Understanding the Foodshed

Where is our food coming from, and how is it getting to us? The majority of the food consumed in the United States "flows" to us from points across the globe. Although the food comes to us from many places, in our consciousness, it comes to us from no place in particular. And, although much of our food is inexpensive, it comes to us with many hidden environmental, social, and human health costs. Some of these costs, such as loss of habitat, pollution, excessive energy and water use, and the loss of small-farm workers' jobs, can begin to be alleviated by doing such things as eating lower on the food chain, choosing unprocessed, unpackaged and organic foods, and buying locally produced goods.

As educators, we are aware of the importance of children learning to value both ecological and human diversity as key components in the survival of all organisms on the planet. Specifically, food education encourages educators to recognize the importance of children learning how to examine critically the impacts that food production and agricultural practices have on a myriad of areas that directly and indirectly connect to their own well being as well as the health of both the natural and human communities. Ultimately, we recognize our responsibility to empower children to create change that will benefit both their local and global communities through their intentional choices and activism related to food.

Food education is crucial in addressing the viability and size of community foodsheds. As communities around the world become increasingly dependent on distant farms to produce their food, their foodsheds increase in size. This leaves especially dependent communities very vulnerable to hunger and/or starvation in times of crop shortages, war, or hardship because they have no local food source that is not dependent on fossil fuels for transport. Loss of freedom of choice must also be examined as control of not only the food market falls into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations, but life itself is being patented by companies developing specialized seeds and animals.

In mapping a foodshed, we examine and analyze the many processes that food goes through between producer and consumer. We must ask, "Where does each process happen and how far is my food traveling?" In traveling many miles over land or sea, food must be stored or protected in various ways and valuable fossil fuels are used for these journeys. A 1992 report in The Packer states, "food in the United States travels an average of 1300 miles and changes hands half a dozen times before it is consumed," (Kloppenburg et al). Kloppenburg et al. report that the type of foodshed that exists currently in most of the world is a global food system, economically, psychologically, and geographically distant from consumers. They offer the foodshed analyst "principles to be explored" that promote "a foodshed in a moral economy" . Finally, they view the "foodshed as a framework for both thought and action." This idea, as well as the metaphor of a watershed, makes the theme of foodshed an appropriate tool to examine food systems issues.

The following curriculum is easily placed within a larger food and waste context (i.e., IslandWood foodshed is more local in production and waste placement than the typical home or school foodshed). Bentley describes an ecological model called the Food Circle. It is similar to other natural systems in which food is grown, processed, eaten, wasted, etc., comprising a cycle of life, death, and renewal. These concepts will inevitably arise when students are researching locations for food production, distribution, consumption, etc. In a model similar to the Food Circle, the outer circle of the "General Food Systems Model" illustrates "the biophysical, political-economic, and social-cultural environments (that) create the larger context for the human food cycle." (SinghDeo).

It is with this context in mind that we discuss the impacts of a global food system. In addition, foodsheds provide a framework for examining other ecological concepts and systems such as climate and weather, trends over time, geography; cultural differences; media and advertising; metaphor; and hunger and food security.

Sample Lesson Plan

Lesson Title: Mapping the IslandWood Foodshed

Overview: Students will examine the theme of a foodshed by mapping in various ways what routes and steps the food eaten at IslandWood takes before it reaches their plates. Students will create this map of the IslandWood foodshed by visiting the garden and composting areas on site, interviewing the cooks and chef to determine where they get the food we eat during the week, brainstorming with their peers and adult leaders, and doing other types of research to determine what paths the food has taken.

Key Goals and Objectives:

Students will
· examine the steps food takes as it moves from producer to consumer.
· understand that food goes through many steps, both in geographical location and in processing, before it reaches their mouth.
· be able to use the information gathered to make connections between their food choices and possible alternatives, as well as make connections between the existing food system and environmental and social impacts.

Introduction: This lesson will connect with what we have learned, or will explore, about mapping and about watersheds. We will investigate one of many people's favorite things – food! Like water in a watershed, food flows from place to place. This flow of food from where it is produced to where it is eaten is a "foodshed". We have a foodshed right here at IslandWood and that is what we are going to map.

Core Lesson:
- Prior to beginning, lead the students on a tour perhaps during the dining hall orientation, of the garden, greenhouse and composting units. At some point, ideally, the students will have been introduced to activities about watersheds and about mapping.
- Begin lesson by introducing the term "foodshed" and asking students what they think that means; arrive at connection with watershed.
- Discuss mapping activities prior to this one, or introduce concept of mapping; ask "what do people use maps for?" "what do they look like?" "why would we want to map a foodshed?;" may want to have students predict what a foodshed map might look like.
- Revisit the garden and greenhouse and the kitchen (if cleared by staff; students should have time later to go to the kitchen to talk with the staff).
- As a large group, generate a written list of the foods the students consumed that week at IslandWood.
- Split group in two or divide in pairs and let students know that they will be working collaboratively on the project. They should then choose at least two foods (an option is to pick one "meal" of their favorite foods) from that list.
- In their groups, students will then try to determine what the ingredients are in the foods they pick, whether the ingredients come from a plant, animal or other source, and where, to the best of their knowledge, that ingredient comes from locally, in the world or if it is grown on site. (See chart at end of this section) They will do this by brainstorming with each other and with adults, by interviewing the kitchen staff and by looking at the labels on food packaging.
- Using a map – state and regional – and globe, students will trace the route a few of their foods took to reach them. Using dry erase markers and laminated maps can best do this.
- As the culminating product of this project, students will draw, write (for example, in poem or story form) or otherwise create a map of the journey of one of their favorite foods or meal and then present it to the group. Some thoughts are: making a collage using pictures from National Geographic magazines, writing a story about a grain of rice's travels from China to Seattle, drawing a map of the route that the food took.

Conclusion:
How far does our food typically have to travel? Does it matter that many of our foods comes from large corporate farms or travels hundreds or thousands of miles? What effects does this far-flung foodshed have on people and on the environment? Why might we want to eat locally produced foods? What are some alternatives to eating food that comes from far away? How does the food you've eaten here differ from the food you eat at home?
Students should find that many of the foods we use at IslandWood are locally grown (for some vegetable, even grown on site) or raised. The food/ingredients the cooks use are chosen carefully, with thought to whether it is sustainably raised, organic, nutritionally healthy and relatively local. Some foods, of course, must come from far away, such as bananas, rice and orange juice, but those foods are minimal and thoughtfully chosen as well. The maps the students create and how they are created will reflect what they found most interesting or compelling about the food process and reflect a person's or group's individual learning style.
It is critical in this activity to discuss the effects of having a global food system. Students will see that they may have alternatives in what they eat and where it comes from, and that their choices affect not only their health (nutritionally), but also the environment and other people.
The topics this lesson does not explicitly touch on, and therefore conclusions that students may not arrive at, are many. There are so many culturally and ecologically important issues around food – hunger locally and globally, waste from food and packaging, genetic engineering, and a whole host of environmental topics – that it is important not to limit the scope and direction of the discussion merely to what we eat at IslandWood and where it comes from.

Extensions:
Extensions for this activity are essential to uncovering relationships between children as beings capable of making choices and the possibilities of alternatives for eating. The most critical related activity I have in mind is to map the foodshed of their home (or school). Most students would discover from that activity – if they did not already do so during the IslandWood mapping experience – how far removed most Americans are from the sources of their food. I see this activity, paired with the one described above, as going hand-in-hand.
Some other ideas for extension activities:
- students look for evidence of food in pictures of families from Material World, as well as the pictures of the meals in different countries, to begin discussion on how and what other cultures eat; compare a foodshed in the U.S. to one in a less industrialized nation (such as India, Kenya, Thailand, etc.)
- use a "reverse" mapping approach to investigate how many foods are made using a certain staple food (such as wheat) and where in the world that staple is used and in what way.
- compare a human foodshed with that of an animal such as a migratory bird, a bear, or a bee.

Safety Considerations: This activity could lead to discussion about personal and family eating habits and should be guided with sensitivity.

References

Bentley, Nancy Lee. "Foodsheds and Food Circles." Online Posting. 5 Apr 1995. http: //www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail/html-home/7-html/0329.html

Freire, Paulo. (1999) The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: The Continuum Publishing Co.

Goering, Peter and Helena Norberg-Hodge and John Page. (1993) From the Ground Up. London: Zed Books Ltd.

Kloppenburg, Jack Jr., John Hendrickson and G. W. Stevenson.(1996) "Coming Into the Foodshed." Agriculture and Human Values 13:3 (Summer): 33-42. . http://www.wisc.edu/cias/pubs/comingin.PDF

Orr, David W. (1994) Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Washington D.C.: Island Press.

SinghDeo, Anna. (1998) "Charting a Course for Urban Community Based Food Systems Education." The Evergreen State College . http://academic.evergreen.edu/m/mhenders/partners/streport/strpt.htm

Wisconsin Foodshed Research Project. http://www.foodshed.wisc.edu

About the authors

Celina Steiger is a graduate student at IslandWood and will earn a Certificate in Environmental Education in June 2003. Home for her is Washington State and excitement includes botanizing and hiking. She strives to educate children and adults about sustainable life choices that are good for them, for society, and for the earth by encouraging critical and creative thinking, and facilitating inspiring community and environmental experiences.

Danielle Harrington is currently attending the IslandWood Graduate Program for a Certificate in Environmental Education. She is passionate about finding ways to educate children and adults about sustainable agriculture, how food choices impact the environment on local and global scales, and to empower people to be stewards within their communities.

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