A week ago, on October 24th, the nation celebrated Food Day and we saw over 225 campuses unite and spread the message about the importance of "real" food. This kicked off numerous events and even prompted entire Food Weeks to be celebrated on various campuses. Here are more highlights from events that lasted throughout last week.
Jessica Baltmanas is a guest blogger from University of California, San Diego and also a Campus Coordinator for Food Day! Below is the second post in a three part blog series leading up to October 24 in which she will walk us through her journey in the real food movement. Take a look at her first post here.
---------------------------
Hi everyone! I hope planning your campus events has been progressing well and that you're enjoying the first days of Fall! There's been quite the progress in planning Food Day events at UC San Diego!
To contextualize the climate on my campus (literal and figurative), UCSD is located in La Jolla, close to the Pacific Ocean and boasting beautiful weather. Today is a gloomy day with drizzle, but we will get through it :) My campus mascot is a Triton, is full of imported eucalyptus trees and known for our 8-floor Geisel library, named for Theodor Geisel (Dr. Suess) and was featured in the movie Inception. Here, our favorite pastime is studying. If we're not talking about it, you know we are thinking about it. But not only do we love to learn, we have also been rated as the top national public university for "giving back". This is our culture- studying and service, and a few things in between. We have about 23,000 undergraduate students and 4,000 graduate students. With the workers and faculty included, our campus footprint is about 40,000 people each day. Yes, we are a city!
Although I would love if my campus felt more like a community, my two years here have not given me that experience. I hope the new admits bring a new energy, but it can be somewhat of a challenge to find a tight community here. Once someone finds it, it's golden! Those communities are often formed around student organizations such as food-minded orgs.
The list of upcoming field trips written on the chalkboard at the beginning of Knox College’s Food Systems class included a tour of Pioneer Seed Company (second-largest seed producer after Monsanto) and a trip to the John Deere museum. At the beginning of his lecture about the rise of agricultural technology in the late 19th century (we’re talking bundle-scythes and 30-horse-drawn combines, not a 7030 Premium Small-Frame John Deere tractor), the professor described a map: Des Moines to the west, St. Louis to the south, Chicago to the east. American Agricultural technologies developed within that triangle, and Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois is smackdab in the middle.
Upon arriving at Knox, we were greeted by a student who quickly gave us the lay of the land. “Galesburg is pretty impoverished,” she explained, “there used to be a Maytag factory here, but there has been lots of unemployment since it closed.” We later learned of student research about food deserts in the community, a phenomenon that is not as commonly associated with small, rural towns. However, the student continued, “I came here from Massachusetts, thinking there would be nothing to do here so I would focus more on my school work. But there is so much happening in Knox and in the Galesburg community!”
Check out this great video of an RFC organizer talking with a class at University of Vermont all about sustainable food systems and how to make change on your campus.
In case you don't have time to watch the whole thing, here's a little cheat sheet:
PART 1:
1-8: My story and Our Story (RFC's history)
8-15: Activity: Picturing Your Food System I 15-22: Food Service Companies: The Basics
22-36: Structural Problems: Labor, Vendor kickbacks
36-41: Structural Problems: "The Big Squeeze"
41-54: Picturing Your Food System II, Discussion,
54-60: Debrief/Discussion
_______________
My name is Kathleen Reside, and I'm a junior at Providence College, a campus contracted by Sodexo. I first heard about the Real Food Challenge at their conference at U Mass Amherst in 2009 as a freshman, and the information blew me away. The campus food system had been exposed, and although slightly overwhelmed, I felt like I had the power to change it.
I managed to convey my anger, disbelief and excitement about the food movement to Hollis, a friend at school, and the two of us enrolled in a course entitled, We Are What We Eat. Hollis and I were constantly bouncing ideas off of each other throughout the class on what we could do on campus to change the food culture. For our final project, we researched Sodexo, who boasts sustainability and in their mission and includes a local food policy, and we also wrote a plan of action for changing our campus food system.
We spent the spring semester working with dining services and other students to gauge student interest in real food as well as build up a team to work with us. David Schwartz, co-founder of RFC, attended a Real Food Dinner on our campus where we had a speaker from Slow Food RI and over fifty students attend (yay!). He invited us to the NE Real Food leadership training, which we attended two weeks ago in Stoughton, Mass.
The twenty of us at the training were students from ten different colleges/universities along with the RFC organizers, who all came together to support each other in the fight for real food through sharing ideas, experiences and hopes for the future of food.
The breakout sessions and workshops we participated in covered everything from storytelling to communication, campaign planning, dining food service contracts, the Real Food calculator, gardening, co-ops, and food justice. What really motivated me to action was the campaign planning session, because I rarely take the time to think out goals, tactics or the power structure I have to tackle, although it's such a critical step for any kind of action. It was extremely helpful to share these with other students from other campuses, who shared their past failures and successes, as well as their ideas for moving forward. One idea that we are going to try is to make a photo collage that reads "Real Food Now" with pictures of students holding signs saying just that.
"The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of "real food for real people" you'd better live real close to a real good hospital." ~Neal Barnard
What made the training even better was the community feel that radiated from the passionate people surrounding me. Everyone took turns preparing our meals from fresh farm produce, and everyone left the dinner table feeling grateful for this wonderful community of people who truly appreciated food. We ate family style, beginning dinner with a round of thanks and a moment of gratitude for the inspiration and support of those around us. My favorite dishes were the peanut butter tofu, vegetable and rice stir fry, and watermelon gazpacho, although there wasn't anything I didn't like!
Nora from U Mass Amherst put it this way:
"People want better food, and there are forces all over the place working slowly but steadily to turn this absurd system around. I loved talking to everybody and hearing their story of how they came to be concerned about the food system. Everybody came at it from really different angles- some from social justice backgrounds, some from cooking backgrounds, some from holistic health backgrounds, some from environmental science backgrounds, some from gardening backgrounds, some from former eating disorders. The most amazing thing about food is that everybody has some connection to it. Food is always relevant. This is why it is so important that we have access to and enjoy real food.
…what greater pleasure could there be in life than sitting around an enormous dinner table, surrounding by candles and beautifully prepared delicious vegetarian dishes that we created and prepared together, holding hands with people we just met, giving thanks for our meal, and digging in? The final dinner was one of the loveliest meals I’ve ever had the pleasure to experience."
The word is out. Real Food Challenge co-founders David Schwartz and Anim Steel have been awarded a the highly competitive Echoing Green Fellowship--a seed fund for emerging social entrepreneurs.
This award is yet another testament to the growth of our movement and a wholesale endorsement of the RFC's innovative strategy--training the next generation of real food leaders while creating a major market shift in university food spending, $1 billion in 10 years.
With a background in economic development, Anim saw food and agriculture as a way to make a difference in both the US and Ghana, where he was born. David grew up in inner-city Boston where he witnessed great disparities in rates of diabetes, obesity, and access to healthy food. The pair met at The Food Project (also 1992 Echoing Green funded organization), a nationally recognized program that empowers youth through sustainable agriculture. Together with Tim Galarneau, Amie Frish, Rowan Dunlap, they brought together the team that created the Real Food Challenge.
Only with the incredible leadership of hundreds of student leaders across the country, and the generous support of our funding partners is this vision becoming a reality.Together we are changing the food industry and building a truly healthy, fair and green food future.
Think of the last time you saw something that pissed you off enough to do something amazing about it. Maybe it was a long grocery line or a bumper sticker for the Tea Party, or maybe it takes a humanitarian crisis like Haiti to really get your adrenaline going.
For me, it was orange chicken.
A year ago, I found out that UC Berkeley's first national fast food chain, a Panda Express, was slated to open its doors adjacent to the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. Like Slow Food in reaction to a McDonald's next to the Spanish Steps in Rome, we rose to the occasion.
For more on how to get involved in farmworker justice, contact our partners at the Student/Farmworker Alliance, or contact us about starting a Real Food Movement on your campus next year.
In 2001, a dozen or so farmworkers were sitting around in a church basement in a backwater town in Florida and declared a national boycott on Taco Bell, one of the nation’s largest fast food chains. They called on Taco Bell’s CEO to help improve working conditions and wages for the workers who picked their tomatoes. And what do you think happened?
Well, people laughed, thinking maybe they’d heard a joke. Even committed activists had to wonder. How could these migrant tomato pickers, immigrants, who were poverty-stricken, rural and socially isolated, take on a major multi-national corporation? What chance did these workers, who awoke at 4am to compete with each other at the mercy of a brutal labor contractor for a day’s work, have? It seemed a little far-fetched.
On February 12-14, over 200 students from 35 campuses gathered in Santa Cruz, California, for the third annual Strengthening the Roots: Food and Justice Convergence. The convergence brought together a diverse group of students – from aspiring farmers to animal rights activists to campus dining employees – who were committed to creating a healthy, just, and sustainable food system. This event empowered high school and college students to actively engage in their campuses and local communities by providing them with leadership skills, successful models and case studies, and a broader network of activists and allies.
On February 5, 2010, over a hundred and fifty students and youth from Maryland to Florida traveled through driving ice, snow, and rain to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the second annual Southeast Youth Food Activist Summit (SYFAS). Friday night, author/activist Anna Lappe from the Small Planet Institute delivered an inspiring Keynote Address on the effects of our current industrial food system on climate change and personal health and the importance of the youth food movement for creating a more socially just and environmentally sustainable Real Food economy.
movie Inception. Here, our favorite pastime is studying. If we're not talking about it, you know we are thinking about it. But not only do we love to learn, we have also been rated as the top national public university for "
contracted by Sodexo. I first heard about the Real Food Challenge at their conference at U Mass Amherst in 2009 as a freshman, and the information blew me away. The campus food system had been exposed, and although slightly overwhelmed, I felt like I had the power to change it. 
I managed to convey my anger, disbelief and excitement about the food movement to Hollis, a friend at school, and the two of us enrolled in a course entitled, We Are What We Eat. Hollis and I were constantly bouncing ideas off of each other throughout the class on what we could do on campus to change the food culture. For our final project, we researched Sodexo, who boasts sustainability and in their mission and includes a local food policy, and we also wrote a plan of action for changing our campus food system. 
The twenty of us at the training were students from ten different colleges/universities along with the RFC organizers, who all came together to support each other in the fight for real food through sharing ideas, experiences and hopes for the future of food. 
What made the training even better was the community feel that radiated from the passionate people surrounding me. Everyone took turns preparing our meals from fresh farm produce, and everyone left the dinner table feeling grateful for this wonderful community of people who truly appreciated food. We ate family style, beginning dinner with a round of thanks and a moment of gratitude for the inspiration and support of those around us. My favorite dishes were the peanut butter tofu, vegetable and rice stir fry, and watermelon gazpacho, although there wasn't anything I didn't like! 
"People want better food, and there are forces all over the place working slowly but steadily to turn this absurd system around. I loved talking to everybody and hearing their story of how they came to be concerned about the food system. Everybody came at it from really different angles- some from social justice backgrounds, some from cooking backgrounds, some from holistic health backgrounds, some from environmental science backgrounds, some from gardening backgrounds, some from former eating disorders. The most amazing thing about food is that everybody has some connection to it. Food is always relevant. This is why it is so important that we have access to and enjoy real food.
Well, people laughed, thinking maybe they’d heard a joke. Even committed activists had to wonder. How could these migrant tomato pickers, immigrants, who were poverty-stricken, rural and socially isolated, take on a major multi-national corporation? What chance did these workers, who awoke at 4am to compete with each other at the mercy of a brutal labor contractor for a day’s work, have? It seemed a little far-fetched.
On February 12-14, over 200 students from 35 campuses gathered in Santa Cruz, California, for the third annual Strengthening the Roots: Food and Justice Convergence. The convergence brought together a diverse group of students – from aspiring farmers to animal rights activists to campus dining employees – who were committed to creating a healthy, just, and sustainable food system. This event empowered high school and college students to actively engage in their campuses and local communities by providing them with leadership skills, successful models and case studies, and a broader network of activists and allies.
On February 5, 2010, over a hundred and fifty students and youth from Maryland to Florida traveled through driving ice, snow, and rain to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the second annual Southeast Youth Food Activist Summit (SYFAS). Friday night, author/activist Anna Lappe from the Small Planet Institute delivered an inspiring Keynote Address on the effects of our current industrial food system on climate change and personal health and the importance of the youth food movement for creating a more socially just and environmentally sustainable Real Food economy.
