Food provides human beings with a connection to the natural world. This research helps to illustrate the interconnectivity of food and of the food movement as it relates to so many other social, ecological and cultural movements. I examined the works of four authors communicating important messages about our food; where is comes from, how it is grown, and what we need to change about our food habits. This research also asks: what are the implications of the food movement for environmental education and communication; have these authors discussed the implications of our food choices in a meaningful way; and, are these books, and other similar forms of media, indicative of a broader social movement or revolution? I believe that through food meaningful environmental messages can be transmitted to diverse audiences and that literature provides an effective medium in which to communicate those messages.

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Farmworker ministries provide essential goods and services as well as spiritual support to migrant farmworkers living abroad. While faith-based organizations and/or ministries are key to supporting migrant and/or refugee populations in the U.S., scholars have conducted little research on these institutions, especially those that seek to encourage the agency of those they serve. To address this gap, this study investigated a political capacity-building project conducted by the Valley View Farmworker Ministry in the summers of 2015 and 2016. That initiative sought to increase engagement and leadership of the workers that Valley View serves, to increase the Board of Directors (BOD) understanding of the farmworkers' lives, and to enhance farmworker influence on that Board's activities and decisions. The author undertook five months of fieldwork with Valley View in 2016 that included review of key documents, and completion of twenty-three interviews with a sample of farmworkers, Board of Directors, and employees. The study utilized an intersectional, participatory (Fraser, 2009) theoretical framework to analyze the justice implications of the Ministry's efforts to address the political, cultural, and economic disparities among the project's participants. The results contribute to studies on community-based research with migrant farmworkers, theoretical discussions of participatory development, and analyses of the enduring power of the agrarian imaginary, the image of the small-scale, white, male grower, to thwart such initiatives. It also builds on arguments regarding how to increase participation of farmworkers in the alternative agri-food and sustainable agriculture movements. This analysis concludes by exploring the social tensions often associated with participatory development and offering recommendations for increasing worker engagement and leadership in farmworker ministries and for confronting the agrarian imaginary. / Ph. D. / Farmworker ministries provide essential goods and services as well as spiritual support to migrant farmworkers living abroad. While faith-based organizations and/or ministries are key to supporting migrant and/or refugee populations in the U.S., scholars have conducted little research on these institutions, especially those that seek to encourage the agency of those they serve. To address this gap, this study investigated a political capacity-building project conducted by the Valley View Farmworker Ministry in the summers of 2015 and 2016. That initiative sought to increase engagement and leadership of the workers that Valley View serves, to increase the Board of Directors’ (BOD) understanding of the farmworkers’ lives, and to enhance farmworker influence on that Board’s activities and decisions. The author undertook five months of fieldwork with Valley View in 2016 that included review of key documents, and completion of twenty-three interviews with a sample of farmworkers, Board of Directors’ members, and employees. The study utilized an intersectional, participatory (Fraser, 2009) theoretical framework to analyze the justice implications of the Ministry’s efforts to address the political, cultural, and economic disparities among the project’s participants. The results contribute to studies on community-based research with migrant farmworkers, theoretical discussions of participatory development, and analyses of the enduring power of the agrarian imaginary, the image of the small-scale, white, male grower, to thwart such initiatives. It also builds on arguments regarding how to increase participation of farmworkers in the alternative agrifood and sustainable agriculture movements. This analysis concludes by exploring the social tensions often associated with participatory development and offering recommendations for increasing worker engagement and leadership in farmworker ministries and for confronting the agrarian imaginary.

Obesity within the Canadian population is on the rise, as people continue to lead hurried lifestyles there is little time to slow down and prepare a meal for oneself or one’s family. As younger generations grow up in these rushed lifestyles, the opportunities to learn about food and nutrition in the home is quickly disappearing. As a result this practicum project explores promoting healthy lifestyles by reconnecting people with food through the creation of a Culinary Learning Centre located in The Forks Market Building, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Individuals who are motivated to change the way they view and value food are provided with a comprehensive learning environment that approaches teaching through a holistic and collaborative manner. Informed by an extensive literature review into the Slow Food Movement, and learning theory; research into four case studies; and detailed programming, culminated in an interior design solution promoting positive learning, social interaction, and student well-being. / October 2016

This interior design project involves investigation into the philosophies of the Slow Food Movement and how they may inspire and inform the design of a social space that fosters a connection between local people, food and place. This socio-cultural connection is implemented through the design of a concentrated, local food centre within the urban environment of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Investigation into interior design strategies which foster social interaction, taste education and sensory engagement contribute to the design of a space where the local food culture of southern Manitoba can be experienced in its authenticity. By combining the public spaces of food which contribute to the contemporary streetscape, with those that exist within the interior environment, this local food centre design aims to promote local identity and facilitate multisensory social engagement that sustains relationships, community, and the environment over time.

Across the US, support is ever-growing for the local food movement. This growing trend promotes food security, supports farming families, ensures universal access to safe and healthy food products, enhances local economies, and encourages environmental and social well-being. People around the US are implementing sustainable local food systems as a means of meeting their individual community’s needs. While this movement is being popularized dramatically around the world, many cities and regions have yet to address it. This study reviews the existing literature on local food system models in an effort to answer the research question: What are the “ingredients” of a healthy local food system? The local food system of Owensboro, KY was analyzed via interviews with key players in its food system. In addition, experts in this field at the state level were also interviewed to understanding the functions of and the degree of support for local food systems in KY. Recommendations were then made for the city of Owensboro on how to further enhance its local food system into one of greater vibrancy and overall health.

This interior design project involves investigation into the philosophies of the Slow Food Movement and how they may inspire and inform the design of a social space that fosters a connection between local people, food and place. This socio-cultural connection is implemented through the design of a concentrated, local food centre within the urban environment of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Investigation into interior design strategies which foster social interaction, taste education and sensory engagement contribute to the design of a space where the local food culture of southern Manitoba can be experienced in its authenticity. By combining the public spaces of food which contribute to the contemporary streetscape, with those that exist within the interior environment, this local food centre design aims to promote local identity and facilitate multisensory social engagement that sustains relationships, community, and the environment over time.

This thesis presents a multi-sited and multi-scalar ethnography of the processes and practices through which producers attempt to designate food as heritage. Grounded in cultural geography, it adopts a cultural economy approach to addressing concerns within agro-food studies by joining in conversation notions of heritage, place-making and time. By underlining the intrinsic relation between articulations of time and constructions of place, this thesis further maps the alternative geographies of food. It engages with three overarching questions, drawing on research conducted within two heritage-based food initiatives in Mexico and Scotland, both linked to the Slow Food movement. These produce, respectively, a traditional sweet called pinole and 'real' bread. The thesis asks: what objectives are pursued through the heritagisation of food whereby various actors strategically coin foods as heritage? How is time articulated in the discourse of heritage food, and how do heritage food networks and producers understand time as a component of food quality? Finally, what senses of place emerge from the various uses of time as a quality in global, translocal and local heritage food discourses? This thesis explores Slow Food's heritage qualification scheme and the ensuing commodification of heritage food, as well as translocal networks, and practices of 'slow' production. Through empirical engagements it argues that the qualification of heritage foods is multifunctional and that various articulations of time enable small-scale producers to engage with a plethora of socio-economic and political issues. Numerous and at times conflicting constructions of place surface from the discourses woven around these two heritage products and problematise identity formation and narratives of the past linked to producers and communities. This thesis concludes that the constructions of place associated with heritage foods depend not only upon the authority and circumstances of actors articulating a heritage discourse, but also on the scale of the dissemination of that discourse, and on the notions and understandings of time associated with heritage and place.

This thesis considers Central Florida's emerging local food movement from an anthropological perspective. Area farmers and organizations spearheading this movement and the benefits of purchasing and consuming locally grown food are ethnographically explored. Interviews with natural and organic farmers highlight the challenges affected farmers face in creating a sustainable local food movement in the greater Orlando region. Their motivations for farming organically and the counter-hegemonic tendencies inherent in this mode of cultivating are critically analyzed. Taken as a whole, this work addresses the limitations and opportunities afforded to farmers amid the popularity of local food consumption as a social movement. The farmers interviewed for this project are new to producing food for local consumption. They all share an interest in promoting financial and environmental sustainability for small farms. Key challenges they face include those grounded in access to arable land and agricultural policies that disproportionately favor large-scale producers. This research has significant implications for both those organizations and individuals building sustainable local food movements and those in local, state, and national government developing agricultural policy.

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