Hooray! Today is National Food Day! A day that we all celebrate … food! Right?

OK, OK, hold up. Really? National Food Day? Is this like, the all-encompassing version of National Hot Dog Day and National Ice Cream Day and all those other days that were dreamt up by some evil blonde marketing executive in some tastefully-designed office somewhere? Where anyone selling food can claim, “It's National Food Day! Come buy my … food!!!”

It turns out, National Food Day is actually a tad more serious than that. The day's website (foodday.org) explains that “Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food.” Events take place around the country, most of them focused on health and sustainability. In Los Angeles, for instance, an event is happening right now (9 a.m.-noon) at City Hall hosted by the Los Angeles Food Policy Council. Speakers include the mayor, members of the city council, and Director of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and County Health Officer. Like many Food Day events, the name (Los Angeles Food Day) is a tad obtuse, but the resolutions being discussed are quite admirable:

The Food Day Resolution calls for:

Equitable access to affordable, healthy food for all Angelenos.

Building healthy, vibrant neighborhoods and eliminating health disparities through street food vending, urban agriculture, farmers' markets and community market conversions, and healthy school food environments.

Creating markets to support local growers, sustainable agriculture, and fair pay and working conditions for food chain workers.working conditions for food chain workers.

Those are some lofty goals, but any event that gets people talking about the aspects of food that can actually change lives, as opposed to just celebrating hot dogs, is worthy in our book.

Of course, it wouldn't be a proper food day if people didn't also use it as a marketing tool. Border Grill, for instance, is offering special Food Day prix fixe meals today.

So … hooray for Food Day? We think?

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