The 1st Annual Back to Basis Good Food Festival NYC

If you live in New York and you love food, then mark your calendar, because there is an upcoming event you won’t want to miss.

Benefiting The 30 Project and Just Food, and featuring local farmers and chefs (think The Amazing Real Live Food Company, Dashing Star Farm, Padgett Far,  Gramercy Tavern, Colicchio and Sons, Rouge Tomate, and Minetta Tavern, to name a few), the event is called the Back to Basis Good Food Festival.  The goal is to get all of us to consider what we’re eating, where it comes from (no doubt this week’s massive egg recall helped with that), and how we can choose to “eat locally,” supporting small, regional farms in the process.   From the event website:

ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2010, FROM 11AM TO 4PM IN GANSEVOORT PLAZA, Basis and The Feed Foundation will co-host the first annual BACK TO BASIS™ GOOD FOOD FESTIVAL in celebration of the season’s harvest. By day, the festival will feature traditional, localized, 100% traceable food from 30 family farmers and local top chefs. In the evening, farmers, chefs and a select group of ticket holders will come together for a seasonal, farm-to-table dinner to celebrate good food.

I’ve been following The 30 Project, since coming across a TEDTalk given by Ellen Gustafson, co-founder of The FEED Foundation and FEED Projects, at the TEDxEast conference in May of the year.   In the talk, she explains her shockingly simple, common-sense equation for global malnutrition: “Obesity + Hunger = 1 Global Food Issue.”  The reality is that, worldwide, 1 billion people are hungry and 1 billion people are overweight.  She contends that this issue is the direct result of the changes in the food system over the past 30 years, and it will take the next 30 years to get it back on track, starting now.

If you’ve not already seen the video of Ellen’s talk, I’ve included it below.  It takes ten minutes to watch.  Trust me, it’s worth the time.  And, if you’ll be in New York City on September 19th, buy your tickets and head to the Meatpacking District for what is sure to be a delicious time.

Eat well and do good.