The Food Project wants to bring what we eat and how we eat it back to the community. We want to highlight the importance of eating healthily and locally, as well as demonstrate the way to do it without a ton of daily hassle. Instead of purchasing all your food from one national brand, the Food Project wants to support local farmers and make sure their food makes it to the kitchen tables in town.

Problem

The Food Project realizes that most people do all of their one stop shopping from one giant national brand. However, these brands aren't best serving their customers. Customers should have access to the healthiest food possible and the Food Project wants to bring that to them. Buying locally supports your farmers and gives you the best eating options possible, which after all, is what everyone wants.

Solution

The best way to get people to eat local food is to get them to buy local food, and for that to happen, the local food has to be easily available. In this way, The Food Project wants to bring as much local food as possible into one place for the people to buy. This is where The Food Project comes into play. There would be a Food Co-Op and a Community Kitchen. The Food Co-Op would be stocked with all locally produced foods that make it easier for members of the community to support their farmers. The Community Kitchen is a public space for people to come together to cook together and take part in group dinners. A group dinner involves members planning out a menu beforehand, dividing up the cost of groceries and the time of shopping, and coming back together to cook meals for their families in advance to freeze and serve later.

Example

The Food Project uses the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model in which the members of the community pay in advance to be a part of the project and that money goes to local farmers to support their crops. Once the crops are harvested, that food goes back to the Food Co-Op and the Community Kitchen to service the people.

Marketplace

Here in State College, we have a huge source of students as well as residential families and individuals who would greatly benefit from a Food Co-Op and Community Kitchen. College students don't always have access to a kitchen and might struggle to eat healthy and regularly. With the Food Co-Op and the Community Kitchen they can do both. Residential community members would have an opportunity to come together and really meet their neighbors in a new and helpful way. As long as they strive to feed their families the best food they can, The Food Project would be their number one option.