ATTENTION ALL GEEKS AND NERDS,
WE ARE SEEKING A GROUP OF DEDICATED STUDENTS WHO WOULD LIKE TO APPLY WHAT THEY'RE LEARNING IN THE CLASSROOM FOR APPLIED STUDENT RESEARCH. WE ARE ALSO ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS TO OUR BLOGS (ANY FORM OF MEDIA/ACADEMIC WRITING IS WELCOME). PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU ARE INTERESTED!
Food is a human right!
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
What is privilege?
To recognize privilege, one must first recognize that our society is oppressive and not egalitarian. Social inequalities are not isolated phenomenon that exist in a vortex. They exist due to structural, cultural and institutional inequality. Based on racial, gendered, sexual, classist and abelist discrimination, our society has become built on systems of advantage that reproduce the inequalities onto which they were built. Those who the system is built to advantage and those who enjoy the privileges of belonging to a certain group, are privileged. Their privilege is derived directly or indirectly through the oppression of others.
So a privileged individual must recognize their privilege, educate themselves about marginalized groups and their struggles. Most importantly, they must challenge their privilege.
In the Food Centre setting, individuals must recognize that we offer a service. We attempt to provide individuals who have been stripped of their right to good food with access to good food, while simultaneously challenging the structures that create this food access disparity. We in no way are doing anyone a favor. Our service is run based on a student levy of 0.54$ by almost every student. We are a Student’s Union service paid for the students for the students, not a registered charity.
What is the food system?
A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consumption, and disposal of food and food-related items. It also includes the inputs needed and outputs generated at each of these steps. A food system operates within and is influenced by social, political, economic and environmental contexts.
What’s wrong with our food system and how would YOU change it?
Reading List
Available in the Food Centre (for in office use only):
Nick Saul-
The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement.
Raj Patel-
Stuffed and Starved.
Fast Food Nation-
Eric Schlosser
At the UTM Library:
Janet Poppendieck-
Sweet Charity: Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement.
Free for All: Fixing School Food in America.
Breadlines Knee Deep in Wheat: Food Assistance in the Great Depression.
Francis Moore Lappe-
Diet for a Small planet.
Michael Pollan-
Omnivor’s Dilemma.
Online:
Prof. Valerie Tarasuk-
http://nutritionalsciences.lamp.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/foodinsecurity2011_final.pdf
http://opha.on.ca/OPHA/media/opha/Events/tarasuk-opha-jun-19-2013.pdf?ext=.pdf
Hunger Count Report 2013:
http://www.foodbankscanada.ca/FoodBanks/MediaLibrary/HungerCount/HungerCount2013.pdf
Stuff to watch:
Food Inc. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyhPqrnm48o
Wallmart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBhGPftY7DI
Others:
