2019 CAFLP Annual Conference Panel Recap: “Access to Food in the Public Sector”

The November 8th panel “Access to Food in the Public Sector” featured three speakers who spoke about two different initiatives for improving access to food in public institutions.

Translocalism is the idea that composites of place-based social movements exchange ideas, knowledge, and practices. In the study of Institutional food environments, Sophie Lamond explores sustainable food communities that exist and maps out different kinds of networks about who is involved in campus food operations. The idea of sustainable dining is one component of a community of foodscapes that exists in the campus landscape. It interacts with a sourcing solution, such as the campus garden, as well as with teaching on sustainable protein alternatives, like the meat-free Monday initiatives at the University of California. In particular, uprooted and rising is a student-led organization with the mission to get corporations out of campus foodscapes. On that note, there currently exist three institutional food providers that hold 45% of all revenue of operators in United States college food services. The conflict of interest between these institutions partaking in systematic disenfranchising of certain racialized groups and being endorsed on campus as a monopoly food service provider is a large source of controversy. Lamond argues that it simply does not make sense for the students to be locked into payment in supporting these institutions with no alternatives who perpetuate the systematic oppression they suffer. Similarly, college sports teams with endorsements from the Pepsi corporation are locked into these agreements alike, where their related junk food brands are on display in campus food outlets. These are social relationships that are hard to untangle, with football deals deeply rooted in the culture of American colleges. However, with strong enough support from the student population, some schools have successfully petitioned out of a contract renewal.

In a similar translocalism context, Hayley Lapalme and Wendy Smith showcase the Nourish Project, a national community of innovators in healthcare who wishes to influence the narrative of hospital food through improved menus and sustainable purchasing. In light of the shifting paradigms from our health care systems in decline and overburdened, there lies both an opportunity to assess the cost of the status quo and the possibilities of an emerging future through change. Health care procurement through a value-based strategy holds the ability to reinforce sustainable practices by looking beyond cost-effectiveness. In a revamp set of procurement criteria, hospitals are placing a greater value on food waste programs, packaging reduction strategies and sourcing from local farmers.

This session touches on the magic of collaboration beyond the immediate community context. The idea of grassroots and local initiatives have generally been preferred. However, the speakers demonstrated that translocalism holds the power of extending local initiatives multi-folds to achieve both economies of scale and sharing of benefits as a feasible concept. This panel reinforces the power of extending your circle and reaching another community elsewhere by spreading useful innovation pertaining to the individual context. It sums up the notion of sharing ideas, tailoring to the specific context, and not replicating a one-size-fits-all approach.