Author: Madhvi Venkatraman
On Sept. 3 Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, announced with Occidental College’s Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) the decision to start a Food Policy Task Force (FPTF).
The objective of the force is to lay the groundwork for the creation of a permanent Food Policy Council.
“The task force will make recommendations to the city of L.A. about how best to form a food policy council, what structure it should take and how it should function,” member of the steering committee of the FPTF Vanessa Zajfen said in an e-mail interview.
The Task Force will work to provide safe and healthy food to the people of Los Angeles regardless of their economic condition.
According to the mayor’s press release, the FPTF will also conduct research and make recommendations regarding food retail, marketing, access and transportation issues, sustainable urban agriculture, nutrition in schools and food wastage.
Villaraigosa has mentioned that the force will also be working with local farmers’ markets. “By purchasing produce at farmers’ markets, not only are you helping the environment and living a healthy lifestyle, but you are also supporting local business and creating local jobs,” he said in the official press release from FPTF.
There were numerous celebrity chefs that gathered to endorse this decision by the city government, including Evan Kleiman of Angeli Caffe, Mary Sue Milliken of Border Grill and Ramiro Arviso of La Casita Mexicana.
They signed the Locally Grown Good Food Pledge, a document promising that the chefs would use locally grown food in their restaurants as much as possible.
Some students at Occidental view this move as an important step toward a healthier city.
“Since the beginning of the recession people have been gravitating towards cheaper food options which are also highly processed. The city is taking a much-needed step towards making healthy, locally grown food available to low-income citizens,” Anna Jane Jones (first-year) said.
The Food Policy Task Force has been operating for two weeks. It is currently assessing the needs of the city.
“In the initial days, the task force is gathering information to provide the framework for the discussion of setting up a permanent council,” said Commissioner of Public Works Paula Daniels.
Villaraigosa stressed that the city is going to be committed to working with food issues over a long term basis.
“We make a commitment to the future by launching the work of a task force to help provide access to good food for all Angelenos, particularly those in under served communities,” he said in the press release.
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