Mapping the critical food literacy landscape

Understanding the capacity for food literacy education to support food systems transformation

Project Team

Kerry Renwick, Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education

Will Valley, Senior Instructor, Academic Director of the Land, Food and Community Series, Faculty of Land and Food Systems

Hannah Wittman, Professor, Academic Director, Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, Faculty of Land and Food Systems; Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability

Lisa Powell, TEG Project Manager, Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability; Department of Geography, University of Fraser Valley

Ashley Bangsund, MA Student, Environmental Education Program, Royal Roads University

Funding

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Partners

Vancouver School Food Network, UBC FarmWonders Program

About the Project

Recent decades have bought increased interest among the general population in North America in “knowing where food comes from,” and in particular, in fostering this knowledge among children and youth. This research project aims to map the current child and youth food literacy education landscape in Vancouver, BC, analyze how those providing food literacy communicate their own interpretations of food literacy, and establish metrics for food literacy education in order to build capacity for food literacy education. Furthermore, relationships between the food literacy programs and how that learning is applied outside of the school will also be examined.

Through surveys, participant observation, semi-structured interviews and analysis of secondary data from school and community group program reports, this project delves into the understanding of critical food literacy education mechanisms and will develop a replicable approach to assessing relationships between food literacy education and broader food systems change.

External Links and Publications

Renwick, K., Powell, L.J., Edwards, G. 2021. ‘We are all in this together’: Investigating alignments in intersectoral partnerships dedicated to K-12 food literacy education. Health Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00178969211011522

Mazac, R., Renwick, K., Seed, B., Black, J.L. 2021. An Approach for Integrating and Analyzing Sustainability in Food-Based Dietary Guidelines. Frontiers in sustainable food systems 5, 84. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.544072

Renwick, K., Powell, L.J. 2019. Focusing on the Literacy in Food Literacy: practice, community, and food sovereignty. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences 111 (1), 24-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.14307/JFCS111.1.24

Ebel, R., Ahmed, S., Valley, W., Jordan, N., Grossman, J., Shanks, C.B. 2020. Co-design of Adaptable Learning Outcomes for Sustainable Food Systems Undergraduate Education. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 4, 170. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.568743

Valley, W., Anderson, M., Blackstone, N.T., Sterling, E., Betley, E., Akabas, S. 2020. Towards an equity competency model for sustainable food systems education programs Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 8 (1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.428