Education
From 2015 to 2021, BFI hosted a project called Building Equitable and Inclusive Food Systems at UC Berkeley. The project brought together active collaborators from across campus to help bridge the gaps between food and justice within our campus community.
Through a series of workshops aimed at developing emotional intelligence and a more comprehensive understanding of issues of privilege, race, class, gender, sexuality, and other forms of marginalization in food research, teaching, operations, and activism on campus, project leaders learned that the biggest barrier to changing our campus food system was understanding the system itself: all the players, individual and departmental decision-makers, and how different parts of the campus food landscape (“foodscape”) interact.
Given those findings, project collaborators came together to begin the creation of the dynamic “Foodscape Map” that aims to both reveal barriers to the full participation of historically marginalized community members in food-related learning and practice on campus — encompassing (but not limited to) teaching, research, student organizations and activism, administrative decisions and initiatives, support services, campus gardens, and dining services, eateries, catering, and other procurement — and highlight opportunities and successes in overcoming such obstacles.
Fanshel, R. Z., & Iles, A. (2022). “Mapping Inequity: The Campus Foodscape as Pedagogy and Practice.” Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fsufs.2022.759076
Fanshel, Rosalie Z., and Alastair Iles. 2020. “Transforming the Campus Foodscape Through Participatory Mapping.” Case Studies in the Environment 4 (1120325). https://doi.org/10.1525/cse.2020.1120325
Classens, M., Adam, K., & Srebot, S. (2023). Food systems change and the alternative campus foodscape. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 12(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2023.123.010
The interactive Campus Food Players diagram below shows Berkeley’s “foodscape” of academic units, student leadership groups, service units, and physical facilities, organized by formal reporting structure, allowing you to see at a glance how decisions and funding travel through the system.
The interactive Geographic Asset Map shows the locations of the most important food-related services and facilities at UC Berkeley, from crucial Basic Needs Services like the UC Berkeley Food Pantry, to campus gardens, eateries, and self-service facilities (lactation rooms, microwaves, water refill stations, and zero-waste stations) in and around campus buildings.
This section of the Foodscape Map analyzes the past and present of agriculture coursework and research at UC Berkeley and how diversity, equity, and inclusion have factored into UC Berkeley’s pedagogical approach to food and agriculture studies. Included here are a timeline of food and agriculture coursework at UC Berkeley and an infographic and thesis on addressing inaccessibility of research spaces on campus.
UC Berkeley contains more than ten campus gardens where students and staff are growing food and curating experiential learning opportunities. Campus also houses areas where students can access clean water and a safe place to reheat food. This section of the Foodscape Map explores these campus avenues for food production and consumption.
In this part of the Foodscape Map, we analyze aspects of UC Berkeley’s food and beverage service units, including the Basic Needs Security, University Health Services, and staff wellness programs. This data collection led to the creation of the Coalition for Healthy Campus Food and Beverages and the Staff Basic Needs Working Group.
Our team collected data on how students interact with UC Berkeley’s food landscape through Greek Life, student cooperatives, and food-related student groups. Interviews also focused on student reflections on diversity, equity, and inclusion within campus food work.
In 2019, the Berkeley Food Institute undertook a project to investigate the beverage landscape at the UC Berkeley locations that are affected by the PepsiCo contract. This report summarizes the research findings and proposes next steps to improve the health of our campus environment.
The UC Berkeley Foodscape Map aims to both reveal barriers to the full participation of historically marginalized community members in food-related learning and practice, and highlight opportunities for — and successes in — overcoming such obstacles.
As UC Berkeley’s contract with Pepsi is set to expire, students are pushing the university to rethink beverage service on campus.
This year, in an effort led by students, BFI and campus partners formed the Coalition for Healthy Campus Food and Beverages to bring more stakeholders into campus decision-making on food and beverage choices, uplift Berkeley values through procurement practices, and raise awareness of human and planetary health in the process.
Led by the Berkeley Food Institute since 2015, the Building Equitable and Inclusive Food Systems at UC Berkeley project has brought together more than 150 collaborators from across campus to help bridge the gaps between our campus food system and the communities it serves.
By getting our kitchen in order, we can help build a successful campus food system that inspires universities and colleges across the country.
As Campus Food Equity and Inclusion Policy Fellows at the Berkeley Food Institute, we have worked to uplift the UC Berkeley community, specifically on the issue of food justice.