Lately I have been very busy with a whole range of food justice projects, and I'm eager to get them up onto the blog to share. Time being the limited substance it is, we'll have to settle for this little bit here....for now. There is a great new exhibit at the Peabody Museum, in New Haven, CT called Big Food. It's a fun, interactive exhibit about the history of food and the rise of obesity. I helped out with with a few parts of this exhibit as it was taking shape, and it was a very interesting experience to see how a museum exhibit is created; man is that a lot of planning and work!! A few cool highlights are the hall of food eaten by the average American in a year, the teaspoons of sugar in sodas and sweet drinks, and this super fun computer game called Smash Your Food. The exhibit will be up from now until December 2nd, and is excellent for adults and kids, and well worth the trip. There is a fee to enter the museum, and it is open free to the public on Thursday's from 2-5pm. This project is lead by CARE and the Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.
Did you know that a medium movie popcorn and soda is the nutritional equivalent of eating 4 hamburgers with 12 pats of butter?!
Do you know how much sugar is in that iced tea or soda you like to drink?
And, what about all the marketing $ that goes into getting little kids to crave a lot of unhealthy food?
The coolest teens ever from Common Ground High School, making delicious smoothies with bicycle blender power! I couldn't stop drinking their samples....The scary thing though was to watch some kids try the smoothie and say "yuck fruit". We have a long way to go....
The New Haven Food Policy Council set up a table and handed out fresh fruits and veggies, along with information about the work we are doing to write a Food Action Plan for New Haven. It is always exciting to get a people to try new things! The big winner this day was fresh papaya with a squeeze of lime, delicious and great for digestion! People loved it!
Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who made the opening day a great one! Special thanks to Cara, the Vista/Americorps staff at CitySeed for all her help!
Check out this exhibit and all the up coming events that are happening around it!
And, let me know what you think!
wow, i'll have to check that out! that's sad to hear about the "yuck fruit," but i guess we just need to keep taking baby steps. my daughter, for example, has made the step of "not drinking brown soda if there's something else available" (which means that sprite and ginger ale are still fine, and it's questionable whether water constitutes something else being available) and i'm walking the line between validating that and acknowledging that this doesn't yet constitute healthy choices in the big picture.
ReplyDeleteWow Noah, that is deep. Differentiating between brown and clear soda as a step towards healthy eating....there is so far to go, but it is great that she is thinking about it at all. all the best! - Tagan
ReplyDeleteI loved the exhibit, particularly the parts you worked on! I visited with French friends horrified by the hall of American food and while I was shocked I wasn't entirely surprised! The sugar in my iced tea, however, has gotten me to give up bottled beverages entirely - my heart, my waistline and my mother all thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline, I'm so glad that you liked the exhibit! Your comment is fabulous! It is amazing how many people have been affected by that display on sugary drinks! We actually read your comment at an event at the Museum last week, and there is someone from the News Paper who would like to interview you if you are willing. I'm not sure how to reach you, but if you get this reply, please contact me by email, so I can connect you to the organization who put the show together and is handling the press. tagan.engel@gmail.com Thank you!
Delete