Good Food is everywhere— in fancy restaurants and not so fancy ones, farmer’s markets, gourmet shops, and home kitchens all across America. We believe good food is fresh, local, seasonal and delicious! It celebrates culture and heritage, technique and toil on the farm and in the kitchen. But even the best food isn’t GOOD FOOD unless every growing child has access to it.

Did you know that 1 in 6 kids in America, or 12.6 million kids, are at risk for going to bed hungry? The good news is we – every one of us –can do something about it! At Food Network, we decided to do something about it by partnering with Share Our Strength. Over the last two years, we’ve joined forces on nutrition education, bake sales and food festivals in an effort to raise awareness, funds and solutions to end childhood hunger.

But we were just getting our feet wet. Now we’re ready to grow – literally – with the launch of our Good Food Gardens. Together with SOS and Teich Garden Systems we’re planting seeds for good nutrition where it begins—in the soil. The Good Food Gardens will support SOS’s goal to “surround kids with nutritious food where they live, learn and play.”

Designed to provide food deserts (like urban blacktop) with a self-contained gardening oasis, the Good Food Gardens will allows kids to plant, grow, nurture, harvest and learn in their own community. As a longtime Operation Frontline volunteer and passionate urban gardener, I’ve been dreaming of this day for a long time. For me, the gardening bug bit me back in 3rd grade, after reading how American Girl Molly’s family planted a Victory Garden in their backyard to help provide food during war-time shortages. Back then, the idea of a food-shortage was foreign to me, but I promptly turned our abandoned backyard sandbox into a little garden and I’ve been gardening – and feasting on the harvest – ever since.

I’ve since learned that anything from natural disasters (like Katrina) to rising gas prices and poverty can create big barriers to good food. And big barriers require big visionaries, like Billy Shore, Share Our Strength’s founder, and Alice Waters, founder of the Chez Panisse Foundation.

We have a special soft spot for Alice Waters, not just because she’s the founder of the Edible Schoolyard, our inspiration for the Good Food Gardens, but because she was one of Share Our Strength’s first vocal supporters. And she continues to work tirelessly to inspire, motivate and educate the country.

So it is with joy and gratitude that we will unveil our very first Good Food Garden among the expansive Victory Garden of Slow Food Nation – the largest celebration of food in American history, founded by none other than Alice Waters.

The Victory Garden, set in the heart of the San Francisco’s Civic Center – was planted last month in the same site as the post-World War II gardens 60 years ago. Its harvest will be donated to local food banks and meals programs across San Francisco. Our Good Food Garden, planted last week, will become a living classroom for the youth at the Boys & Girls Club of Treasure Island in San Francisco.

Both gardens, and all the hands and hard work behind them, stand for self-sufficiency, resilience and a healthy and victorious future.…..and lots of Good Food.

Get ready to dig in!