Next month, two Floridians will travel to NYC to receive an honor from America's big-deal culinary cheerleader.
The James Beard Foundation Leadership Awards, held in conjunction with the JBF Food Conference for a sixth year, is set to recognize six visionaries impacting food-system justice and equality, childhood nutrition and hunger — food-world issues that are focal points of our national (and international) conversation. Who's repping the Sunshine State during this year's awards presentation on Oct. 17?
Coalition of Immokalee Workers co-founders Greg Asbed and Lucas Benitez.
The duo, chosen by a ballot of previous Leadership Award winners, is in the spotlight for their "innovative work in forging a new human rights model in the food industry supply chain." As a southwest Florida human rights organization, the CIW has been working to prevent human trafficking and gender-based work violence and demand worker-driven social responsibility for more than two decades.
This year's other honorees are John Boyd Jr. (National Black Farmers Association founder and president), Anna Lappé (Small Planet Institute founder and Real Food Media founder and director), Jim McGovern (Massachusetts Congressman), and Raj Patel (author, activist and academic). Past recipients whose outstanding initiatives, bodies of work or lifetime achievement have been recognized include First Lady Michelle Obama and Michael Pollan.
This article appears in Sep 22-29, 2016.