The city of Phoenix brought together vendors and residents to learn about healthy eating and participate in a giant apple-crunching activity Thursday at Cesar Chavez Plaza on Washington Street and First Avenue at the fourth annual Phoenix Food Day.
Rosanne Albright, environmental specialist for the city, said Phoenix Food Day is “the city’s celebration of healthy, sustainable, affordable food.”
“Our goal for Food Day is to start a movement to create a healthy, equitable, sustainable, thriving food system,” Albright said. “So we want to engage people in all aspects of that food system, from growing to production to consumers to even the waste. So we really want folks to be involved in it at all phases and help us really grow that healthy system.”
The biggest event of the day was the FitPHX Apple Crunch, where all in attendance bit into their apples at the same time.
“It was one of our largest FitPHX events ever, and we had a great group from several schools, including Bethune … lots of enthusiasm from our students, so they did a great job with a unified crunch,” said District 8 Councilwoman Kate Gallego, who led the countdown to the Apple Crunch at noon.
According to Albright, an estimated 230 students from elementary schools around Phoenix were expected to be in attendance. The Apple Crunch also occurred at after school facilities, senior centers and libraries.
Gallego said her favorite part of Food Day was hearing the Bethune Bears roar for healthy eating before the Apple Crunch drumroll.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona and Fresh Express, a mobile produce market, donated 2,500 apples to Food Day in hopes that the public would be able to set a record for most participants in the Phoenix Apple Crunch.
Elyse Guidas, executive director of Fresh Express, said it was a pleasure coordinating the Apple Crunch event and that she was proud to be a part of it this year.
“I missed the Apple Crunch last year, so I was excited to be a part of it this year,” Guidas said. “I think it is very well organized, I think that everything has flowed really well … I think having the kids involved and getting kids involved at a really young age is something that is new this year and is something important, especially as this momentum behind the movement continues to gain.”
Albright said that this year, Food Day is going beyond awareness and celebration to give participants hands-on education.
Food Day provided cooking demonstrations and information through various workshops. It focused on getting people to celebrate, have a fun time and learn something new, Albright said.
The event had more than 50 exhibitors, food samples, products and services. Workshops on aquaponics, eatable landscaping and how to be healthy on a budget were a few held in the City Council chambers.
New to this year’s Food Day was the Kids Healthy Zone, which taught gardening, water safety and proper hiking. Kids were also able to participate in the fruit and veggie toss and planted in the city of Phoenix Demonstration Garden.
Vendors provided recipes, products and healthy living tips to both children and adults.
Guidas said Fresh Express received a lot of traffic because people wanted to talk about different recipes and the health and wellness packets the business provided. People also purchased the fresh produce Fresh Express sold, such as apples, bananas and kale.
“It has been a really well-attended event, I think both for the different expos going on over there and for us,” Guidas said.
Gallego said many people signed up for regular food deliveries from community-supported agriculture, asked questions of the master gardeners and received information.
Gallego said the goal of Food Day was to help Phoenix residents pursue health and fitness.
“I think it is great, I think it is really important,” Guidas said. “I think people often wonder why they have knee pains or why they have stomachaches all the time, and there is really a movement of understanding what you put in your mouth manifests in the rest of your body.”
Contact the reporter at Ellanna.Koontz@asu.edu.
