Nutrition and public policy expert Marion Nestle answers readers' questions in this column written exclusively for The Chronicle.
What does matter is that they thought this audience important enough to come and state their positions on how food production and consumption affect public health, and how political leaders can use their authority to improve the food system.
The sold-out audience of nearly 1,000 filled the auditorium at the New School as well as two overflow rooms.
Twelve groups, each working separately for improvements in food assistance, food access, working conditions, local farming, food systems or health had formed a coalition to plan the forum and make it happen.
How would the new mayor address hunger and food insecurity, inadequate access to healthy food, the low wages and inhumane treatment of restaurant and fast-food workers, the poor quality of school food, and the high rates of diet-related chronic disease among city residents.
Even the more city-centered questions - how to use the city's purchasing power to support regional agriculture and the food economy, and to promote city land for urban farming - have plenty of relevance for other urban areas, including Bay Area cities.
Advocacy groups need to get together to create a real political movement - an organized force strong enough to propel food concerns onto the national agenda and force politicians to take action to improve food systems.
