It's all about the food!

Hi Everyone! Liane here to share my recent experiences with Chicago's food systems.

A component of the Chicago Program is an Independent Study Project (ISP). Before the students get turned loose on the city to do their independent projects, we meet twice a week for a class. Typically these sessions are "off-campus" to give us the chance to network with local Chicago organizations. For the students in the Urban Studies track we are exploring the topic of food justice.

What is food justice you ask?

There are many different ways to define food justice. However, I find the definition provided by Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi from their book Food Justice to be the best. The authors explain,
"Food justice seeks to ensure that the benefits and risks of where, what, and how food is grown, produced, transported, distributed, accessed and eaten are shared fairly. Food justice represents a transformation of the current food system, including but not limited to eliminating disparities and inequities."

(See more at: http://www.foodjusticebook.org/?page_id=6#sthash.ysiemUAL.dpuf)

Perhaps you have heard about the trend of Urban Gardening or Urban Farming? These are perfect examples of a actions being taken within the Food Justice Movement!

For one of our ISP class sessions we visited Growing Power. A non-profit urban farming organization, founded in Milwaukee and since spread to Chicago, that is doing excellent work within Chicago's Food Justice Movement.  Take a look at the pictures below from our visit with Growing Power:

The entrance way to Growing Power.



On our way into the building which is home to the organization.
 

Learning about how challenging it is for a large portion urban residents to get access to healthy fresh foods is quite upsetting. Food security is not something most people think  about until they are facing food insecurity. In areas struggling with poverty, access to nutritional food is very limited and sometimes even absent. This is primarily because food stores hesitate to invest in opening in areas of poverty. Growing Power's mission is to help bring produce back into areas with food scarcity by developing partnerships with local corner stores. Growing Power provides fresh produce to their partners so people have easier access to these foods.  The organization also delivers their produce around to local neighborhoods via food stands and bikes.

The foundation of Growing Power's success is high quality soil, which they produce on their own through very well tended compost bins. Here is one located in their entrance way:

One of Growing Power's many compost bins.

 

So next time you think about Chicago's food scene, don't just focus on the restaurants! Pay attention to all of the work being done promote food justice in this great city.

A quilt hanging in the stairwell of Growing Power's building.