For anyone interested in changing the food system today, Twitter has proven to be a valuable tool for getting updated on current events, taking inspiration from individuals and organizations in the field, and simply gaining publicity. With an estimated 200 million active users sending out a collective 400 million Tweets per day, it’s an effective and engaging forum for food movement activists – eaters, farmers, writers, and researchers all over the world.
With so many millions of tweets, however, there is a daunting amount of material to sift through every day. To narrow it down, Food Tank has chosen 118 Twitter accounts that those involved in the food movement – or anyone who just wants to know more about the food system – should check every day.
Which other Twitter feeds do you follow that aren’t on our list? Please let us know!
1. Alice Waters – @AliceWaters
The queen of California cuisine, Alice Waters is the Vice President of Slow Food International, founder of the Yale Sustainable Food Project, and owner of acclaimed locavore restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, CA.
2. allAfrica.com – @allafrica
The premier news source for African news, allAfrica.com and its Twitter feed are great for information related to development, agriculture, and other news across the 54 countries in Africa.
3. Andrew Zimmern – @andrewzimmern
Zimmern, James Beard Award winner and host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, has a unique take on the cultural significance of food and its power to bring people together.
4. Andy Bellatti – @andybellatti
Bellatti, a self-described “wonk who loves to call out food industry deception,” offers the perspective of a food activist dietician.
5. Anna Lappe – @annalappe
Lappe has made a name for herself by founding Food Mythbusters, which aims to provide a clearer picture of the food industry and the hazards of fast food. She is behind the hashtag #MomsNotLovinIt – moms, however, certainly love Lappe’s Tweets.
6. Ann Cooper – @chefannc
Cooper promotes cooking from scratch in school cafeterias, emphasizing the link between food, farming, and children’s health.
7. Anthony Bourdain – @Bourdain
Bourdain is famously unabashed in his opinions, but has charmed his Twitter audience in delivering them along with stories of his world travels and his insights on food.
8. Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) – @BarillaCFN
BCFN, an Italian research institute working toward a more sustainable and healthy food system, tweets fascinating facts from the organization’s research, as well as links to many BCFN reports, articles, and projects.
9. Barton Seaver – @bartonseaver
Chef, author, educator, and advocate, Seaver has seen almost every side of the food system. He has a passion for sustainable seafood.
10. Bertini & Glickman (Catherine Bertini and Dan Glickman) – @GlobalAgDev
The official Twitter account for the co-chairs of the Chicago Council’s Global Agricultural Development Initiative tweets information on development policy and food security.
11. Beth Hoffman – @BethFoodAg
Hoffman is a freelance reporter who focuses on food, agriculture, and sustainability. She tweets links to a variety of food articles, offering a bit of skepticism about the food industry.
12. Bettina Elias Siegel – @thelunchtray
Siegel’s Twitter feed not only has great tweets about food issues, but it also organizes over 500 other Twitter feeds into lists like “Kids & Food,” “Anti-Hunger Groups,” “Food Reform & Advocacy,” and “Food Writing.”
13. Bill Telepan – @billtelepan
A Culinary Institute of America-trained chef, Telepan has used his restaurants to highlight sustainability, and also works to reform the New York City school lunch program.
14. Bioneers – @bioneers
Bioneers is a multi-media platform for advancing solutions for a more just and sustainable world. The initiative focus on restorative food systems, and its Twitter feed highlights some of the most interesting solutions to food system reform.
15. Catherine Bertini – @C_A_Bertini
Bertini has an impressive resume in food and agriculture: World Food Prize Laureate, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, and current co-chair of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Global Agriculture Development Initiative. She tweets job opportunities, news, and quotes about the food system.
16. Center for Food Safety – @TrueFoodNow
The Center for Food Safety is dedicated to ending harmful food production technologies and supporting sustainable agriculture.
17. Center for Science in the Public Interest – @CSPI
With a newsletter that reaches almost a million people, CSPI is a strong advocate for food, nutrition, and health policy.
18. Center for Strategic & International Studies Global Food Security Project – @CSISFood
The CSIS Global Food Security Project provides research, analysis, and policy recommendations for improving food security. This Twitter feed links to news stories about advances in agriculture and food security in the developing world.
19. The Christensen Fund – @ChristensenFund
The Christensen Fund is a private foundation that supports initiatives promoting biodiversity and cultural and environmental sustainability. Its Twitter Feed includes updates from its funded projects and programs, as well as links to news stories that relate to its mission from around the world.
20. Civil Eats – @CivilEats
One of the leading news sources for food politics, Civil Eats confronts major issues in the American food system.
21. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers – @ciw
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers was founded in 1993 and has grown into an internationally recognized organization that advocates for corporate social responsibility and sustainable food. This is a must-follow Twitter feed for those interested in farmworkers’ rights and labor issues.
22. Community for Zero Hunger – @ZHCommunity
The Community for Zero Hunger is a new independent initiative that supports the U.N. Zero Hunger Challenge, and tweets on food security and hunger in the 21st century.
23. Conservation International – @ConservationOrg
Founded in 1987, Conservation International examines the relationship between economic development and conservation. The organization researches issues ranging from climate change to food and water supply.
24. Dan Barber – @DanBarber
Executive chef and owner of Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Barber is an acclaimed writer on food and agriculture and member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. Barber’s Twitter feed is a glimpse into the mind of one of America’s greatest chefs.
25. David A. Kessler – @DavidAKesslerMD
Kessler, former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, is also the author of The End of Overeating. His tweets cover food and agriculture from a health perspective.
26. Department of Agriculture – @USDA
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Twitter feed is a great place to get daily information, reports, and facts on agriculture and other food system issues in the United States. The Twitter feed also live-tweets important events.
27. Earth Eats – @eartheats
Part of Indian Public Media, Earth Eats covers news stories on food safety, policy, and sustainable agriculture, and also has a weekly podcast.
28. Eddie Gehman Kohan – @ObamaFoodorama
This fun Twitter feed keeps track of all White House food initiatives and events.
29. Edible Schoolyard – @edibleschoolyrd
Edible Schoolyard is dedicated to incorporating food education and school gardens around the country. It’s hard not to be a fan of the initiative’s mission to provide every student with a free, organic, and nutritious school lunch.
30. Environmental Working Group Toxics Team – @ewgtoxics
Cutting-edge research and advocacy are the defining characteristics of the Environmental Working Group. The EWG Twitter feed gives links to stories on their own research and to other relevant news stories.
31. Farming First – @farmingfirst
Farming First is a coalition of multi-stakeholder organizations that work to promote sustainable agriculture. Tweets are from a variety of sources that highlight sustainable agriculture.
32. Farm Labor Organizing Committee – @SupportFLOC
FLOC was founded in 1967, and grew into an innovative organization that focuses on the problems with large-scale food supply chains. FLOC has also fought to give migrant workers bargaining power in the labor market.
33. Feed the Future – @FeedtheFuture
U.S. government initiative Feed the Future works to develop long-term solutions to food insecurity and undernutrition.
34. FAO Newsroom – @FAOnews
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Newsroom is a great source for global food and agriculture news, and for updates on ongoing United Nations projects.
35. Food Chain Workers Alliance – @foodchainworker
Founded in 2009, the Food Chain Workers Alliance is a coalition of over a dozen organizations fighting for workers’ rights. By forming a coalition, the Alliance is able to work toward a more sustainable food system with a united voice.
36. FoodCorps – @FoodCorps
By placing leaders into underserved communities, FoodCorps is educating the next generation about healthy, nutritious food. Tweets regularly highlight FoodCorps projects, gardens, and volunteers.
37. Food Day – @FoodDay2013
Save the date! October 24th is the culmination of a year’s worth of efforts for a more sustainable food system. The Twitter feed shares information about developments in the food movement and highlights Food Day events.
38. Food and Environment Reporting Network – @FERNnews
In-depth, investigative journalism related to food, agriculture, and environmental health, with stories that are rich, complex, and captivating.
39. Foodimentary – @Foodimentary
Foodimentary boasts a Twitter feed full of fun food facts and quirky news stories.
40. Food MythBusters – @FoodMythBusters
Armed with the hashtag, #MomsNotLovinIt, Food MythBusters dispels myths about the food system and exposes the real story about what we eat. The initiative also tweets about marketing by large food companies, particularly towards children.
41. Food for 9 Billion – @Foodfor9Billion
Food for 9 Billion is a multimedia collaboration that addresses the challenge of feeding nine billion people by the year 2050 with comprehensive articles, videos, and radio stories.
42. FoodRepublic.com – @foodrepublic
Food Republic examines the culture of food through stories and interviews with an international flair. Its Twitter feed links to many thoughtful articles about food.
43. Food & Think – @Food_And_Think
The food blog of Smithsonian Magazine, Food & Think offers a cultural and historical lens through which to look at food and agriculture.
44. Food & Water Watch – @foodandwater
Food & Water Watch focuses on ensuring that all food and water is safe, accessible, and sustainably produced. This initiative works to hold policy-makers accountable and to inform people about issues related to food and water.
45. Frances Moore Lappe – @fmlappe
Author of Diet for a Small Planet and co-founder of the Small Planet Institute, Lappé tweets a wide variety of sustainability- and food-related tweets.
46. Global Development – @GdnDevelopment
The Guardian’s Global Development site has some of the best, in-depth reporting of development issues available on the web, and tweets stories of development from around the globe.
47. Grist – @grist
Grist, the self-described “Beacon in the Smog,” reports on green and environmental issues with a humorous twist.
48. Hans Rosling – @HansRosling
An expert in statistics, Hans Rosling is a professor of global health and co-founder of Gapminder. Rosling is a resource for critical, and sometimes unexpected, information.
49. Heifer International – @heifer
Through gifts of livestock, seeds, and training, Heifer International works to alleviate poverty by providing individuals with the necessary tools to succeed, and regularly tweets about its many projects and success stories.
50. Henry Dimbleby – @Henry_Leon
Founder of Leon Restaurants in the United Kingdom, Henry Dimbleby has turned the traditional definition of fast food on its head. Dimbleby is also the co-author of the School Food Plan, a radical new vision for school food in the United Kingdom.
51. HuffPost Food – @HuffPostFood
The Huffington Post Food Twitter links to quick and easy reads, as well as slideshows, lists, and opinion pieces.
52. HuffPost Green – @HuffPostGreen
The Huffington Post’s Green section has interesting and sometimes entertaining stories on the environment, which it regularly shares on its Twitter feed.
53. The Hunger Project – @HungerProject
Since 1977, The Hunger Project has worked to empower men and women in the developing world to end hunger and poverty through sustainable, grassroots solutions. The Twitter feed provides “up-to-date tweets on issues that matter.”
54. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy – @IATP
IATP tweets about the intersection of sustainable food, farm, and trade via news stories and the organization’s own articles.
55. International Fund for Agricultural Development – @IFADnews
IFAD works to combat rural poverty, specifically focusing on food security and nutrition. The organization’s tweets highlight projects around the globe and important information related to food security and poverty.
56. Jamie Oliver – @jamieoliver
Oliver is an acclaimed television personality and chef, but is also a serious food activist. His efforts helped overhaul Britain’s school lunch program, and he has continued to advocate for a healthier food system through his foundation.
57. John Besh – @chefjohnbesh
Owner of nine restaurants, Besh is a food icon who is dedicated to preserving the culinary heritage of New Orleans through scholarships and loans to small farmers.
58. Jonathan Bloom – @WastedFood
Bloom is the author of American Wasteland, an insightful book about food waste in America. His blog Wasted Food is another medium for his interest in food waste, and his Twitter feed is a source of plentiful information on food waste.
59. José Andrés – @chefjoseandres
Andrés is the President of ThinkFoodGroup and founder of World Central Kitchen. Not only a critically acclaimed chef, he is a leader in combating global hunger one plate at a time.
60. Jose Garces – @chefjosegarces
Garces is not only a James Beard Award winner, but also the owner of a forty-acre sustainable and organic farm. He tweets many interesting tidbits about food culture, including many beautiful pictures.
61. Kat Kinsman – @kittenwithawhip
Managing editor of CNN’s Eatocracy, Kinsman’s tweets simultaneously convey her commitment to sustainable food and sense of humor.
62. Ken Cook – @EWGPrez
Co-founder and President of the Environmental Working Group, Cook is an important voice on farm policy and chemical use.
63. Kim Severson – @kimseverson
Full of wit and interesting opinions on current events, Severson is the Atlanta Bureau Chief for The New York Times and forming Dining Section writer. She has written extensively on food, including her latest book, Cook Fight.
64. Lavida Locavore – @LocavoreBlog
The Locavore Blog takes a charming and personable approach to local and sustainable agriculture.
65. Let’s Move! – @LetsMove
First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative is dedicated to raising a healthier generation of kid by combating the obesity epidemic.
66. Marcus Samuelsson – @MarcusCooks
An Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised, made-in-America chef, Samuelsson doesn’t fit neatly into one box. His flagship restaurant, Red Rooster, is in the heart of Harlem, but reflects Samuelsson’s international background. He is also the founder of FoodRepublic.com, a website that explores the culture of food.
67. Marc Vetri – @marcvetri
Vetri has worked to reform school lunches and educate children about healthy eating in Philadelphia, while also working as a James Beard Award-winning chef. His tweets, offering great bits of information and experience from a sustainable chef, have a Philadelphia focus.
68. Marion Nestle – @marionnestle
The woman behind Foodpolitics.com, Nestle is an acclaimed author and professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University.
69. Mark Bittman – @bittman
Time Magazine called him “Twitter’s most-followable food wonk.” Bittman, New York Times columnist and author of How to Cook Everything, is one of the most renowned writers on food and agriculture issues.
70. Michael Pollan – @michaelpollan
Author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and most recently, Cooked, Pollan is a leading voice for a healthier, more sustainable food system.
71. Michele Simon – @MicheleRSimon
Author of Appetite for Profit, public health lawyer, and the woman behind the website Eat Drink Politics, Simon is a leader in developing food and alcohol policy.
72. Modern Farmer – @ModFarm
The Modern Farmer Twitter feed complements their stylish website and image-laden articles, providing a wide variety of stories about farming in the 21st century.
73. Muhammad Yunus – @Yunus_Centre
2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus is the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and tweets stories related to development and anti-poverty efforts.
74. Naomi Starkman – @NaomiStarkman
As co-founder and editor-in-chief of Civil Eats, Starkman’s Twitter feed covers important news about the food system and sustainable agriculture. She is a self-described “farmie, not a foodie.”
75. National Institute of Food and Agriculture – @USDA_NIFA
The NIFA Twitter feed features interesting research and reports related to agriculture in the United States.
76. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition – @sustainableag
NSAC tweets highlight sustainable family farms and the Coalition’s advocacy work on behalf of family farmers.
77. New York Times Dining & Wine – @nytdining
While The New York Times’ Dining & Wine section is often filled with recipes, it also features important food news.
78. No Kid Hungry – @nokidhungry
No Kid Hungry’s tweets focus on child hunger in the U.S., and the organization’s own efforts to end child hunger. They also regularly recognize their supporters on Twitter.
79. Nourish – @Nourish_Life
Nourish is an educational initiative intended to stimulate meaningful conversations about food and sustainability. Its Twitter feed is an extension of that important dialogue.
80. NPR Food – @NPRFood
The NPR Food Twitter feed is home to the blog, The Salt, as well as all of NPR’s food-related stories. It offers in-depth coverage of a wide range of issues.
81. Oakland Institute – @oak_institute
This think tank’s investigative research delves into complex issues at the intersection of food, trade, and land. Its tweets focus on the successes and failures of projects in developing countries.
82. Olivier De Schutter – @DeSchutterUNSR
As the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter is at the forefront of food security, and tweets news from the field.
83. ONE – @ONECampaign
The ONE Campaign’s three million members are a united voice for ending extreme poverty. Tweets are of facts, news, and stories of ONE’s advocacy efforts.
84. One Acre Fund – @OneAcreFund
Over 130,000 smallholder farmers in East Africa have been able to double their farm income on each planted acre through the One Acre Fund’s “market in a box.” Tweets focus on smallholder farmers, telling the stories of those impacted by One Acre Fund’s efforts.
85. Oxfam International – @Oxfam
Oxfam International is a collective of 17 organizations fighting poverty worldwide. The organization’s Twitter feed is a powerful testament to Oxfam’s work, and highlights crises around the world.
86. Paula Crossfield – @civileater
Crossfield is a pioneer in food reporting. As managing editor of Civil Eats and the Food and Environment Reporting Network, Crossfield tweets links to insightful articles and news stories.
87. Peter Ladner – @pladner
Ladner, an authority on urban food, is the author of The Urban Food Revolution. His tweets are part foodie, part urban, and 100 percent Canadian.
88. The Pig Idea – @ThePigIdea
The Pig Idea is a campaign to lift the ban on feeding food waste to pigs in the European Union, and regularly tweets about its progress.
89. Raj Patel – @_RajPatel
Author of Stuff and Starved, Patel tweets on a variety of contemporary issues and is currently working on a documentary on the global food system, Generation Food Project.
90. Real Food Challenge – @realfoodnow
The Real Food Challenge aims to harness the power of students to make an impact on the food system, one college campus at a time.
91. Real Food Real Jobs – @RealFoodandJobs
Real Food Real Jobs is at the nexus of workers’ rights and healthy, sustainable food. By simultaneously advocating for whole, fresh, nutritious food and fighting for a living wage for workers in the food industry, Real Food Real Jobs is an innovative food worker’s organization.
92. Rick Bayless – @Rick_Bayless
Chicago-based chef Bayless is not only known for his Mexican cuisine, but also his dedication to Midwestern farmers and his community. Through the Frontera Farmer Foundation and the Frontera Scholarship, Bayless has redefined the role of a chef to include being an active member of the community.
93. Roger Thurow – @RogerThurow
Senior Fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and author of The Last Hunger Season, Thurow tweets about hunger and food security.
94. Rodale Institute – @rodaleinstitute
The Rodale Institute has spent over 60 years researching best practices in organic agriculture, and its Twitter feed shares that research with the public.
95. Sam Fromartz – @fromartz
Fromartz is the co-founder and editor of the Food and Environment Reporting Network. His tweets focus on food issues, often with a slant toward bread, as he is currently working on a book on grains, bakers, and bread.
96. Savory Institute – @SavoryInstitute
The Savory Institute promotes land-restoration through holistic management, strategically using livestock to mimic wild herds, and the organization’s tweets focus on land degradation and restoration.
97. School Food Plan – @SchFoodPlan
With weekly Twitter chats and Q&A sessions, The School Food Plan Twitter feed is an interactive resource on a new food plan for United Kingdom schools.
98. Shamba Shape Up – @shambashapeup
With over 10 million viewers in Africa each week, Shamba Shape Up is a reality show about fixing farms and educating viewers about agriculture.
99. Slow Food USA – @SlowFoodUSA
Slow Food USA is focused on building a better food system through supporting food that is not only good for people, but the planet as well.
100. Small Planet Institute – @SmallPlanetInst
The Small Planet Institute examines the idea of a “Living Democracy,” where citizens work toward incorporating inclusion and fairness into public life. As part of this approach, the Small Planet Institute tweets links to articles related to food and agriculture in the context of its mission.
101. Sustainable Food Trust – @SusFoodTrust
The Sustainable Food Trust Twitter discusses the transition toward a more sustainable food and agriculture future, and highlights some cool stories along the way.
102. Thomas Keller – @Chef_Keller
The French Laundry is part of a network of local growers, organic farms, and sustainable suppliers, and at its helm is Thomas Keller. His organization represents the power that one restaurant can have in changing the food system.
103. Thomson Reuters Foundation – @TR_Foundation
The Thomson Reuters Foundation provides detailed coverage of overlooked and under-reported stories. Tweets link to Thomson Reuters stories that won’t be found from most other media sources.
104. Tom Colicchio – @tomcolicchio
James Beard Award-winning chef Colicchio has also forged a career as a food activist. Executive Producer of A Place at the Table, Colicchio has used his role as a chef to advocate for changes to our food system.
105. Tom Farley – @DrFarleyDOHMH
Commissioner of the New York City Health Department, Farley leads one of the most influential health organizations with regard to food and nutrition.
106. Tom Laskawy – @tlaskawy
Laskawy is the Executive Director of the Food and Environment Reporting Network, and also a writer for Grist. He is a prolific food tweeter, and regularly engages in Twitter conversations with followers.
107. Tristram Stuart – @Feeding5k
Stuart’s Twitter feed focuses on issues of food waste and the Feeding the 5000 campaign, an initiative working toward feeding 5,000 people with food that would have otherwise been thrown away.
108. United Farm Workers Foundation – @UFWF
The United Farm Workers Foundation was founded to serve low-income farm workers in remote areas of California, and the initiative’s tweets focus on issues related to immigrant labor and workers’ rights.
109. United Nations Development Programme – @UNDP
The UNDP Twitter feed offers a wealth of videos, photos, and stories about development projects in 177 countries around the world.
110. United Nations Environment Programme – @UNEP
Tweeting on a range of environmental issues, UNEP regularly provides information on issues relating to food waste.
111. U.S. Food Safety – @foodsafeguru
U.S. Food Safety is a great resource for U.S. food safety information, with up-to-date alerts and recalls.
112. Wayne Roberts – @wrobertsfood
Author of the No-Nonsense Guide to World Food, Roberts tweets great news links on local and sustainable food.
113. Wenonah Hauter – @WenonahHauter
Wenonah Hauter is the Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, and is also the author of the book Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America, which examines corporate consolidation in the food system. Her tweets frequently link to Food & Water reports, videos, and stories.
114. World Central Kitchen – @WCKitchen
Founded by Jose Andrés, World Central Kitchen focuses on building “smart kitchens,” creating jobs, and building businesses.
115. World Food Programme – @WFP
WFP is the world’s largest organization dedicated to fighting hunger. Launched in 1961, WFP has grown to serve over 90 million people in 70 countries. WFP’s Twitter feed offers a glimpse into their work around the world.
116. World Resources Institute – @worldresources
The World Resources Institute goes beyond research to take action on issues related to climate change, food, forests, and water, and tweets links to news stories and other articles that deal with these topics.
117. WRAP – @WRAP_UK
WRAP advocates for a world without waste. The initiative’s Twitter feed focuses primarily on policy and initiatives that are working to limit waste in the United Kingdom.
118. Zero Hunger Challenge – @zerohunger
The U.N. Zero Hunger Challenge is working toward a world where all people enjoy the right to food, and environmentally sustainable food systems flourish. Its Twitter feed is filled with stories and research reports related to that goal.
