Northeast Regional Food Guide Fact Sheets

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Ideas for Nutrition Educators, Dieticians, and Food Service Managers

• Use the Northeast Regional Food Guide as a tool to encourage regional eating, and give examples of local foods in educational materials and counseling advice.
• Consider making educational presentations about regional eating at supermarkets, farmers' markets, or other places where people buy food. Also make presentations to local civic, environmental, and religious groups about the importance of regional eating.
• Plan seasonal menus and recipes for clients that feature northeastern foods and emphasize different forms of produce during different seasons. Stress canned, frozen, dried, and stored northeastern produce during the winter and fresh produce at other times of the year.
• Encourage hospitals, schools, and restaurants in your area to purchase local foods whenever possible. Some states, such as New York, have laws to help make this easier. If you are in charge of purchasing food for an institution, explore the feasibility of switching to local suppliers for at least some items.
• Support policies that preserve and maintain northeastern farmland and enhance the local food supply.
• Let suppliers know that you want to purchase northeastern foods, and encourage them to carry northeastern foods whenever possible.
• One way to create policy change is to form a local food policy council that involves a number of ÒstakeholdersÓ in the the food system, such as: retailers, wholesalers, farmers, processors, hunger advocates, community leaders, city planners, and others.
• Recommend involvement in a Community Supported Agriculture farm or a community garden as part of a nutrition education strategy.

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