge Foods. Fairfield Green Food Guide is Fairfield County's premier online resource for sustainable food news, resources and events. Slow Food Metro North, serving Fairfield, Westchester and Putnam counties, is a chapter of Slow Food USA, an official Food Day partner. http://fairfieldgreenfoodguide.com/, http://slowfoodmetronorth.org/

Food Day is aimed at promoting healthy, sustainable, affordable, and just food systems in America, it's a national grassroots mobilization backed by some of the most prominent voices for energizing the food movement. On October 24, 2011, people will gather at events large and small and from coast to coast in homes, schools, colleges, churches, city halls, farmers' markets, supermarkets, and elsewhere to raise awareness about food issues and advocate for change. Think of it as an Earth Day for food!

Food Day's advisory board is co-chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and includes such members as Michael Pollan, Alice Waters, Marion Nestle, David Kessler, and Professor Walter Willett. Partners include the American Dietetic Association, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, UNITE Here, Humane Society of the U.S., Sierra Club, and Slow Food USA. A full list of advisors and partner organizations can be found at www.FoodDay.org.