Food Literacy FAQs

What is food literacy?
Food literacy is an awareness of how to make healthy food choices that help you develop good food habits for a lifetime of health.

Why is food literacy important?
If you understand where your food comes from, and how to make healthy choices, you will be able to establish lifelong, healthy food practices. Becoming more food literate means we are feeding our families with healthy food, supporting our local agricultural communities and helping to grow our economy by supporting the industry that produces our food.

How do I teach myself/my children/my students about making healthy food choices?
There are tremendous resources to promote local food, healthy food choices and recipes using local, in-season foods. Start with the information on this site. Visit a local farmers' market. Find an online recipe through one of our sponsors' sites - then go shopping, looking for Ontario-grown ingredients and cook together in the kitchen.

Who is the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, and why did they develop Six by Sixteen?
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is a general farm organization that represents 36,000 farm families in Ontario. We work on behalf of Ontario farmers to make sure they have the opportunities to operate farm businesses that are profitable and sustainable.
The Ontario Federation of Agriculture is championing food literacy because it helps feed our families, supports our agricultural communities and helps grow Ontario's economy.

Where can I find out more?
This website links to lots of great resources on how to make healthy food choices, simple how to cooking videos and where to buy local Ontario-grown food. Six by Sixteen partners are an abundant source for recipes to try at home.