Food for Thought: Transforming the food culture of universities

29 Oct – 2 November, 2007
Roberta Sonnino, Tom Kelly, Victor Kuri, Cinzia Scaffidi

Using working case studies and good practice examples, participants will explore how institutions can change the culture of institutional food provision and create an educational model of sustainable food systems . As part of the course conclusion, they will be encouraged to begin the development of their own action plans and policies for application. This course is also an excellent networking experience for those working in this challenging field.

At the 2006 Slow Food conference “Terra Madre” a new network of universities was formed. This course is offered by Schumacher College in conjunction with the network to help universities begin the process of planning and creating a new food culture.

Course Overview

Universities can play a major role in changing our society’s relationship with food. They provide students with opportunities to learn about the benefits of eating local, seasonal and high-quality food and about how and where it is produced. This can influence students own purchasing decisions during and beyond the university experience. Large institutions account for about 40% of all food bought, and thus a move towards local procurement can have dramatic effects on the regional food economy.

Although this course is primarily intended for university staff (academic and administrative), it would also be relevant to local education authorities, school districts and others involved in larger scale catering.

Teachers

Roberta Sonnino is Lecturer in Environmental Policy and Planning at Cardiff University (School of City and Regional Planning), where she has been involved in a number of research projects on agri-food and sustainable development. She has published extensively from her research on local food, rural development and sustainable public procurement.

Tom Kelly is Director of the Office of Sustainability at the University of New Hampshire, USA. He has been working in the field of higher education and sustainable development for more than 15 years.

Victor Kuri is Lecturer in Food Quality in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Plymouth.

Cinzia Scaffidi is currently Director of the Slow Food Study Center and is responsible for International Relations at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo and Colorno. In 2000 she was in charge of the Slow Food Award for the Defence of Biodiversity and since 2004 has been one of the coordinators of the Terra Madre meeting.

Timetable

Monday October 29 Arrival by 1 pm. Introduction to each other and College: Gaia theory and Schumacher philosophy.

Tuesday, October 30 Sustainable Food Procurement
Roberta Sonnino: In 2002, the city of Rome decided to implement an “all for quality” school meal policy in all of its public schools. By adopting an innovative procurement approach, within a few years Rome completely revolutionised its school meal system. Today, the 140,000 school meals served every day to the Roman school children are almost entirely based on the use of quality food ingredients (local, organic, certified and Fair Trade products).

Using the case study of Rome, this lecture will focus on the scope for the development of sustainable food procurement systems. Through an in-depth analysis of the process behind the city’s astonishing success, it will attempt to demonstrate that the design and implementation of sustainable food procurement systems require a regulatory context that supports creative procurement skills, a shared commitment to the ideals of sustainability and community wellbeing and a concerted action that mobilizes support for positive change amongst all actors in the food chain.

Wednesday, October 31 Feeding Institutional Transformation Through Sustainable Food Communities
Tom Kelly: Sustainable Food Communities serve as a powerful integrative focus at universities and colleges linking teaching, research, campus practices and engagement and extension. Over a five year period, the UNH Office of Sustainability’s Food and Society initiative has facilitated critical investments in faculty positions, research priorities and infrastructure that support teaching, research and extension in organic agriculture, sustainable food enterprises, nutrition and local and regional food procurement.

Project examples from the UNH include the establishment of the first organic research dairy in the US, curriculum in sustainable horticulture and EcoGastronomy, strategic planning for a Center for a Food Secure Future and the New Hampshire Farm-to-School programme. These and other projects are the result of a philosophical and strategic framework that combines clear first principles with an iterative process of community building, which has succeeded in countering a broader decline in support for sustainable agriculture in northeast higher education and the accompanying pessimism of faculty regarding institutional support for new programmatic initiatives in this area of fundamental importance to sustainability.

The Food and Society initiative is one of four initiatives of the UNH Office of Sustainability, an endowed, university-wide program established in 1997 to integrate sustainability into all aspects of UNH’s land grant university mission.

Thursday, November 1 Challenges of Implementation
Victor Kuri and Tom Kelly: The University of Plymouth has received major funding to develop sustainable practices across the whole institution and to disseminate its learning throughout the higher education sector. Victor Kuri, who is directing this initiative, will discuss how to begin the process of transforming a university’s food culture. Where does one start? What are the major barriers? Tom Kelly will join the session to discuss ways forward in the light of his experience.

Friday, November 2 Slow Food and Taste Education
Cinzia Scaffidi: One of Slow Food’s major objectives is food and taste education, a key feature of which is that direct experience is always involved: 400 “Master of Food” courses a year help people to be more aware, training the senses and learning food production techniques; talks, conferences, and taste workshops are organized in schools, for children and teachers; 100 school gardens have now been set up around the country following the three cardinal principles of the association’s philosophy: good, clean and fair. Cinzia will discuss the value of this kind of multidisciplinary approach in a variety of contexts, and explain how it can be developed within universities. Tasting, experience and comparison are the basis for the curriculum at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, founded by the international Slow Food organization in 2004. It is a unique academic institution dedicated entirely to the study of food and its cultural value. Students are educated from a multidisciplinary perspective, studying a range of humanistic and scientific subjects related to food and drink. The students, together with some farmers and with their teachers, create and learn from their own garden. Today, through the University Network that Slow Food is building all around the world, we have the chance to extend this educational approach to many other academic institutions, facilitating and promoting a real change in university food culture and food provision systems.

Developing Action plans for participants
Taking what’s been learned into the workplace.

Departure around 4pm.

Course Fees

For businesses: £1,100
For individuals, NGOs & Educators: £900
These include accommodation, food, field trips and all teaching sessions.

How to make an application – click here

For further information about Schumacher College please see About the College

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Schumacher College is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and as a charity (company no. 1485560, charity no. 279756). Registered office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, UK.