Planet Forward spotlights two Food & Society at the Aspen Institute Food Leaders Fellows in Chicago!
Dion Dawson (Dion's Chicago Dream) has delivered 5M+ lbs of fresh produce to 5.3K+ households. Ruby Ferguson coordinates food access across partner orgs
📖 More: https://ow.ly/6xyI50Yqem7
(5/5) If you're funding health equity or trying to bend the healthcare cost curve, this toolkit shows you what to look for.
It's the clearest evaluation framework I've seen thanks to our case study contributors and Food is Medicine partners.
www.fimcommunity.org
(4/5) The featured organizations from our webinar: Community Servings, Dion's Chicago Dream, Ceres Community Project, are service providers AND infrastructure builders.
Multi-year contracts. Medicaid billing. Published research. Local food system integration.
(3/5) Best insight from the Community Action Plan: look for "systems change orientation"
Organizations doing policy work + provider training alongside delivery aren't just feeding people, they're changing how healthcare operates.
That's where long-term impact lives.
(2/5) What makes a food-as-medicine program investment-ready?
"We have 5 years of data, healthcare contracts, and published outcomes research"
(1/5) I've watched too many promising food programs fail because funders treated them like charity instead of infrastructure.
The new Food is Medicine Community Action Plan shows how that conversation is changing.
Margery: "Sardines are disgusting. I don't know how anybody can get near them."
I stand by my answer, "You are SO WRONG about sardines. They're the best tinned fish, packed with calcium, and I eat them for lunch EVERY DAY."
Listen: https://ow.ly/HFC350Ym5IY
#BostonPublicRadio #FoodFight
"Every president should have a national food security advisor," José said. "I'm happy Cat is taking this role because the best is yet to come. Maybe she'll be the first food president!"
Congratulations, Cat. FreshFarm is in extraordinary hands.
A crowd listens to Chef Jose Andres at an event in The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.
The welcome reception at DC's Phillips Collection drew a crowd—including FreshFarm co-founder José Andrés, who closed his remarks with a spontaneous six-figure donation to spark support for FreshFarm's food access and education programs.
Cat Oakar, executive director of FRESHFARM speaks at the podium. Behind her is an intricately carved marble fireplace surrounded by dark wood.
This week, FreshFarm welcomed its new executive director, Cat Oakar—a force behind Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign and a key architect of the second White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health under President Biden.
Chef Jose Andres, smiling and holding his hand up, speaks at an event hosted by FRESHFARM at The Phillips Collection. He stands behind a clear podium with a mic and a sign that reads, FRESHFARM: nourishing our food future. Behind him stands Cat Oakar, the new executive director of the organization. They are in a wood paneled room.
"Food needs to be at the grassroots. Food needs to stop being the problem. It's the environment. It's the economy. It's health." —José Andrés
Open Access launched to give food entrepreneurs what should have always existed: a free, clear, centralized guide to starting and growing a business in in cities like NYC. We got more, check out: AspenFood.org
We're proud it's part of Food & Society at the Aspen Institute's work .
#small business
Thank you Dara the Food Enthusiast at J More Living for our conversation!
A delightful walk down memory lane and pointing to the road ahead for @aspenfood.bsky.social , our Food Leaders Fellows, and Food is Medicine initiative.
Full interview here: aspenfood.org/2026/02/23/f...
#Leadership #CareerPivot #FoodPolicy
I'll go on the record that restaurant seating should be a standard restaurant critic criterion—right up there with food quality and noise levels.
Requirements: high, solid seat and good back support.
Enjoy my latest conversation on Boston Public Radio: aspenfood.org/2026/02/25/t...
What does it actually take to scale Food is Medicine at the community level? Read about the new Food is Medicine Community Action Plan from Food & Society at the Aspen Institute in Food Tank.
More: https://ow.ly/Ixbo50Ykluq
Food is Medicine Community Action Plan Highlight: DC Greens
They're not just addressing food access—they're rebuilding the entire food system in Washington, D.C. to be just and resilient.
Read the case study: https://www.fimcommunity.org/cases/dc-greens
#FoodIsMedicine
“'If you have a crop disease suddenly appear in one part of the world, everybody, including us, relies on CIMMYT to catch that early and to help working on remedies,' Mr. Berninger said."
@tedalcorn.bsky.social on cut USAID ag research $ that leaves China to dominate: www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/s...
What happens when a hospital integrates a food pantry AND teaching kitchen into patient care?
The MGH Revere Food Pantry shows us in our Community Action Plan.
More: https://www.fimcommunity.org/cases/mgh-revere-food-pantry
#FoodIsMedicine #CommunityHealth #CaseStudies
Public Health Solutions in has developed a model for delivering Food is Medicine interventions in diverse communities. Their approach centers on:
-Understanding community needs
-Building partnerships
-Measuring what matters
More: https://www.fimcommunity.org/cases/public-health-solutions
Assume someone got "Out I went and looked around/And Macy's is the place I found"?
Hint: "Life is a bitter cup of tea/Now I'm just salesgirl seventy-three"
Your Organization's Story Belongs in Food & Society at the Aspen Institute's Community Action Plan! We want YOUR story.
Submission is simple: www.fimcommunity.org/about
#FoodIsMedicine #CommunityHealth #CaseStudies
Fascinating irony in the delivery economy: drivers report people in subsidized housing tip better and treat them more kindly than wealthy customers.
Meanwhile, some are going into debt for convenience!
What's the real cost?
🎧 https://aspenfood.org/2026/02/04/the-golden-age-of-condiments/
Introducing Food & Society at the Aspen Institute's Food is Medicine Community Action Plan!
Spotlighting 14 orgs transforming health through food. Today: About Fresh uses tech to deliver fresh, culturally appropriate food with dignity.
Learn more: https://www.fimcommunity.org/cases/about-fresh
GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic are changing eating habits—users crave fresh produce over processed foods. With 12% of Americans on these meds, how do we support lasting change? Watch the conversation on Boston Public Radio: https://aspenfood.org/2026/02/04/the-golden-age-of-condiments/ #FoodPolicy #GLP1
This should include embracing plant-based meat alternatives to combat terrible environmental and animal welfare harms.
Agricultural subsidies should encourage fresh nutritious foods for human consumption.We should support more generous SNAP benefits to get good food to those facing food insecurity."
"We know what the problems with the American diet are: People need less red meat, fat, sugar, and more vegetables, fruit, legumes, grains. We should invest in better food technologies that can be used to transform nutritious whole foods into even more nutritious processed and prepared foods.
Before you write off a piece defending industrial food, look at the concluding recommendations, all of which are sensible and some of which the current administration might both endorse (not all! they lead with eating less red meat) and think how to implement.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...
Food & Society at the Aspen Institute's third cohort of Food Leaders Fellows visited some beautiful people in DC. Thank you The Green Scheme, Hustlaz 2 Harvesters and Dreaming Out Loud for welcoming us and sharing your work. We felt the love.
Yesterday on Boston Public Radio I revealed what I eat for lunch every day: sardines. Turn on the volume for Jim and Margery's reactions!
But listen to the segment for my recipe and more: https://ow.ly/CREu50Y8ZOH
#foodnews Food & Society at the Aspen Institute
