 "Photo:")
While Spike Lee attracted a large audience last night in Conte Forum, a smaller group gathered in Devlin Hall for a "Real Food Panel," the last event of Real Food Week. The panel included Director of Boston College Dining Services Helen Wechsler, Anim Steel from the Food Project and co-coordinator of the national Real Food Challenge, Dawn Olcott of the Massachusetts Farm to School Initiative and Cambridge Health Alliance, and Sarah King, member of Real Food BC, Ecopledge, and A&S '10.
A discussion and potluck meal kicked off the week on Monday in Hovey House, followed by a screening of the film King Corn on Tuesday. Real Food Week was presented by Real Food BC, a group of undergraduate and graduate students working for more sustainable food practices on campus, as well as Ecopledge and the sociology department.
Real Food BC began on campus after two students, King and Michael Cermak, GA&S '13, attended the Real Food Summit at Yale University in November 2003. Yale is recognized among universities as progressive for its organic garden, where food is grown for their sustainable cafe.
As defined by the Real Food Challenge Web site, Real Food is "food that is ethically produced, with fair treatment of workers, equitable relationships with farmers (locally and abroad), and humanely treated animals. It is food that is environmentally sustainable - grown without chemical pesticides, large-scale mono-cropping, or huge carbon footprints."
Erin Balleine, GA&S '08, spoke at the small group discussion on Monday about her experience working with immigrant farmers in Immokalee, Fla. Balleine worked with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in boycotting corporations like Taco Bell and Burger King for refusing to pay farm workers 1 cent more per bucket than the standard price of 45 cents. These corporations work with farming conglomerates that are not obligated to pay their farm workers, mostly immigrants, the minimum wage.
After experiencing Yale's garden and cafe, King was inspired to work to create a similar program at BC. At the Real Food Panel, King described having felt overwhelmed upon leaving the Real Food Summit after learning how the food industry has created problems like labor rights violations, ecological degradation, and health problems like a diabetes epidemic.
"But I also left feeling inspired because of the energy and excitement about food from the students," King said. "There are so many different points of access. Whether you're passionate about labor rights, or you consider yourself to be an environmentalist, there are so many different ways to get involved. Whether or not you're thinking about the food you eat, you're ingesting the issues regardless."
King called for the students present at the panel discussion to get involved in the Real Food movement at BC. Real Food BC, in a partnership with Ecopledge and BC Dining Services, plans to launch an organic garden behind Connolly House, staffed by student volunteers. The garden would provide the food for the BC Green Cafe that would take the place of Tamarind in Corcoran Commons. Real Food BC is still in the planning stage with Dining Services, working on menu ideas, but it hopes to debut in the fall. Along with food grown in the garden, the cafe would serve sustainable and locally grown food from farmers in the area.
At the small group discussion, Cermak stressed the importance of "taking control of our food decisions" as college students. Establishing connections to the farmers and farm workers, understanding the labor process, ways to reduce food waste, and understanding the economics of the food industry are all steps Cermak gave for taking control.
Wechsler also stressed the leverage students have in making these food decisions that have a university-wide impact.
"When I got to BC, I was sort of surprised by how generous the student body was with regard to our social missions, like going on trips like Appalachia," Wechsler said. "But when we started to discuss food and the people behind the food, it was a completely new conversation."
King also noted the lack of awareness or concern for where our food comes from when students don't see what goes on behind the scenes in food production.
"[Students] don't see how it's grown, who grows it, how it's prepared or processed. Our job as Real Food BC is to educate the student body, and to do that, we are going to have to implement these methods like the sustainable cafe, a place where we can support local farmers by serving healthy food," King said. "We're going to use it as an educational tool to raise awareness about these issues. The problem is that before we can implement the cafe, we need to have student input and support."
Be the first to comment on this article!