Promoting an interdisciplinary food literacy framework to cultivate critical citizenship

Abstract

The goal of this viewpoint is to promote an integrated and holistic framework for food literacy on college campuses. We propose that a framework to promote an effective understanding of food should encompass social, political, scientific, and personal dimensions; integrating these elements into university curricula and campus culture can empower students to become more engaged food citizens, with implications for their own food choices, and also for the broader food system. Emerging findings show that curricular interventions designed to educate about food system-environment connections can motivate students to reduce red meat and increase vegetable consumption. This viewpoint also lays the foundation for future studies to quantify the impact of increased knowledge on food choices, which can ultimately impact the health and wellbeing of both people and the planet.

Keywords:

• Food education
• food systems
• life skills
• nutrition

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Additional information

Funding

We are grateful to funding from the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center at UCLA, the University of California’s Global Food Initiative and Healthy Campus Network, and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to ACR (CAREER

DBI-1254185). Thanks to Mark Bittman for valuable discussions.