Co-Creating a Food Literate Future

Amount Awarded: $3,000.00

Academic Year: 2024-2025

Implementation: Completed, Spring 2025 

Co-Creating a Food Literate Future is a series of cooking classes aimed at fostering food literacy on Western's campus. By teaching students how to cook quick, cost effective, healthy, culturally appropriate, and climate friendly meals for themselves, the team hopes to encourage a sense of self-efficacy in the kitchen and beyond. Primary expenses include purchasing food for the events, extra food to provide as meal kits for participants, and food for supplemental meal kits to go in the food pantry.

Food Literacy can be defined as the knowledge and skills necessary to make informed decisions about food. This is different from food insecurity, which is the lack of access to food. While insecurity is a major issue on college campuses (and in the world), literacy is an often-overlooked aspect of the food justice puzzle. Developing cooking skills cultivates agency and sovereignty for students, allowing them to make choices that reflect personal values about their own health and wellness.