Eco-minded food enthusiasts’ nation-wide joined together to celebrate National Food Day on Monday.

MU’s involvement in National Food Day included two events: a Fair Food Fair held in Memorial Union, and a screening of the documentary “Fresh,” followed by a panel discussion in Conservation Hall.

Sustain Mizzou member Monica Everett helped organize and was present at both the Fair Food Fair as well as the documentary screening.

She described National Food Day as a national grassroots campaign aimed at improving student awareness about the importance of “real food,” or food that is ecologically sound as well as fairly and humanely grown.

Everett further explained that National Food Day was sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit group focused on issues such as public nutrition, food safety and environmental protection.

“I just want lots of people here so that they know how to be involved and to be aware of how their food effects producers, the environment and themselves,” she said.

Student Sustainability Adviser Ben Datema was also present at both events. Datema, a 2010 MU graduate, helped pass the Sustainability Fee, which is a $1 fee paid by each student automatically. The revenue from that fee then goes to fund student-oriented projects supporting environmental sustainability.

“This event is all about local and sustainable food options,” he said. “We’re promoting food that is good for people’s health, the local economy, and the local environment.”

Datema further expressed his hopes that National Food Day would encourage people to buy more local food as well as talk to suppliers.

The Fair Food Fair included booths with many of those suppliers, like Rick Boudreau, owner and founder of Missouri Food 4 Missouri People.

Missouri Food 4 Missouri People provides locally grown eggs and produce to schools, hospitals and grocery stores, such as Hy-Vee, in both Columbia and Jefferson City.

Boudreau said he hoped to later expand Missouri Food 4 Missouri People into supplying environmentally friendly meat-products.

That idea was echoed by the documentary, “Fresh,” shown later in the day. The documentary focused on the production of environmentally sound produce and meat.

The documentary highlighted the inhumane practices that are often prevalent in the meat industry. Viewers of the documentary learned many cows are forced to eat grain, which their stomachs are not designed to digest.

The following panel included one of the documentary’s stars, emeritus professor of agricultural economics John Ikerd, as well as Root Cellar owner Jake Davis and Rural Crisis Center spokesman Tim Gibbons.

Sophomore Sean Brown attended National Food Day. Brown expressed his enthusiasm for the event, which he said he found both enjoyable and educational.

“I was excited to learn today that the food in the dining halls rose from 10 to 15 percent locally grown in the last year,” he said. “It’s great that days such as today are contributing to increased awareness of sustainable food at Mizzou.”