Angela Wu, Special Writer
About 50 community members, including farmers, college students and local government officials, attended a forum at Labyrinth Books on Wednesday evening to discuss the state of Mercer County’s food system.
Labyrinth owner Dorothea von Moltke, along with Diane Landis of the Princeton Schools Garden Cooperative and Susan Conlon of the Princeton Public Library, led the forum, which followed the library’s environmental film festival last month. The organizers wanted to map out a community of people interested in working with food policy, Ms. von Moltke said.
Topics discussed included education on health and nutrition, food from local farms in school cafeterias and accessibility of healthy food in urban areas, where supermarkets are few and far between.
”We use the term food democracy,” said Mark Winne, who writes, speaks and consults on food policy councils and subjects ranging from hunger to agriculture. “It’s a concept that we as consumers should have some say in what we’re eating.”
A Labyrinth event last October, a discussion with Mr. Winne about food security in America, inspired Wednesday’s forum. Mr. Winne also has discussed the idea of a food policy council with Ms. Landis and the Princeton Schools Garden Cooperative.
”It’s an issue of how to recreate the food system so that there’s healthy, local food for everyone from schoolchildren to single mothers in Trenton,” said Ms. Landis, whose organization links local farmers and chefs to Princeton public schools.
The dearth of healthy foods in urban communities like Trenton was one of the key problems addressed at the forum.
”It’s a food desert,” said Jarrett Kerbel of the Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton, about the urban area in which he works. “One of the issues we should be looking at is how to get fresh produce to people, and increasing diversity of food to lower-income people in our community.”
With an increase in job losses, food pantries in Trenton have faced increasing demand this past year. Many, including that of the Crisis Ministry, were almost empty last fall.
”It’s a social justice issue. There’s an imbalance between our wealth and resources and the considerable number of poorly nourished people in America,” Ms. von Moltke said.
Many of those in attendance were parents who voiced concern about the nutrition of the food their children eat in school cafeterias.
”[Food] affects all aspects of the community, especially our children,” said Paul Kapp, a father of two school-age boys, who acted as a moderator in the discussions. “Where I find myself focusing is how to educate and empower children, and get them involved.”
Currently, the Princeton Schools Garden Cooperative tries to integrate food into the curriculum of Princeton public schools with workshops and gardens. The organization has started edible gardens at six schools.
The forum was also an opportunity to forge a connection between civic engagement and policy makers, Ms. von Moltke said.
Representatives from local government, including Princeton Borough Council President Andrew Koontz, attended the event and brought up issues of food waste and recycling, as well as farmers market food vouchers for seniors.
Local farmers also brought their concerns to the table. Their issues ranged from the economic viability of food producers to the need for sustainable and local farming.
”We’re feeding our nation on unhealthy food and that has terrible consequences,” said Lucia Huebner, of Beechtree Farm in Hopewell. “The pendulum needs to swing back from industry to local family farms. There are a lot of people doing very interesting things in agriculture.”
”We have every reason to talk about food,” said Mike Rassweiler of North Slope Farm in Lambertville. “We have every reason to be doing exciting things about food.”

