Building Equitable and Inclusive Food Systems at UC Berkeley
Since 2015, with initial support from a Division of Equity and Inclusion Innovation Grant, the Building Equitable and Inclusive Food Systems at UC Berkeley project has 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.
Project Team and Collaborators
Principal Investigator: Alastair Iles, Associate Professor, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Founding Faculty Co-director, Berkeley Food Institute
Lead Researcher and Project Manager: Rosalie Z. Fanshel, Program Manager, Berkeley Food Institute; PhD Student, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
Campus Food Equity and Inclusion Policy Fellow: Joyce Lee, Master’s Student, Public Health Nutrition
Research Assistant: Kevin Tuok, Undergraduate Student, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Berkeley Food Institute, Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence, Multicultural Education Program, Food Pantry, Cal Dining, Student Environmental Resource Center, Student Organic Garden Association, Berkeley Student Food Collective, GradFood, CityFood, University Health Services, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, Department of Geography, and Department of Sociology
This project was supported by the Berkeley Food Institute, the UC Global Food Initiative Student Fellowship Program, the College of Natural Resources Sponsored Projects for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) program, the College of Letters and Sciences Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP), the Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC), Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society Faculty Cluster Intervention Grant, and donors to an October 2016 fundraising campaign through the UC Berkeley Crowdfunding platform.
The Building Equitable and Inclusive Food Systems at UC Berkeley project was founded in 2015 with a grant from the UC Berkeley Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Innovation Grant Program. Project partners include the Berkeley Food Institute, Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence, Multicultural Education Program, and Student Environmental Resource Center.
Pablo Ahijado Aparicio, Anthony Barrs, Christina Becker, Sara Beckman Anna V. Bohbot, Ruben Canedo, Sunil Chacko, Clayton Chan, Elliott DiTusa, Jen Falbe, Rosalie Z. Fanshel, Jennifer Garcia, Maria Garcia-Alvarez, Amy Gardner, Amy Garfinkel, Daniel Henroid, Alastair Iles, Janice Kao, Anna Kubicka, Yvette Lane-Newton, Joyce Lee, Brian Light, Rosie Linares-Díaz, Sam Lubow, Kris Madsen, Cecilia Mafnas, Alejandra Marquez, Nicole McIntyre, Selena Melgoza, Harris Mojadedi, Joe Mulford, Sophia Navarro, Izzy Parnell-Wolfe, Karen Patchell, Seren Pendleton-Knoll, Lindsey Pfeiffer, Nathalie Queathem, Anita Ratnathicam, Diana Rivera, David Rodriguez, Sydney Saubestre, Laura Schmidt, Natalia Semeraro, Eddie Simmons, Loel Solomon, Kira Stoll, Kiyoko Thomas, Joe Watz, Lindy West, Steve White, Anne Wong
Nora Abushaaban, Lauren Ahn, Daryl Ansel, Cindy Asano, Nanita Balagopal, Alexandra Barr, Christina Becker, Sara Beckman, Dakota Bishop, Evan Blaney, Anna V. Bohbot, Rachel Bosnyak, Ruben Canedo, Marie Caudal, Sunil Chacko, Clayton Chan, Wellington Chang, Wen (Wendy) Chen, Sophia Cheng, Sara Chitlik, Benni Clinke, Rose Curley, Tyler Dale, Elliott DiTusa, Maddie Dolan, Cori Evans, Jen Falbe, Rosalie Z. Fanshel, Isa Gaillard, Jennifer Garcia, Maria Garcia-Alvarez, Dina Ghanim, Dante Gonzales, Justin Greenwald, Ella Griffith, Kim Guess, Hannah Haugenes, Daniel Henroid, Charlotte Hochstrasser, Amber Hopkins, Mackenzie Hsiao, Megan Huff, Karen Hughes, Josh Hummel, Luc Ibata-Okalobe, Alastair Iles, Heliya Izadpanah, Emma Jiang, Sean Kallal, Janice Kao, Christine Kim, Daniel Kodmur, Yvette Lane-Newton, Whitney Lau, Quentin Lawrence, Alexander Lee, Joyce Lee, Martin Lichtenthaler, Xudi Lin, Claire Liow, Jackie Liu, Tom Lowry, Samantha Lubow, Julie Lum, Hemal Maadan, Kristine Madsen, Cameron Martin, Erika Martinez, Matthew McGee, Nicole McIntyre, Tiffany Melendez, Selena Melgoza, Collin Miller, Kei Miman, Katelyn Nomura-Weingrow, Jeff Noven, Gabby O’Halloran, Vikrem Padda, Karen Patchell, Seren Pendleton-Knoll, Lindsey Pfeiffer, Haley Pietro, Meg Prier, Ibrahim Ramoul-Menendez, Marissa Reynoso, David Rodriguez, Zachary Rickrode-Fernandez, Thomas Santos, Jake Sim, Pang Sittakaradej, Daniela Solis, Sylvia Targ, Kiyoko Thomas, Sara Tsai, Alex Vermie, Susie Warner, Joe Watz, Lindy West, Sydney Wexler, Steve White, Alex Wilfert, Jade Wong, Jeff Woods, Irisa Zhang, Shalandy Zhang, Stella Zhu
Robin Baca, Samantha Barney, Jenica Bautista, Zach Bleemer, Tyler Brewington, Jessie Bruce, Serena Chan, Cheryl Ching, Youree Choi, Isabella Chow, KC Chung, Sharon Daraphonhdeth, Elsadig Elsheikh, Rosalie Z. Fanshel, Paula Flamm, Takiyah Franklin, Zach Gamlieli, Bene Gatzert, George Geng, Roesia Gerstein, Kim Guess, Tyler Hill, Seth Holmes, Nina F. Ichikawa, Alastair Iles, Charlie James, Cathy Kodama, Victor Korir, Justin Loew, Annie Lu, Samantha Lubow, Tiffany Lui, Eve McGlynn, Stephanie Moore, Sam Morris, Toby Morris, Nathalie Munoz, Melina Packer, Vickremjeet Padda, Will Payne, Anna Perhach, Shannon Prendergast, Meg Prier, Betsy Putnam, Ibrahim Ramoul, Teofilo Reyes, Hortencia Rodríguez, Tina Sacks, Allegra Saggese, Julia Schienman, Natalia Semeraro, Garrett Seno, Margaret Shi, Kira Stoll, Hannah Tong, David Triebwasser, Noreen Truong, Angel Tsai-Hsuan Chung, Pete Vargas, Esteban Vasquez, Lindy West, Jeff Woods, Boyue Xu, Janet Xu, Barbara Yang, Curtis Yap, Lucy Yu, Shalandy Zhang, Agnes Zhu
Emily Altman, Angelina Amezcua, Ayal Amzel, Rebecca Andersen, Daryl Ansel, Chrissy Badaracco, Olga Ballard, Nadia Barhoum, Chloe Baumes, Caitlin Boldt, Maya Boone, Louisa Brown, Danny Callejas, Ruben Canedo, Kristin Cheng, Cheryl Ching, Rebecca Correa, Hayley Covarrubias, Sharon Daraphonhdeth, Proxima DasMohapatra, Seth Denizen, Michael DeWitt, Stefanie Ebeling, Lawrence Elkins, Andrew Eppig, Rosalie Z. Fanshel, Jonathan Fong, Patty Frontiera, Tiger Fu, Vinita Gorti, Ella Griffith, Afshar Hassani, Hannah Haugenes, Tyler Hill, Jeremy Ho, Patrick Hooker, Carolyn Hsieh, Cassidy Hsieh, Alastair Iles, Salina Isaq, Akhil Jalan, Charlie James, Khalid Kadir, Cristina Kim, Victor Korir, Rochelle Lai, Shawn LaPean, Hannah Lewis, Grace Lihn, Nicole Lowry, Samantha Lubow, Christine Manoux, Rodrigo Mella, Angela Mimica, Sam Morris, Nathalie Munoz, Deepa Natarajan, Jeff Noven, Vanessa Oliphant, Melina Packer, Vikrem Padda, John Paulas, Meg Prier, Naomi Primero, Stephanie Puertas, Alexandra Raffanti, Ryan Rasmussen, Trish Ratto, Amy Regan, Rigel Robinson, Hortencia Rodríguez, James Sanner, Natalia Semeraro, Jenna Shelton, Susanne Smith Wiesman, Jennifer Sowerwine, Jon Stiles, Aileen Suzara, Lori Ann Thrupp, Sara Tsai, Julia Tubert, Lauri Twitchel, Matt Unrath, Dennis Uyat, Esteban Vasquez, Lisa Walker, Katherine Walsh, Tina Wistrom, Stephanie Xiao, Barbara Yang, Curtis Yap, Kara Young, Hailey Zhou, Agnes Zhu
Wes Adrianson, cici ambrosia, Manual Amial Amial, Dylan Anselmo, Sarah Atkinson, Jill Bakehorn, Nadia Barhoum, Alisa Bierria, Ruben Elias Canedo Sanchez, Cheryl Ching, Patricia Crawford, Elsadig Elsheikh, Rosalie Z Fanshel, Becca Farmer, Luna Fassett, Sasha Feldstein, Paula Flamm, Bene Gatzert, Karen Gee, Aidee Guzman, Christine Hastorf, Susan Hepp, Jocelyn Hsu, Amy Huynh, Saru Jayaraman, Sara Jones, Gabriel Kahn, Kate Kaplan, Shawn LaPean, Barbara Laraia, Tashara Leak, Steve Lindow, Samantha Lubow, Deborah Lustig, Silvia Marquez, Angelica Mendoza, Shivani Narang, Jeff Noven, Julieth Ortiz, Melina Packer, Meredith Palmer, John Paulas, Vanessa Raditz, Vanessa Rivas Villanueva, Hortencia Rodriguez, Seleny Rodriguez, Darryl Ross, Lila Sharif, Andre Solis-Flores, Jennifer Sowerwine, Philip Stark, Edward Stinson III,, Roopika Subramanian, Megan Svoboda, Synequeen Tamala Alasa-as, Lucy Tate, Suzanne Teran, Ann Thrupp, Annie Tran, Lisa Walker. Katherine Walsh, Nicole Wong, Kara Young, Lizbeth Zuniga
Project Activities
Founded in fall 2018, the Staff Basic Needs Working Group provides food, housing, and economic resources for UC Berkeley’s staff, postdocs, and visiting researchers. We work to make the Basic Needs Center programming accessible to all employees, and provide targeted outreach and services for Berkeley’s most vulnerable staff populations. We also research, innovate, advocate, and engage in coalition building to lead systemic changes to improve the basic needs security of the University’s employees.
Learn more here.
September 16, 2021
The UC Berkeley Foodscape Map and Berkeley Mobile teamed up to bring the most important food-related services and facilities at UC Berkeley to your fingertips through a campus scavenger hunt. Looking for the Food Pantry? A microwave to heat up your lunch? A garden to learn how to grow your food? Where to fill your water bottle before your next class? Find all of this and more through the Berkeley Mobile Foodscape Map.
December 18, 2019
The Coalition for Healthy Campus Food and Beverages Case Design Course will hold its final pitch session on December 18, where two student teams will propose their solutions for the next decade of beverage service on the UC Berkeley campus. The course brought together ten multidisciplinary students, both undergraduate and graduate level, to assess campus beverage procurement through the lens of environmental sustainability, health and health equity, and corporate responsibility. One team will present solutions without a formal procurement contract, while the other will.
Fall Semester, 2019
Course Overview
The Coalition for Healthy Campus Food and Beverages aims to broadly engage campus in decision-making on food and beverage choices, uplift Berkeley values through procurement practices, and raise awareness of human and planetary health in the process. At UC Berkeley, we are in year eight of a 10-year exclusive pouring rights contract with PepsiCo for beverage service across campus. In addition to providing beverage services in campus food facilities, the contract provides annual sponsorship funds to the Associated Students of the University of California, Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, Recreational Sports, and the Residential and Student Services Program.
This semester-long case will draw on the expertise of 10 interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate students to design the next 5–10 years of beverage service at UC Berkeley. It challenges students to think at the intersection of health and business: considering human and planetary health—and health equity—together with short- and long-term financial costs and benefits and corporate responsibility. The results of this case study will help shape the future of beverage options on Berkeley’s campus.
Task
Design two proposals for the next 5–10 years of campus beverage service:
- A proposal that includes a pouring rights contract, with any vendor
- A proposal that does not rely on a pouring rights contract
The solutions will embed UC Berkeley values regarding health, health equity, sustainability, corporate responsibility, and financial sustainability, and should also align with the UC-wide Healthy Beverage Initiative.
April 26-27, 2019
The Coalition for Healthy Campus Food and Beverages will hold a Healthy Campus Food and Beverages Innovation Challenge on April 26–27 to think out the next ten years of beverage service at UC Berkeley. This case competition challenges students to think at the intersection of health and business—considering human and planetary health as well as financial sustainability and corporate responsibility. The results of this designathon will help shape the future of beverage options on Berkeley’s campus.
March 11-21, 2019
Between Monday, March 11th and Thursday, March 21st, BFI staff along with an ASUC intern, Whitney Lau, conducted student organization outreach on Sproul Plaza. During this time, the group went table to table, speaking with students about their group’s activities and events and the vendors that they use to cater food for their events. Three resources were given to students including BFI’s Sustainable and Just Catering Guide and Suggested Vendor List, as well as a flyer from the Food Pantry about making food donations to help address food insecurity on campus.
Click here to learn more about our Sustainable and Just Catering Guide.
March 3, 2019
Are you in Cal Greeks and skipping meals? Do you wish your kitchen was open on weekends? Are your kitchens clean? Do you get to eat the food that makes you feel at home? Come join us at Tri Delta to have a discussion about the Greek Life food experiences and how it intersects with health, sustainability, and equity. There will be students from on campus food resources such as the UC Berkeley Food Pantry, and health workers to help us address some of the issues we face. We want to hear your experiences and create a greater and more equitable food system together.
April 26, 2018
From 2015 to 2018, the Berkeley Food Institute collected data on the entities at UC Berkeley who participate in food-related learning and practice on campus—encompassing teaching, student and faculty research, student organizations, administrative decisions and initiatives, and dining services and procurement—with the goal of revealing barriers to the full participation of historically marginalized community members and highlighting opportunities and successes in overcoming such obstacles.
April 19, 2017
This poster session event was a chance for the UC Berkeley community to explore various layers of the Foodscape Map and hear from some of the many students involved in its development.
October 26, 2016
This panel considered the tangible and conceptual outcomes of undoing inequality in the context of the UC Berkeley food system. Panelists addressed issues of student, faculty, and staff representation and participation, with the aim of redesigning the social, cultural, and political institutions that determine food studies and food access on campus. Panelists included Elsadig Elsheikh, Alastair Iles, and Jennifer Sowerwine.
April 27, 2016
Over the past year, the Berkeley Food Institute, Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence, Multicultural Education Program, and numerous other food related organizations on campus have been working to improve campus climate through a project called: “Building Equitable and Inclusive Food Systems at UC Berkeley.” Funded by the UC Berkeley Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Innovation Grant Program, this project has brought together various campus constituencies for conversations on the barriers and possibilities for greater equity, diversity, and inclusion in the UC Berkeley food system, whether in terms of academics, programming, or dining operations.
Please join us for an end of the year project report back and reflection on the state of UC Berkeley food and agricultural research, teaching, and activism from a diversity, equity, and inclusion perspective. During this presentation, the Berkeley Food Institute Equity and Inclusion Graduate Fellows Melina Packer and Kara Young will provide a brief overview of what has been accomplished over the past academic year, as well as the project’s next steps. They will also present a working “UC Berkeley foodscape map” that illustrates all the food related organizations, people, and resources on campus and how they intersect. This tool attempts to create a visual knowledge base and foundation from which we can recognize resources and identify blockages to further our work toward creating a more just UC Berkeley food system. Participants will have a chance to provide feedback on the content of the map and the process of making the map.
April 14, 2016
Food is intensely personal—we all need it, but it’s also racialized, cultural, and social. As food justice awareness increases on UC Berkeley’s campus, people of color experiences and voices are still not heard and some needs remain unmet. Whether you are deeply involved in food justice work already or are interested in the connections between race and food in the context of campus, your experiences and visions are welcome. Please join us in exploring our relationships to food and to each other in a student of color only space. We are excited to reflect and build together. The gathering will be followed by a shared meal.
The first year of this collaborative project was funded through a $10,000 grant from the UC Berkeley Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Innovation Grant Program.
Click here to read a report on the first year of our project.
- Our first step, in April 2015, was to hold an initial open meeting to envision the project working group and design the student leadership positions.
- In May 2015, the project staff members interviewed and hired the student leadership. We were initially looking for one graduate student fellow. In the process of the interviews, we were impressed with how the skills of two candidates, Melina Packer and Kara Young, would make a synergistic team. They were happy to share the position and have proven to be outstanding. Additionally, we hired three smart and passionate undergraduate working group fellows who represent a diverse cross-section of fields of study and student activism: Luna Fassett, Amy Huynh, and Lizbeth Zuniga.
- In August – October 2015, the leadership team has held regular meetings, as well as held two open working group meetings, to strategize the timeline, intentions, and structure of the proposed workshops. We collectively decided to make the Fall 2015 workshops by invitation only, for leadership of UC Berkeley units doing work related to food and/or issues of equity and inclusion on campus. Over 60 multi-positional leaders were invited and, to our delight, 45 agreed to participate in the initial workshop.
- The first workshop was held as two half days on November 19 and December 8. Forty participants attended on the first day and 25 attended on the second day. One weakness is that faculty were notably absent on day two. (In the future we will do the workshop as one full day rather than 2 half-days, and avoid RRR week). We solicited feedback between the two workshop days so as to tailor the second day based on the experience/outcomes of the first. Overall the workshop was successful in accomplishing our short term goals:
- Clear awareness of definitions of: food system, food movement, diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Reflection on whether we are prioritizing inclusion, diversity, and equity in our own work
- Stronger connections among ourselves, and more synergy between units
- Transparency in our process
- Identify barriers to building equitable and inclusive food systems on campus
- Practice coming up with solutions to these barriers
- Identify and create tangible tools and strategies
- Make pledges to bring tools back to communities
- Share visions of what an equitable and inclusive foodscape might look like
- During the workshop we co-generated a hefty set of resources, which have since been shared with all participants, and are available here: