Today is Food Day. What is Food Day, you ask? It’s a national day to celebrate, think about, talk about, and move towards healthier, more affordable, and more sustainable food for everyone. Today, events are taking place across the country to discuss issues with today’s food system and how the system and our food policies can be improved. You can read more about it at the Food Day website.

Yesterday, I attended events at the first day of a two-day celebration of Food Day organized by Food Sol at nearby Babson College. The first was a panel discussion featuring several local thought leaders in the food space. They covered a wide range of perspectives, from distribution of food to the hungry or the seriously ill to availability and education about healthier and more affordable food for the poor and underserved to the history of food ways and why people eat the way they do, in the past and the present. There is certainly a lot wrong with today’s systems, but there was a great deal of optimism about current steps in the right direction and hope for more in the future.

The second event was an on-stage chat led by Andrew Zimmern, current entrepreneur-in-residence at Babson with six Boston-area chefs with a strong bent towards local and sustainable foods. Each person talked about their personal path to where they are today and their ideas for how to continue to educate people about the importance of eating healthier and more sustainably. It was another lively discussion.

I’m going back for another event this afternoon. I’m feeling inspired. There is so much to think about and so many opportunities to take steps forward on this important topic.