"barbara kowalcyk" news and stories

This October 9, two major forces in the food world will be honored in Iceland with a $50,000 award from Yoko Ono -- Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and Food Rules, among other books, and Barbara Kowalcyk, who became a major campaigner for food safety after her son died following an E. coli infection in 2001 (you may remember her from Food, Inc.).

The Lennon Ono Grant for Peace, awarded biannually, was created in 2002 to keep Lennon's peaceful spirit and "dedication to human rights" alive, Telegraph UK reports.

Other recipients of the grant are Josh Fox, writer-director of Gasland (a film on natural gas drilling), and Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, who, more recently, has written about her time in Gaza.

The ceremony in Iceland will also commemorate what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday. Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band is set to rock out that evening and there will be a lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower Memorial.