Food Republic: FoodCorps Takes Activism Local

FoodCorps aims to get kids to eat better

This school year Stephanie Lip is trying to achieve the impossible — to get students in the Tohono O’odham tribe to eat tepary beans (a traditional tribal staple) rather than Doritos. “I get some attitude from middle schoolers,” says Lip, one of the food movement’s newest activists, “but we try to empower them and not force anything on them.” Although her situation may seem unusual, Lip isn’t alone in trying to get kids hooked on fruits and vegetables. As part of FoodCorps, she is one of 50 service members touting the benefits of healthy and local eating in communities around the nation.