On World Day of Social Justice on February 20, Green Dining is highlighting the critical issue of food justice - because according to FoodCorps, “Food Justice IS Social Justice.”
What is food justice?
According to Food Print, “Food justice is a holistic and structural view of the food system that sees healthy food as a human right and addresses structural barriers to that right… A food justice lens examines questions of access to healthy, nutritious, culturally appropriate food, as well as: ownership and control of land, credit, knowledge, technology and other resources; the constituent labor of food production; what kind of food traditions are valued; how colonialism has affected the food system’s development and more. ”
For more information, check out this article: https://foodprint.org/issues/food-justice/
Why is it necessary?
“The dominant food system . . . leaves many Americans undernourished and unhealthy — and the brunt of those results are borne by low-income communities of color… Food insecurity and high rates of diet-related disease correlate with poverty, which disproportionately impacts people of color.” (Foodprint)
Food Sovereignty
One critical component of the food justice movement is food sovereignty. According to the Declaration of Nyéléni, the first global forum on food sovereignty, food sovereignty is “…the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.”
For more information on food sovereignty, check out this article: http://usfoodsovereigntyalliance.org/what-is-food-sovereignty/
Food Justice in Charlottesville
Learn more about food justice in Charlottesville by visiting the Cultivate Charlottesville site.
You can also get involved with the UVA Sustainable Food Collaborative on Grounds.
The UVA Community Food Pantry and Loaves and Fishes work to provide accessible, healthy food to students and community members in need.
Check out our previous article on Fair Trade for information on how your purchases can be part of the solution: https://www.uvagreendining.com/post/fair-trade-and-fair-trade-finals-what-s-the-deal