Intercambio: Just Food/ Justamente Comida
Spring2017
Local Intercambio Fall 2016
This year, we held our annual Local Intercambio at the Namaste Lounge. Student and community organizations such as USCSC students, MeCHA, Senderos, Growing Justice, Beach Flats Garden, and CAN engaged in discussions about how campus and community resources can be utilized to bolster local and transnational projects in sustainability, food security and food sovereignty. We explored how to tackle the intersecting injustices of food security, housing, violence, and culture. We asked our guest what food justice means, how food insecurity, violence, and housing insecurity intersect, and finally how culture and community are affected by these issues and how they might also address these issues.
We came to the conclusion that food justice is a human right we are entitled to which it expands from accessibility in cultural, healthy, and affordable food. Individuals who experience food insecurity are also exposed to violence and housing insecurity in their communities in which a continuous cycle of injustice follow. The sense of community and cultural customs are fragmented by these issues but with a community of support and a cultural backbone, we can strengthen ourselves and move forward from our foundations. It's important for us as students and communities to support each other by pressuring local legislation to protect communal gardens and to play a role in fostering future generations to continue harvesting community ideals.
We came to the conclusion that food justice is a human right we are entitled to which it expands from accessibility in cultural, healthy, and affordable food. Individuals who experience food insecurity are also exposed to violence and housing insecurity in their communities in which a continuous cycle of injustice follow. The sense of community and cultural customs are fragmented by these issues but with a community of support and a cultural backbone, we can strengthen ourselves and move forward from our foundations. It's important for us as students and communities to support each other by pressuring local legislation to protect communal gardens and to play a role in fostering future generations to continue harvesting community ideals.