Here at the Food Day national office, we were blown away by the activities that happened all across the country yesterday to raise awareness, educate, debate, and mobilize around better food policies. 

Thank you for making Food Day 2012 such a huge success! And thanks for your work year-round to increase access to healthy, sustainable, affordable food in your community. Together we can create sustained change and fix our broken food system

Some highlights from the big day:

• The Future of Food Conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in D.C. had nearly 200 attendees, preceded by a special reception hosted by Rep. Chellie Pingree in the beautiful Caucus Room of the Cannon House Office Building.  Many listeners live-Tweeted the conference using the hashtag #FOF2050.

• Seattle’s Mayor Mike McGinn released the city’s new action plan for food policy, and the City of Los Angeles instituted comprehensive food procurement policy in honor of Food Day.

• At Mott Haven Elementary in the Bronx, celebrity chef Ellie Krieger and our own Mike Jacobson shared a special lesson with students and celebrated the opening of their brand new rooftop garden.

• Massachusetts led the number of events countrywide, and youth played an important part in many of the activities around the state: six new salad bars were opened in six different schools in Boston to celebrate Food Day.

• Shopping Matters supermarket tours and Cooking Matters cooking demonstrations took place nationwide. In Baltimore, the Partnership to End Childhood Hunger, along with a team of volunteers, led over 150 children in Cooking Matters activities at Mount Royal Recreation Center.  And in Dallas, the North Texas Food Bank hosted a special Shopping Matters tour on the day that gave tips to local shoppers for buying healthy food on a budget.

Many chose to recognize Food Day by launching advocacy initiatives: The Humane Society released their video, A Pig’s Tail, which tells the gripping story of animals on a factory farm, and Anna Lappe launched her Food Mythbusters campaign, following in the footsteps of her mother, organic pioneer Francis Moore Lappe.  Food Policy Action, a newly formed national organization, published the first-ever National Food Policy Scorecard yesterday to score lawmakers on critical floor votes related to food.

There are even more events coming up this week to celebrate Food Day, including a massive Food Day festival in Savannah, GA, so check out our map to find one near you.

Thanks again. Look out for what’s next from the Food Day movement – keep an eye on our blog and for upcoming calls to action.