Food Is Medicine (FIM) programs promote patients’ access to healthy foods to help prevent, manage, and treat diet-related health conditions. Although these programs have burgeoned in recent years, they have remained siloed in health care and represent a missed opportunity to fight climate change and promote community health resilience. [New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst]

Addressing these aspects of community health and well-being requires new strategies and interventions for FIM programs. In this article, the authors describe the University of California, Davis Health’s Foodways to Health approach as a regional food system, which increases access to fresh produce and medically tailored meals while promoting climate-friendly food production practices and community engagement. They highlight five key pillars of the approach, share a framework to evaluate climate-friendly FIM programs, and underscore lessons learned for health systems embarking on FIM programs to improve healthy eating, climate protection, and community resilience.  

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