What is Real Food?

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What is Real Food? On the UCSB campus, change is happening right within our own dining halls, as Real Food Challenge with the help of students and Dining Services move to exceed 20% of purchases to be towards Real Food: local/community-based, fair, ecologically sound, and humane. When we say Real Food we are speaking towards the whole food system. RFC defines it as “food that is ethically produced, with fair treatment of workers, equitable relationships with farmers (locally and abroad), and humanely treated animals. It's food that is environmentally sustainable, grown without chemical pesticides, large-scale mono-cropping, or huge carbon footprints. Real Food is food that is healthy, tastes good, builds community, and has the potential to inspire broad-scale social change.
      You can call it "green" or fresh, "local" or "organic." But we're talking about more than supermarket labels. That's why we think about Real Food in the context of our entire food system, from farm to plate as food that truly nourishes people, communities, and the earth”(RFC, 2009). Universities and their students are taking the challenge nationwide, but change starts right here in our own community and school. Help ensure a healthy planet, bring justice to the table, and taking the challenge by demanding Real Food.