Dickinson College Food Studies Certificate Program

Category: Blog (Page 2 of 3)

Student Perspectives

After seven weeks of thorough discussion on a variety of food-related topics, the Food Studies Introductory Seminar is well on its way! Following each course meeting, students are encouraged to debrief with  journal entries designed to extend the pupil’s interaction with course material. In celebration of an amazing two months gone and a highly anticipated two to come, we would like to share one such journal entry with you…

Journal Entry Provided by Janna Safran

The first part of this journal is me realizing that all of my previous knowledge and perspectives of farming are false conception of what farming really is. The second part of this journal is a reflection of what I learned and how that ties into one of the readings.

I know that some of my original perceptions of farming are shallow and arrogant, but please just bear with me.

I didn’t understand what farming really was; to me, it was a business, a means of production of food and a way of income. I didn’t understand why someone would chose to be a farmer- why they would waste their life to stare at rows of cabbages. I didn’t understand the journey that even something as simple as an apple took to get onto my hand.

But what I failed to understand was that farming is much more than just wearing overalls and staring at cabbages. A successful farmer must understand the anatomy of a plant, insect biology, the chemistry of pest chemicals and nature, and so much more. One simply doesn’t wait around for their produce to be ripe, they must religiously scout for pests, maintain a threshold that will be healthy for their produce, and work with the land to produce the best produce.

Another thing I failed to grasp was the multiple ways that a farmer can control his/her land. I use to think that farming was rather a game of chance- you planted it and it was up to the weather to either be nice or mean to you this year. However, there are so many more variables within that equation, some that you can control- like pests. There are cultural, physical, biological things that one can do to help deal with pests before bringing in the chemicals to kills them. I didn’t know that there was a strategy to farming- like putting grass in between crops to ensure a healthy environment or putting plants nearby crops to enhance pollen transfers.

I was blown away by the anatomy of the plant- I didn’t know that plants could be male or female or both. I didn’t know that some plants could pollinate on their own and be self sufficient.

To me, farming was a business, but to others, like Natasha Bowens, farming is much more than that. Her article, Why I Farm, brought a new perspective to farming and really opened my mind to looking at farming beyond a capitalistic view.

I want to highlight these few sentences that really stood out to me:

“The land beneath our feet carries our history and our freedom. It is healing and empowering and can be a commons that binds us together. My history traces back to the moment my ancestor’s shackled feet hit this soil, when the African farmer became the American slave…reclaim the connection with the land that was long before the oppression.”

Bowers brings up an interesting point- farming, for her, is about getting back to her roots, connecting with nature, but also healing from the oppression that exists in the past but also today.

This is slightly off topic, but in my Biological Anthropology class, we are currently talking about the extreme pressures that we, as humans, are exerting on the environment and in a way are messing with natural selection. By doing so, we are messing with nature, treating it like it’s a game piece in chess. Our species is so caught up in this capitalistic world that everything turns into a competition and a business. We forget our roots, we forget where things come from, and we forget the journey that someone or something traveled to get where they are today.

Today, we are fighting against nature; I think that makes us the bad guys. But Bowen is using farming to work with nature and be connecting with nature just like her and many other ancestors today.

After this week, I have a much more open mind to understand why people chose to become farmers but also the importance of farming beyond a business. I hope that this new knowledge will help me understand the process of food and help me take into account what farmers and other food workers go through on a daily basis.

This Week in Food 10/9/16

It’s our last edition before Fall Pause! Halfway there, its hard to believe! Until then, the following articles are a snapshot of this week in food…

  1. This multifaceted, interactive article is worth your time. The New York Times examines Big Food. Read it.
  2.  A new urban food program is underway in Baltimore, Maryland. Check out the details here.
  3. Can we back pedal climate change by planting our own veg? See how you can help…
  4. A foodie’s take on soil health. Combining taste and tilth. It’s worth a read.

Enjoy! One more week!

The Influence of Global Economy on Food Security

By Allison Curley

In my Archaeology and World Prehistory class, we are exploring themes of human food production and consumption over time and connecting historical issues to contemporary ones being presented in the Clarke Forum speaker series on Food. By looking deeper into human history, some trends appear that can be likened to challenges that people face today, particularly related to food security.

In his Clarke Forum lecture “The World That Food Made” on September 8th, Dr. Raj Patel focused on framing food insecurity in terms of political economy, patriarchy, and the impact of colonialism. He cited examples of how globalization and colonization created a market economy in which trade was prioritized over subsistence as governments became more influential in agribusiness than individual farmers. Incorporating his research in Malawi as a case study, Patel demonstrated the ways in which the introduction of a western market economy and the implementation of cash crop and monocrop agriculture contributed to an increase of food insecurity among the farmers producing the crops.

Farmers in Malawi were left without enough to meet their dietary needs after their country, like many others in Africa, became a producer of crops for export to Europe and the West. The economy became dependant on monocrop planting and exporting maize, native to the Americas. In an effort to improve food security and strengthen cultural bonds, the community was encouraged to shift practices towards more traditional techniques of polyculture involving other American crops that benefit maize such as beans and squash. Further, an annual event was spearheaded where participants, both men and women, share recipes and learn to prepare new dishes using the crops they have been growing. This resulted in breaking down patriarchal gender roles and uneven household labor distribution that led women to struggle with balancing cultivation and child-rearing. This ultimately helped improve the health of the households. Through working with the people of Malawi, Patel and his colleagues showed that a combination of reintroducing polyculture and strengthening a shared sense of community and culture ultimately improved the health and nourishment of the people.

Archaeology can provide a supplementary lens into past trends of food insecurity and unequal distribution that complement Patel’s current and historical exploration of these topics. An archaeological perspective can be used to examine patterns of food security over a larger time scale. In her recent article “Why Can’t People Feed Themselves?: Archaeology as Alternative Archive of Food Security in Banda, Ghana”, Amanda Logan uses an archaeological case study to argue that power relationships and economics have a greater influence on overall food security than do natural processes. Examining paleoclimatic studies using methods like oxygen isotope (δ18O) analysis to model past climatic conditions, she identified two main periods of drought in this region of Ghana: a long period in the Kuulo phase, 1450-1650 C.E., and a smaller one in the modern phase, 2009-present. By examining food availability, access, and preference through archaeological plant remains, Logan reconstructed the relative food security of each phase. Evidence of continued production of more traditional and drought resistant crops like pearl millet, sorghum, and tobacco, while sustaining a craft specialist economy including ceramics and metallurgy, revealed that there was greater food security in the earlier Kuulo phase, despite a much more severe drought.

In Logan’s study, she observed that the rise of the Asante in the Early Makala phase, 1772-1820s C.E., resulted in a reduction in diversity of crafts and the loss of tobacco as a widespread crop, but Banda was still food secure. British colonization in the Late Makala phase, 1890s-1920s C.E., however, resulted in significant shifts towards minimal crafting, elimination of the preferred pearl millet, significant reduction of sorghum in favor of cassava, and food insecurity. Both the Early Makala and Late Makala phases were categorized as wet periods, therefore these changes in food security during these times can be attributed to changed leadership and trade dynamics as opposed to climate. Complex trade dynamics between colonies, Europe, and the Americas had a greater impact on food security than did another regional tribe assuming power.

Furthermore, a drought in the modern phase, with the market economy of colonialism in place, caused intense food insecurity while a much more severe drought in the Kuulo phase experienced very high food security. This can be attributed in part to the replacement of well adapted, drought-resistant crops cultivated in the Kuulo phase like pearl millet with high yield cash crops to be exported. The system put into place by the British reduced the diversity of the local economy and the ability of the people to support themselves independently, making them more vulnerable to adverse climatic changes. Patel’s work reversing the oppressive effects of colonialism in Malawi and Logan’s evidence that traditional cultivation techniques and diversified economy positively influence food security demonstrate that the onset of colonialism and our current world food system are the main influences on modern food insecurity.

In conclusion, food security is not a simple matter of personal choices. Complex interplays of politics and economics have formed a deeply-rooted system that favors great divides between excess and insecurity, while simultaneously reducing the resilience of the producers. Changes in the systems that promote food security are needed in order to effectively combat food insecurity. Archaeological evidence suggests that people had greater capacity to resist adverse climatic changes before these systems took root, but in the presence of these systems they lack this resilience. This is even more threatening considering anthropogenic climate change, the effects of which are projected to be borne most heavily by those who contribute to it less.

 

Citation:

Logan, Amanda

2016 “Why Can’t People Feed Themselves?”: Archaeology as Alternative Archive of Food Security in Banda, Ghana. American Anthropologist. 118(3):508-524. DOI: 10.1111/aman.12603

SEEDs of Change

Dickinson welcomed Chef Hugh Acheson earlier this month as part of the inaugural weekend of the Food Studies Certificate and Clarke Forum fall lecture series. Chef Acheson was the guest chef at the college farm’s monthly pop-up restaurant, GATHER, and participated in several discussions on his newly developed home economics curriculum, SEED Life Skills, with students and faculty. With course content designed for middle and high school aged students, SEED reintroduces crucial knowledge for living independently, like cooking nutritious meals from scratch and reading the terms of a lease, back into the classroom.

Acheson’s program is the epitome of a community-level response. By inserting himself in the classroom, Chef Acheson’s goal is to empower students with the home economics and cooking knowledge to make better choices around food. Students can become the generation of consumers that will change our food system if they choose homemade meals over prepared foods, make the effort to create family and community ties around culinary experiences, and re-evaluate the push and pull of convenience.

Dickinson students and faculty joined their guest in a meeting of the minds, an opportunity for conversation revolving around SEED and its influence on lifestyle choices of millennials. Jenn Halpin introduced Chef Acheson after which he opened the floor for conversation of his new program and domestic hunger on a larger scale. Discussion touched on a range of issues including social norms in the kitchen, domestic versus professional, and Hugh’s experience bringing his curriculum to the classroom.

The conversation brought SEED out of the classroom and framed the program as one part of our greater food system.  Faculty and students brought up structural obstacles that small programs, like SEED, working toward positive change may encounter. For some, convenience is too valuable or entrenched in their lifestyle to easily sacrifice. Multiple jobs and responsibilities, especially under pressure of low wages, coupled with familial responsibilities of managing the home and taking care of children, may make a communal, home-cooked meal impossible. Furthermore, limited access to fresh ingredients, whether because of the price or geographic barriers, places further restrictions on a family’s ability to prepare and enjoy food together.

Faculty and students agreed that SEED was an admirable program but they pushed Chef Acheson to address the structural issues in our greater food system. Consequently, limited consumer choice, particularly among communities of low socioeconomic status, came to the forefront. Those criticizing the larger system suggested that the choices that poor people have are extremely limited by the wealthy minority of individuals/corporations who hold a disproportionate amount of power and by larger structural forces. This was the topic over which major disagreement arose. Chef Acheson argued that it is irresponsible and elitist to tell the poor that they are powerless, interpreting it as dismissing their voices to be meaningless. His opposition agreed that the poor should not be seen as powerless but it should be recognized that their power is significantly limited by the decisions which they are allowed to make…and the choices they have in those decisions.

Hugh Acheson is first and foremost a chef; however he argued that he was being asked to solve all the problems plaguing our food system. Chef Acheson was clear that his contribution to mending our broken system exists at the community-level and felt that criticisms of SEED suggested that his work was insignificant. Understandably, he was upset. I was upset. The faculty and students were upset. It is discouraging to be faced with the feeling that the problem you are most passionate about is insurmountable. However, it is framing the food reform in this way, as a single problem with a single solution, which is our downfall. The problem as a whole may be insurmountable, no sweeping solution would solve all of the issues with the food system, but individual efforts can come together to make noticeable change.

What do these “efforts” look like? For one, increasing the minimum wage. Individuals that make up the lower socioeconomic classes are also those that are most victimized by our food system. By increasing income, these individuals and their families can make more decisions and have more choices. Parents may no longer work two jobs. Instead, they can spend time at home cooking homemade meals, building family around food, and teaching their children to do the same. Furthermore, if government subsidies are redirected from commodity crops (corn, soy, and wheat) into fresh produce, these families can afford more and healthier ingredients for their homemade meals. Removing subsidies from crops like corn and soy, that are used to produce high fructose corn syrup and vegetable oil, results in higher prices of processed foods. The choice between fresh fruits and vegetables and manufactured snacks is no longer dictated by affordability. Chefs and teachers, including Hugh Acheson, are contributing by teaching domestic science and ensuring that students know how to use fresh ingredients when they become available. Regardless of what the effort looks like, we must understand that no one solution will solve all of our problems. Instead, we can become informed and take responsible action, becoming an interweaving thread in a web of change.

This Week in Food 9/25/16

Welcome, Fall! The first official week of autumn is nearly to an end and we in the Food Studies Department are watching celebrations of the harvest take place all over campus. Here are some food related stories to keep us conscious of this magical time of year…

  1. The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened yesterday. The new addition to the Smithsonian family is home to a variety of artifacts, 37,000 of them to be exact. Many of these items celebrate the unique culinary culture of African American heritage, a tradition that the museum operators have striven to encapsulate in the visitor’s entire experience, from exhibit to food court.
  2. Our very own Dickinsonian, Vaughn Gooding has made his debut in the world of food. Check out his homemade guacamole here.
  3. It’s fall and that means PSL season. So why is pumpkin spice so popular and what are the origins of this crowd pleasing flavor combo?
  4. Did you get out to the farm for the Harvest Festival this past Friday? Dickinson’s celebration of fall is one of many in a long string of cultural traditions.

Eco-Conscious College Students Befriend Vegetables

Guest Author: Cindy Baur ’16

Grease soaked vegetables.  Refried beans.  French fries. Mac and cheese.  These were the vegetarian options offered in the cafeteria that sparked Pro Veg, a group of students who wanted to improve and expand vegetarian options on campus.  The group formed as sort of a sub-movement of the Food Advisory Council, a collection of faculty, Dining Services staff, and students that meets about once a month to discuss Dining Services related topics.

Originally I was inspired to found Pro Veg by a trip to the Hazon Jewish Food Festival in Philadelphia.  At the festival I sat in on talks about Kosher butchering and I found myself considering a more mindful approach to eating meat.  Many people at the festival were approaching topics from an activist standpoint and I left feeling encouraged.  Dickinson calls itself a sustainable institution and in many ways it is a leader in sustainable initiatives, especially when it comes to food.  However, as I reflected upon the food choices available at Dickinson I realized that we could be doing so much more.  I felt that Meatless Mondays could be a great option for Dining Services to pursue to reduce Dickinson’s carbon footprint and to encourage others to take a break from meat one day a week.  I knew certain groups of students on campus wouldn’t be thrilled, such as athletes, but I felt that with the right approach, students would realize that meatless options can be just as protein-rich as actual meat.

The first step was to find other students interested in promoting vegetarianism on campus.  I started by emailing people I knew would be interested: student farmers, Baird Sustainability Fellows, and members of Asbell Cooking Club (a club that cooks vegetarian meals once a week).  I ended up with an email list of 13 people.

At our first meeting, about five people actually showed up.  During our discussion I quickly realized that pursuing Meatless Mondays at Dickinson was going to be a much more difficult task than I had imagined.  Students in the group pointed out that Meatless Mondays wouldn’t be well received by the entire student body, especially because it presents vegetarianism as the only moral choice.  In other words, if you eat a vegetarian diet, you are a better person.  As a group we came to the conclusion that it was not our place to force people into certain food choices.

We decided that starting by making vegetarian options better and more abundant would be a much better approach to starting the process of increasing vegetarianism on campus.  Our strategy was to make vegetarian options so available and irresistible that people wouldn’t even realize that they would be skipping out on eating meat.  We decided to call ourselves Pro Veg.  I timidly brought our ideas to Dining Services.  How could I, a senior living off-campus and without a meal plan, have any sway in what is served in the caf?  During my first meeting with Errol Huffman, the director of Dining Services, I quickly realized that Dining Services cares a lot about what students want.  As Errol told me, they’re in the business of pleasing customers and if their customers want more vegetarian options, they would try to provide that.

After a few more meetings with Pro Veg members and Dining Services representatives we decided that the best way to capture how Dickinson students feel about current vegetarian options would be through a survey.  Errol sent me the four-week menu rotation with every single item served in the caf.  Pro Veg members and I designed a survey around the menu, asking students to list their favorite and least favorite options and to use requests for open space to give constructive criticism and to make suggestions for improvement.

We sent out the survey and received 264 responses.  We found that most students surveyed rarely feel like there are enough vegetarian and vegan options in the caf.  Students said that they did not think there were enough protein options for a vegetarian and they often still felt hungry after eating a meal.  Survey respondents easily pointed out their dissatisfactions with the caf but did not use the open-ended spaces of the survey to give constructive feedback.  If you’d like to see all of the responses, click here and select responses at the top of the page.

After the survey closed and Pro Veg had a chance to sift through the results, I sat down with Errol and head chef Richie Rice.  Both Errol and Richie were receptive of the survey.  In fact, Errol had already given Richie the assignment of adding 100 new vegetarian menu items to the menu rotation for the 2016-2017 academic year.

I think the survey taught me that there is no way to please everyone, that there is no perfect solution to any problem and that sometimes people do not have the same interpretation of a problem. The whole Pro Veg process also taught me students have more power on campus than they may realize.  Without much effort I was able to come up with an idea, find other students who supported my idea, and meet with Dickinson staff to talk about those ideas and I think that’s pretty damn cool.

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