They arrived at the grocery store in tiny Fairfield, PA at 8:01, just after closing time. After spending the day investigating the food system in Adams County, Christine Nemetz, coordinator at the Campus Kitchen at Gettysburg College, and five students were famished. On last week’s Food Justice Immersion Project, they explored farmer’s fields and the lived experience of poverty, a fruit processing plant and emergency food systems.
But that night, they weren’t looking for justice, just dinner. Ironically, the only other option that evening was the mini-mart, so they spent $24.07 or so on some staples: milk, bread, oatmeal, oil.
Earlier that same day, they had spent almost exactly the same amount on fresh, healthy food: apples, tomatoes, lettuce. The photo here shows the difference, or one might say, the food gap.
On one side, there’s processed food and not very much of it. On the other, there’s food that’s fresh and healthy.
But earlier that week, they’d talked with a farmworker. What if, they thought, I worked from 7am to 8:30pm, and couldn’t make it to the grocery store, let alone the Farmer’s Market.
“You hear alot about urban food deserts,” said Christine, “but you see the same issues in rural areas.”
What are those issues? Armed with experience at CKGC, Christine led this Center for Public Service’s Food Justice Immersion trip to find out.
Their work was part of the Center for Public Services’s year-long focus on the intersection of social justice and sustainability (or just sustainability), and it was one of ten Immersion Projects that CPS funded and coordinated this year.
“Why can’t everyone have local food?” was a central question, and their mini-mart experience provided part of the answer.
Check back tomorrow to learn more about their trip, what answers they found, and how you can plan a similar project at your Campus Kitchen. Then, next week, we’ll fill you in on CKGC’s role on the Adams County Food Policy Council.
In the meantime, find out more about the stops on their food justice adventure:
Penn State Cooperative Extension-Adams County
Adams County Circles of Support (Check out our post about CKGC and Circles here!)
Central Pennsylvania Food Bank
Adams County Local Food Network
2 users commented in " Part 1: CKGC on an adventure into the food system "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackRight ON….you all are so cool. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!!!!
[...] Read more here. To read more about CKGC’s recent activities, check out last week’s posts on their food immersion [...]
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