Activities
Green Tables
The LDEI Green Tables Initiative is a chapter-led program that was created to deepen the relationship between locally grown food at farms and gardens with school and community-food programs, restaurants, and kitchen tables.
Chapters that participate in Green Tables offer programs and events that unite communities with fresh, sustainable foods and foodways through cooking classes, demonstrations, tastings, community-gardening projects, farmers’ market programming, and more.
History
LDEI launched Green Tables in the fall of 2006. It was the first programmed initiative in all its chapters.
Main goals
- Promote the communities’ health and wellness
- Support LDEI leadership in the sustainable food movement
- Support the already existing efforts in the food and farming industries
- Bring attention to the velue of local farmers and encourage the use of local produce
- Share our habilities and knowledge to bolster the local food movement and improve public health
Key strategy
To achieve these goals, the key strategy was to educate our members on the value and importance of sustainability in the food system. After 10 years, this goal has largely been achieved, as awareness regarding the importance of sustainably produced foods (such as organic, locally produced, etc.) has become widespread and well known.
LDEI Green Tables – Now and in the future
Looking forward to the next 10 years of our Green Tables (GT) initiative, LDEI seeks to inspire its members to embrace more GT values and practices within their food businesses and professional activities. LDEI member-led efforts and GT projects within our chapters will demonstrate their leadership in promoting the growth of a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable food system within and beyond their communities.
Promoting Health
LDEI chapters and their professionals as individuals promote health by pursuing and supporting products, business models, programs, initiatives, and educational projects that positively impact public health in our communities.
We promote health by:
- Educate ourselves and others about the intersection of food and health
- Buy, develop or promote new products
- Change the values and practices in our businesses to shift towards healthy food.
- Participate in broad initiatives that move our society towards healthier practices.
Support for equality
As LDEI chapters and as individuals, we support equality by taking action and making decisions that support access to good food and fair wages for all who participate in the food system. We can work to improve the distribution of fresh and healthy food throughout our communities, improve wage disparities in food businesses, and ensure that all public-school children, regardless of zip code, are offered fresh and healthy food in their schools.
Ensure sustainability
As LDEI chapters and as individuals we support sustainability with practices that replenish what is consumed of our natural resources and the food we grow, fish, buy and eat. We strive to create a more efficient system that wastes less food and travels fewer miles. We educate ourselves and our communities to ensure that decisions around the creation and preparation of food leave our planet in a better state than it is today.
Iniciativa Culinaria Global
The LDEI Global Culinary Initiative is a chapter-led program that embraces diversity through the lens of food – the thread that connects cultures, lifestyles, and traditions. Chapters that opt to participate in the Global Culinary Initiative tap into the diverse cultures in their communities with educational programming and events that celebrate various cultures through their culinary traditions.
