One particularly interesting facet of the local food movement is the diversity of backgrounds from which people approach it.  High school teachers, professors, gardeners and government workers are just a few of the groups that see the value of eating local.  A meeting that took place last week at the New Harvest Community Arts Center and Café in Columbus was a microcosm of the diverse world of local food.  Then following are the people who attended the meeting, in the order that they introduced themselves around the table:

Kwodwo Ababio is the owner and cook for New Harvest.  He runs a garden in a once vacant lot next to his restaurant, and is dedicated to the betterment of the Linden community.  He sees agriculture and access to local foods as important ways to achieve that goal.
Dr. Casey Hoy is a Professor and Kellogg Endowed Chair for Agricultural Ecosystem Management at the OARDC (Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center), which is part of Ohio State University.
Steve Bosserman is working with Casey Hoy on a USDA – SCRI grant looking at food systems in urban corridors.  His goal is to work toward a self-sustaining local food system in Columbus.
Marianne Riofrio is an environmental science teacher at East High School.  She is committed to getting urban teens in contact with nature by incorporating some agriculture into her curriculum.

Ryan “Kwesi” Holmes is an ORIP intern working with Kwodwo Ababio. He is researching the effect of human hair as a fertilizer in the garden behind New Harvest.  Holmes took the name Kwesi, which means “a boy born on Sunday” as a way of reinventing himself.  Holmes said that the problem with the Linden area is that people simply accept the fate that is thrust upon them and he is determined to do something about it.
Dr. Ross MacDonald works with Casey Hoy and Steve Bosserman on the same USDA grant and attends to all things related to education.
Dr. Susan Shockey teaches in the field of Family and Consumer Sciences for OSU Extension.  Her area of expertise is personal finance and she wants to help promote the family unit.  She described herself as impatient.
Rachel Myers and I are ORIP interns working in the Agroecosystems Management Program at OARDC.  We write stories for localfoodsystems.org about what’s going on in the local food movement.
Linda Bosserman works with Steve and has a background in marketing and public relations.  She is part Japanese, part German and spent some time living in Europe, so she sympathizes with the immigrant population in Columbus and has personal experience with sustainable local food systems in Germany.
Barb Seckler works for Columbus Public Health, promoting active living, a healthy diet, and access to nutritious, fresh food.  
        The topics under discussion ranged as far and wide as the people discussing them.  One big idea that everyone was interested in was putting New Harvest food in mobile food carts.  The benefits and possibilities were extensive.  Steve Bosserman, who suggested the idea, pointed out that the people staffing the carts, probably high school kids, would learn about nutrition and food preparation.  Ababio added that when he was in the Navy, he saw carts like this in Japan that sold fried rice on the street.  If New Harvest carts went with similar products, very little refrigeration would be needed and profits would accrue from both growing vegetables and selling healthy food prepared from them.  

        Another topic was the possibility of some sort of local food-themed festival in the Linden area this fall.  Everyone seemed to have something to contribute to this idea.  Shockey said that OSU extension was talking about having a fall event with jamming and canning, and that they could combine with Ababio’s festival.  The idea was put forth to create local food and urban agriculture clubs at Columbus high schools, so naturally a sign-up for that will go at the festival.  Linda Bosserman offered to help with organization and budget, since she has considerable experience in those fields.  Seckler noted that August 4th is National Night Out, so the festival could be promoted there.  Overall, this festival became a group effort, with just about everyone contributing something.
        The fact that local food advocates come from so many different fields and backgrounds is one of the greatest strengths of the local food movement.  While diversity may occasionally lead to disagreements, it also helps everyone to see the many facets of this issue.  The latest meeting at New Harvest showed just how many different types of people are involved in this cause and how each one can contribute, provided they understand that their efforts need to respond to self-defined community needs and opportunities.