Whether it's a profession or a passion, the celebration of good food reaches its annual high for most of us during the holidays. The same passion and creativity that brings members of the food community together over great food and drink also proves to be an effective force for change and education. We spoke with four people who have dedicated their talents to developing organizations that are making remarkable contributions and fostering new awareness in the food world and beyond.

With a degree in economics and a job in the import industry, cooking used to be just a hobby for Richard Grausman, founder and president of Careers Through Culinary Arts Program. But as he got more passionate about cooking---spurred in part by studying under James Beard---he headed to Paris to study. A successful career as a teacher, writer, TV personality, and all-around expert on French cuisine followed, including writing At Home with the French Classics, now in its seventh printing.

But as Grausman saw it, all was not rosy in the world of cooking back in the States. He became increasingly aware of a narrowing of the national palate, and predictions of cookless kitchens and microwave-equipped automobiles convinced him that Americans were cutting themselves off from the culture of food. "These facts were particularly depressing for a culinary teacher," says Grausman, "So I decided I needed to do something to change the forecast, and I decided on inner-city schools as the means to do it." In 1990 he took the bold step of founding C-CAP with the goal of empowering and enlivening existing home economics and cooking programs.

Today Grausman's New York City-based venture not only brings high-quality food education to schools in seven cities nationwide, but also sets up support, job training and scholarship opportunities for some 10,000 high school students, many of whom have already been left behind by traditional curriculums. While Grausman sees culinary arts as particularly galvanizing for the students he reaches, he also emphasizes that ongoing support and career advice offered by C-CAP are key to its success as a vocational and career program.

Also working in the field of education is Dr. Marion Nestle, chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University. A major goal of Nestle's since she joined the university 14 years ago has been to establish food studies as a respected academic field of inquiry, and she and her fellow academics have had extraordinary success at doing so. But Nestle, with a background in nutrition and a veteran of such national policy agencies as the Department of Health and Human Services, sees the effect food has on our lives as staggeringly large. She points out that food is a trillion-dollar a year industry in this country, and an industry with enormous effect on the health of the American people.

Says Nestle, speaking of her years as the government's Senior Nutrition Policy Advisor in the 1980s, "The assumption is that dietary recommendations are based on research, but it became clear to me that policy was affected as much by lobbying and politics as industries like guns, drugs and tobacco." This experience became the basis of Food Politics (University of California Press, 2002), her book detailing the effect of industry marketing on our country's food regulation and nutrition policies, covering issues from the promotion of soft drinks in schools to how election reform would make politicians less beholden to corporations.

Nestle's simple recommendation for making a difference on a daily basis? Eat organic, local products, a view shared by Leslie Hoffman, Executive Director of the Earth Pledge Foundation, a group dedicated to promoting sustainable lifestyles.

With a degree in architecture and design and a background as a gardener and environmental builder, Hoffman says the concept of sustainability was something she understood intuitively---aided in part by a childhood in Italy, where she learned to eat with an appreciation of locally produced products. Hoffman began running Earth Pledge in 1994 and spearheaded the group's focus on a sustainable cuisine that integrates all aspects of the food system. In 2001 the group launched FarmToTable.org, a platform for connecting chefs and consumers to New York State farmers and promoting awareness of environmental concerns in agriculture. The web site profiles farms, vintners, small producers, green markets and restaurants working towards sustainability and will expand to other regions in 2003.

Educational programs, lectures and cooking classes are held at Earth Pledge's East 38th Street town house, once the residence of Abraham Lincoln's granddaughter. The design preserves the buildings historic details while showcasing "green" technology like low water usage, energy efficiency and an organic roof garden. "I'm sharing my passion," says Hoffman, "Earth Pledge is about highlighting the interconnectedness of architecture, agriculture and cuisine, and encouraging people to think about the choices they make on a daily basis, both personally and professionally."

And finally, Claire Insalata Poulos has worked tirelessly to combat hunger in our communities since she graduated form ICE® in 1989. As founder of Table to Table, northeastern New Jersey's first food rescue program, she has created a direct link between food retailers and restaurants and agencies that serve meals to those in need. The organization currently supplies more than 2 million high-quality meals a day to hunger relief programs at shelters, women's safe houses, drug rehab centers, and HIV and elder daycare centers.

Poulos's incredibly successful program benefits from a business savvy that Poulos attributes to her years working in marketing at IBM. By collecting the donations of food purveyors in her area, and relying solely on volunteers with the exception of paid drivers and one executive director, Table to Table manages to feed the hungry for less than 15 cents a meal. "We probably have the distinction of being the lowest per-meal cost of any food program," says Poulos. "And it's gorgeous food---meats, fresh fish, poultry, dairy, beautiful produce and wonderful prepared foods," adds Poulos with a chef's appreciation.
What's the secret to impacting the community, and making a difference on a broad level? "Believe you can," says Poulos, "and choose one organization, and stick with it, and you'll really be able to see the impact of your contribution."

C-CAP
250 W. 57th Street
New York, NY 10107
212/974-7111
ccapinc.org

Earth Pledge Foundation
122 E. 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
212/725-6611
earthpledge.org or farmtotable.org

New York University Department of Nutrition and Food Studies
35 W. 4th Street
New York, NY 10012
212/998-5580
nyu.edu/education/nutrition

Table to Table
Box 1051
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
201/871-1070
tabletotable.org