Food Next Door: From Food Literacy to Citizenship on a College Campus

Abstract

Industrial agriculture and food corporations have produced an abundance of food that is highly processed, nutritionally poor, and environmentally burdensome. As part of a healthy campus initiative, generated to address these and other food production and consumption dilemmas, a student-run “local and sustainable” food establishment called Food Next Door (FND) was created. This intrinsic case study evaluated food literacy in health science students, faculty, and staff first as a pilot to build the case for FND and further explicated customers’, volunteers’, and leads’ experiences with FND, identifying potential pathways from food literacy to citizenship. Ten returning customers, eight recurring nutrition student volunteers, and three graduate student leads participated in interviews that were analyzed for themes and subthemes. The findings show a progression in themes. Customers’ experiences highlight FND’s fresh, flavorful food, smiling and supportive staff, and personal transformation. Volunteers’ themes identified greater awareness of new foods and plant-based eating, acquiring new knowledge and skills in commercial kitchens, and deepening their connection to food, each other, and to where food comes from. Leads’ themes show opportunities to gain managerial skills, a deeper understanding of food and skills from being immersed in value-based food systems, and confidence in peer teaching. Experiencing and becoming part of the food value chain through FND built food literacy, shifted values, and transformed students into food citizens.

How do dietetics students learn about sustainability? A scoping review

“…Of the 12 articles, nine were published after 2015, 17,34,35,38,40–44 following the release of the Sustainable Development Goals 8,9,27 . Seven articles were published after 2017 following the release of the UNESCO and the Commonwealth Secretariat frameworks 17,34,35,38,40–44 . Three referred to the Sustainable Development Goals, 17,38,44 and only Navarro et al reported an intervention that met the UNESCO and the Commonwealth Secretariat scaffolding recommendations, 9,27,44 however, these recommendations were not referenced or mentioned in this study.…”

“…43 The remaining articles appeared to use a mixed-methods approach to evaluating student learning. 17,35,36,38,44 Overall, a wide range of evaluation methods were used.…”

“…There was variability in the teaching approaches used to enhance student knowledge of sustainability. Three articles reported that the learning activity focused on content knowledge, 35–37 problem‐based learning techniques were used in four articles, 17,34,43,44 and experiential learning activities were embedded in the curricula in five articles 38–42 …”

Sustainable food, consensus, and debates: a study on university campuses in Mexico City

“…Other more socially oriented studies consider themes such as the understanding of consumers’ decisions regarding the consumption of sustainable products (Chen et al , 2016; Vecchio and Annunziata, 2013); the schemes that link universities to alternative food networks (Barlett, 2017) and other community organizations (Burley et al , 2015; Rojas et al , 2011). These analysis address different specific objectives, including understanding the trajectories of student involvement in food-related initiatives (Mayer et al , 2021) and their role in strengthening social movements that demand sustainable food systems (Levkoe et al , 2016). Others have also explored specific linking mechanisms, such as the role of public procurement (Stahlbrand, 2016) or farmers markets on campus (Ward et al , 2014).…”

Nutraceutical and flavor profiles in underutilized desert legumes of India: gene editing strategies towards sustainable food development

“…Food production itself is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, resulting mainly from deforestation for creating agricultural land, fertilizer production/application and breeding livestock for animal-based food (Tubiello et al 2021 ). The Environmental Nutrition Model (ENM) proposes that future food has to be not only nutritious and healthy but also be capable of being produced in an environmentally sustainable manner (Meyer et al 2021 ; Sabaté et al 2016 ). In this context, adopting diets based on underutilized plants makes sense as they are capable of growing on marginal and less fertile lands and require minimum fertilizer application.…”