Aprons showed up in City Hall yesterday when representatives from the Oakland Food Policy Council presented the group’s initial proposals for strengthening the city’s food system. The independent advocacy group called on City Council’s Life Enrichment Committee to take ten ‘first-steps’ toward reaching a series of food system goals.

The Food Policy Council presented the city with a unique challenge – impact economy, health and environment by changing the rules. The group claims key updates to city policies would make a big difference towards goals like sourcing 30% of Oakland’s food needs from within the city and the surrounding region. Rather than large sums of money, the council proposed ideas like relevant operating standards and zoning regulations for people growing and selling food, support for emerging food enterprises, formal partnerships between small farmers and a truce with food carts.

The proposed street-food truce attracted Tracee Campbell, who moved from Florida to create a shish-kabob enterprise in Oakland. She has been advocating at City Council to legalize grills on street carts rather than operate illegally, as many vendors currently do. If the city takes up the Food Policy Council’s challenge and changes some rules, she may soon be on her way to contributing to the local economy – and food cart twitter activity.

See the report here: Transforming the Oakland Food System: A Plan for Action

About Oakland Food Policy Council

The mission of the Oakland Food Policy Council (OFPC) is to establish an equitable and sustainable food system in Oakland, California. The OFPC will: * Strive to ensure access to healthy, affordable food within walking distance of every Oakland resident; * Bring underserved neighborhoods to the food policy table and increase “food literacy” among Oakland residents; * Put food, hunger, and food systems on the City of Oakland’s agenda and contribute to the national dialog on food policy; * Turn the Oakland food system into an engine for local economic development and involve local and regional agricultural communities.

• Oakland Food Policy Council Blog

Becca McCurdy likes to eat with people and consider the whole system. She's a host with Hub Bay Area and is into collaboration.