Food Tank

Last updated
Food Tank
Type NGO
Legal status501(c)(3)
Purposepublication, advocacy
HeadquartersBaltimore, Maryland
President
Danielle Nierenberg
Chairman of the Board
Bernard Pollack
Treasurer
Nabeeha Mujeeb Kazi-Hutchins
Regina Anderson, William Burke, Brian Halweil, Julie Kunen, Kerri McClimen, Nabeeha Kazi-Hutchins, Marc Zornes
Website foodtank.com

Food Tank: The Think Tank for Food is a global non-profit community working towards positive transformation in how food is produced and consumed. Founded in 2013, [1] it is a research and advocacy organization that educates, advocates, and collaborates with local partners to amplify on-the-ground solutions. [2]

Contents

Conferences

In 2015, Food Tank launched its first Food Tank Summit in Washington, D.C. Since then, Food Tank has been holding a series of summits in various cities focused on sustainability and equity in food systems. [3] Food Tank has hosted summits in Boston, [4] Chicago, [5] New York City, [6] Sacramento, [7] San Francisco, [8] Seattle, [9] and Washington, D.C. [10] The conferences gather experts across all sectors of the food industry including business, government, nonprofit organizations, farmers, unions, and chefs.

Advocacy

Food Tank convened an official listening session in the lead-up to the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in 2022. [11] [12] The session explored the theme "Dismantling Silos to Strengthen Nutrition and Food Security Research" and key takeaways were compiled into a formal report for the White House's consideration as they develop a strategy to end hunger, increase healthy eating and physical activity, and eliminate disparities.

Food Tank joined a coalition of non-governmental organizations and institutions including the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, WeightWatchers International Inc., Grubhub and the Natural Resources Defense Council [13] to help build bipartisan support for the Food Donation Improvement Act, which was signed into law in January 2023. [14] Food Tank's efforts included convening an event on Capitol Hill in partnership with WW, Bread for the World, the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC), and The Healthy Living Coalition where lawmakers, policy experts, and advocates fighting food waste called on Congress to pass the legislation. [15]

Publications

The organization's website is a publishing platform for news about the food industry and system, and it also provides research and analysis with the goal of building a science-based foundation for changing the food system. [16] Topics covered include sustainable agriculture, climate change, food waste, urban agriculture, and policy and organizing. [17]

In 2014, Food Tank partnered with the James Beard Foundation to publish an annual "Good Food Org Guide," a comprehensive directory of nonprofit organizations that are working toward a better food system. [18]

Podcast

In 2018, Food Tank launched an original podcast, Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg, on which Nierenberg invites chefs, experts, and activists to outline their ideal food system and how their projects are making a better food system more attainable. [19]

Sundance Film Festival

Food Tank hosts annual programming at the Sundance Film Festival. In January 2023, Food Tank collaborated with The Lodge at Blue Sky Auberge Resort and Fed by Blue to host a three-day event of screenings, tastings, talks, and live music. The event included a screening of and discussion about "Hope in the Water," a docuseries produced by celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern, Brian Peter Falk, and David E. Kelly about the foods that come from the Earth's bodies of water, including wetlands, streams, and lakes. [20]

On January 20, 2024, Food Tank hosted a day of discussions during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, around the relationship between climate change and the food system. [21] Topics included Indigenous foods, food as medicine, the intersections of food and technology, the potential of restaurants in community revitalization, with celebrity speakers including Kimbal Musk and Chef Susan Feniger. [22]

Arts

WeCameToDance is Food Tank's interactive original musical about the climate crisis. It was developed by Creative Producer Bernard Pollack [23] with choreography by House of Jack, [24] original language by David Peterson of Game of Thrones, [25] and original music by Rocky Dawuni. [26] The show debuted a month-long run at 2021 Edinburgh Fringe Festival [27] and is commissioned perform at the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. [28]

During its initial run, WeCameToDance was featured in the New York Times, [29] The List, [30] Scotsman, [24] The Herald (Scotland), [31] and Edinburgh Reporter [32] and the cast performed live on Good Morning Britain, Al Jazeera, and the BBC. [33]

In 2024, Food Tank debuted Little Peasants, an immersive theatrical showcase by playwright Bernard Pollack and director Dori A. Robinson that spotlights how baristas at a fictional chain called Unicorn Coffee come together to unionize. [34] The audience gains firsthand experience with employer and employee struggles during a unionizing campaign by participating in a meeting with the baristas during the show. At the end, the audience decides if Unicorn Coffee unionizes and the workers and managers must abide by their decision. [35]

A one-act iteration of Little Peasants was previously featured at SXSW in March 2023, where it received critical acclaim and multiple standing ovations. [36]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slow Food</span> Organization that promotes local food

Slow Food is an organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds, and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. It promotes local small businesses and sustainable foods. It also focuses on food quality, rather than quantity. It was the first established part of the broader slow movement. It speaks out against overproduction and food waste. It sees globalization as a process in which small and local farmers and food producers should be simultaneously protected from and included in the global food system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renaissance fair</span> Outdoor weekend gathering that emulates a historical period

A Renaissance or medieval fair is an outdoor gathering that aims to entertain its guests by recreating a historical setting, most often the English Renaissance.

The Good Food Guide has been reviewing the best restaurants, pubs and cafés in Great Britain since 1951.

The Alfred P. Sloan Prize is an award given each year, starting in 2003, to a film at the Sundance Film Festival. It is one of the Alfred P. Sloan Science in Film Awards.

New Seasons Market is a chain of neighborhood grocery stores operating in the Portland, Oregon metro area, and southwestern Washington. Some of the products offered are organic and produced locally in the Pacific Northwest, but conventional groceries are also sold.

Outside Lands, formerly known as the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, is a three-day music, art, food, wine and cannabis festival held annually in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Multi-genre and multi-generational, it is the largest independently owned music festival in the United States. It was founded in 2008 by Another Planet Entertainment, Starr Hill Presents, and Superfly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danielle Nierenberg</span> American activist, author, and journalist

Danielle J. Nierenberg is an American activist, author and journalist.

Ellen Gustafson is an American businessperson, social entrepreneur and sustainable food system activist. She is best known for co-founding FEED Projects with Lauren Bush, as well as for founding 30 Project, a nonprofit that aims to look at the link between obesity and starvation rates. In addition, she has been a US spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme and founded Food Tank: The Think Tank For Food with Danielle Nierenberg.

<i>A Place at the Table</i> 2012 American film

A Place at the Table is a 2012 film produced by Lori Silverbush and Kristi Jacobson, with appearances by Jeff Bridges, Raj Patel, and chef Tom Colicchio. The film, concerning hunger in the United States, was released theatrically in the United States on March 1, 2013.

The New Zealand Fringe Festival is an open access arts festival in Wellington, New Zealand held over several weeks in February and March each year. The 2024 programme marks the festival's 34th anniversary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kris Bowers</span> American composer and pianist

Kristopher Bowers is an American composer, pianist and documentary director. He has composed scores for films, including Green Book, King Richard, and The Color Purple, and television series, among them Bridgerton, Mrs. America, Dear White People, and When They See Us.

Aaron Saidman is an American creator-developer, documentary filmmaker and television producer known for creating or serving as an executive producer on a number of non-fiction television series and documentary feature films, including Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, Curse of Von Dutch,Mind Field,Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies, The Pitch,The Seven Five,Free Meek and Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer. Saidman is the President and co-founder of The Intellectual Property Corporation, which he created in 2016 with longtime producing partner Eli Holzman.

Ann Kim is a James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xico (restaurant)</span> Defunct Mexican restaurant in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Xico was a restaurant serving Mexican cuisine in Portland, Oregon's Richmond neighborhood, in the United States. The restaurant opened in 2012; sibling establishment Xica Cantina opened in northwest Portland in mid 2019. Xico closed in March 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarklewis</span> Restaurant in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Clarklewis is a restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apple and unions</span> Apple Inc.-related worker organizations and unions

Apple Inc. workers around the globe have been involved in organizing since the 1990s. Apple unions are made up of retail, corporate, and outsourced workers. Apple employees have joined trade unions and or formed works councils in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">El Gallo Taqueria</span> Defunct Mexican restaurant in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

El Gallo Taqueria was a Mexican restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States. Owner and chef Jake Brown established the business as a food cart in 2009, in southeast Portland's Woodstock neighborhood. In 2015, El Gallo relocated and began operating as a brick and mortar restaurant in 2015. The business closed in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magna Kusina</span> Filipino restaurant in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Magna Kusina is a Filipino restaurant in Portland, Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kann (restaurant)</span> Haitian restaurant in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Kann is a Haitian restaurant by Gregory Gourdet in Portland, Oregon.

Samuel Monsour is an American chef, restaurateur, author, and political food activist.

References

  1. ↑ "How Food Tank's Danielle Nierenberg Wants to Save the World". 7 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Food Tank 2021-2022 Annual Report" (PDF).
  3. ↑ "Activist Danielle Nierenberg wins the Julia Child Award, following in the footsteps of celebrity chefs". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2021-09-19.
  4. ↑ "A think tank for food - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  5. ↑ "Chicago, We Can Change the Food System — The 2016 Food Tank Summit!". The Daily Meal. 2016-11-09. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  6. ↑ "How We Can Conserve Nearly Two Billion Tons of Food Thrown Away Annually". Impact. 2017-10-24. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  7. ↑ "Sold-out Farm Tank Summit raises frank discussion about agriculture, technology". bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  8. ↑ "Food For Thought". NAFSN. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
  9. ↑ "Food Tank Summit: Growing Food Policy". The Stranger. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  10. ↑ "Food Tank Summit". Society of Environmental Journalists. 2016-03-21. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  11. ↑ "The U.S. diet is deadly. Here are 7 ideas to get Americans eating healthier". NPR . Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Ending Hunger and Reducing Diet-Related Diseases and Disparities". Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Retrieved 2023-05-30.
  13. ↑ Amanda Little (January 6, 2023). "America's Food Waste Problem Is a Hunger Solution in Disguise". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2023-02-01. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  14. ↑ Khan, Aiza (2023-01-06). "Food Donation Improvement Act Signed Into Law". Center For Health Law and Policy Innovation. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  15. ↑ Held, Lisa (2022-07-13). "The Field Report: In DC, Lawmakers Push 'Common Sense' Food Waste Solution". Civil Eats. Retrieved 2023-01-27.
  16. ↑ Carman, Tim (2013-01-08). "New sites want you to better understand your food". Washington Post. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
  17. ↑ "Q&A: Food Tank's Danielle Nierenberg on The Right Food Technologies and Bringing All Stakeholders Together". AFN. 2017-04-04. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
  18. ↑ "James Beard Foundation". James Beard Foundation. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
  19. ↑ "Slow Food Recommends: Ideas for Your Slow Weekend". Slow Food International. 2020-03-27. Retrieved 2022-01-27.
  20. ↑ Cook, Aimee L. (2023-01-24). ""Hope in the Water" sheds light on protecting blue food". TownLift, Park City News. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  21. ↑ "Food Tank Summit Returns to Park City during Sundance 2024". KPCW. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  22. ↑ Staff, Pulp Lab (2024-01-21). "Sundance 2024: Nourishing the Planet, One Bite at a Time @FoodTank". Pulp Lab. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  23. ↑ "Danielle Nierenberg: 'We're trying to bring joy to what can be uncomfortable issues'". Edinburgh Festival. 2021-08-09. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  24. 1 2 "Fringe dance review: WeCameToDance, Nicolson Square". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  25. ↑ Kennedy, John (2021-08-14). "Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2021 – A Call from Occupants of Interplanetary Craft". The Edinburgh Reporter. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  26. ↑ "Edinburgh Fringe live round-up: Burnt Out, WeCameToDance, My Car Plays Tapes and more..." The Stage. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  27. ↑ "WeCameToDance". Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  28. ↑ "Radical show aims to create new generation of food activists at COP26". The National. 22 August 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  29. ↑ Wolf, Matt (2021-08-19). "A Quiet Summer at Edinburgh's Festivals". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  30. ↑ "Danielle Nierenberg: 'We're trying to bring joy to what can be uncomfortable issues'". Edinburgh Festival. 2021-08-09. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  31. ↑ "Agenda: Seeing the food system as a solution to the climate crisis". HeraldScotland. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  32. ↑ Kennedy, John (2021-08-14). "Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2021 – A Call from Occupants of Interplanetary Craft". The Edinburgh Reporter. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  33. ↑ "BBC Radio Scotland - The Afternoon Show, From the Edinburgh Festivals: Del Amitri, Ambrose Parry, Mara Menzies and We Came To Dance". BBC. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  34. ↑ Nguyen, Hannah (2024-01-31). "Performances of 'Little Peasants' at The Burren put a decision to unionize in audience's hands". Cambridge Day. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  35. ↑ Terry Byrne (January 25, 2024). "At Central Square, a play that explores a tricky father-son-robot relationship". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  36. ↑ "'Little Peasants' workshop performances at The Burren". The Somerville Times. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.