In conjunction with the student organization Food Truth, Carleton will host its second annual Food Truth Week beginning Friday, May 16 and running through Friday, May 23. The week-long series will feature a variety of events designed to raise issues of food awareness from an environmental, ethical, and social standpoint. All events are free and the public is invited to participate.
Food Truth Week kicks-off with a potluck dinner on May 16 at 5:30 p.m. on the Skinner Memorial Chapel lawn. Entitled “Everyone Should Eat Potluck,” participants are encouraged to bring a dish to share. In the event of rain, the dinner will be held at the Dacie Moses House, 110 Union Street, in Northfield.
On Tuesday, May 20, Food Truth is sponsoring the “Food Stamp Challenge.” Students and community members are invited to participate by attempting to live on the average daily food stamp budget of $3.15, or $1.05 per meal. A packaged lunch will be available for purchase in the Sayles Hill Campus Center snack bar for $1.05. Later that evening, a dinner of rice and beans will be available for the same price, served at 6 p.m. in the Nourse Hall lounge. During the meal, Jim Blaha, executive director of the Northfield Community Action Center, will lead a discussion reflecting on the challenge and other food issues. Students are welcome to donate meals from their meal plan during the challenge, with proceeds going to the area food shelf. To sign up for the challenge, email greenbel@carleton.edu. Food Truth believes that student participation will provide a new perspective on some of the hunger issues faced by low-income individuals everyday, as well as the magnitude of this national issue.
On Wednesday, May 21 at 7 p.m. in the Gould Library Athenaeum, members of Oxfam America will discuss the effects climate change on global food production, its role in the global food crisis, and what Oxfam is doing to address these challenges. Participants include Adam Olson, co-leader of the Oxfam Action Corps, and Llewellyn Hill, Minnesota Field Organizer for Oxfam America.
On Thursday, May 22 at 9 p.m. in the Boliou Hall Auditorium will be a special screening of the documentary film, “King Corn” (2007). The film tells the story of two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation.
Food Truth Week culminates with a special convocation address delivered by Ann Cooper on Friday, May 23 at 10:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Cooper, a self-proclaimed “renegade lunch lady,” will present “Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children.” She is at the forefront of a movement to transform the National School Lunch Program into one that places greater emphasis on the health of the students rather than the financial health of a few agribusiness corporations.
Following Cooper’s address, the Carleton art department will host its annual Empty Bowls fundraising event, held at noon on the Bald Spot. For a donation of at least ten dollars, participants get a handmade pottery bowl along with a bowl of homemade soup. All proceeds will benefit the Northfield food shelf. (In the event of rain, the fundraiser will be held in Severance Great Hall).
With more than 800 million people suffering from starvation each day, this year’s Food Truth Week focuses on issues of global hunger. Recent reports issued by the United Nations warn that the global food crisis has reached alarming proportions and poses immediate threats to the world socially, environmentally, and politically. While hunger endangers people on a global scale, there are individual efforts that can be taken to appease the crisis. Food Truth Week emphasizes the food sustainability and security issues that the individual consumer can tackle, even within the Northfield community.
The Carleton College student organization Food Truth is dedicated to raising food consciousness by examining the environmental, political, social and ethical impacts of what we eat. Food Truth organizes events, speakers, community dinners, films, workshops, and field trips throughout the year to encourage discussion and advocacy around food-related issues. For more information, visit http://apps.carleton.edu/student/orgs/foodtruth/.