Food Justice
Access to healthy, locally-sourced, and affordable food options is critically important to personal health as well as the environment. Food from local farms reduces the huge greenhouse gas emissions from transporting food across the globe and helps support local farmers. Food justice refers to the right to eat and grow healthy foods — a right that is denied when there aren’t healthy options or they aren’t affordable. See below for more on affordable access to healthy foods and how to help grow food in your own community.
Affording healthy foods
Fresh produce, meat and eggs, and other fresh ingredients can be very expensive. One important way to access them at a lower cost is through many farmer’s markets which will match (meaning you can buy $20 of food with $10 of credit) for most food assistance programs, including EBT/Calfresh, WIC, and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program benefits. Local farmer’s markets include:
- East Palo Alto — Wednesdays 8:30am-12:30pm, Bloomhouse (2555 Pulgas Ave), April-November ONLY, match up to $10
- California Avenue (Palo Alto) — Sunday 9am-1pm, California Ave & El Camino Real, match up to $15
- Downtown Palo Alto — Saturdays 8am-12pm, 601 Gilman St, accepts EBT but does not match
For more options, see this map — green pins offer matches for some or all programs.
Growing food
One of the best ways to get fresh, healthy, dependable food is to grow it here in EPA. The Collective Roots Community Garden (1785 Woodland Ave) offers workshops and hands on training for residents on how to grow their own produce. They may also be able to help provide seeds, lends gardening tools, and install a garden at your home.
- Gardening workshops — Interested in learning more about gardening? See here for a schedule of events
- Garden volunteer days — Interested in helping with the community garden and potentially getting your own plot there? Sign up here for gardening days at Collective Roots
