Food for Thought: Unpacking Food Justice in the Bay Area and Beyond (Bay Area)
Food Justice break leaders Vivian and Kelly
Trip Bio
During our semester long decal we will focus on the realities of food insecurities and accessibility to food in relation to race, class inequalities, sustainability and health. We want to explore our understanding of food injustices by looking at food deserts and their residents limited access to nutritious and affordable food. In addition, we will unpack the elements of America’s food distribution system to examine how food insecurity is produced by the system and continues to perpetuate itself. We wish to emphasize the experience of college students, who, for the first time in their lives may see and experience food injustices relating to lack of accessibility to grocery stores, affordable food, and the ability to prepare it.
Additionally, we will focus on issues of sustainability and how what we eat affects the land, workers, and inhabitants of the places that our food is produced. We hope to tie in the issue of environmentally sustainable food with our understanding and connection to non-human animals that are traditionally seen solely as a food source. This includes topics like the future of meat consumption, the expropriation of corn and soybeans for cattle, and the negative impacts on farmers health. We will visit the Bay Area organizations to see how FJ affects us locally, while also traveling south to see a more prominent, less utopian view of our food system.
Break Leader Bios
Kelly Soria
Hi everyone, my name is Kelly Soria and I’m a second year studying Political Economy and Food Systems. I am originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico but most recently lived in Northern Virginia. I am enjoying life in the Bay Area and loving the Berkeley weather and music scene in Oakland and San Francisco. In my spare time I enjoy watching DC sports (Go Nats!), reading, and cooking delicious veggie food. I will be co-leading the Food Justice trip this year with my amazing co, Viv. We are excited to engage with passionate students and discuss the tenets of food justice and how we experience it here in the Bay Area.
Vivian Nguyen
My name is Vivian Nguyen, I was born and raised in Oakland, CA. I am currently a senior in UCB studying Molecular and Cell Biology. In the future I hope to become a obstetric PA and explore the relationship between the environment and its effect on pregnant women.
This year I will be co-leading the Food Justice Spring Break trip. I am interested in the ways that our food systems can affect low income communities and how it continues to perpetuates itself in these communities. I am from Oakland and it is difficult to have access to nutritious/healthy and affordable food. There are a lot more liquor stores and it is easier to walk to them and grab a bag of chips. Through this decal I hope to raise awareness on food insecurities and the communities that are greatly affected by it and hope to engage participants in conscious and reflective discussions about food justice issues.