Discovering the food system

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An Experiential Learning Program

For Young and Inquiring Minds

Rachel Kennedy

Jennifer L. Wilkins, PhD., R.D., Senior Extension Associate,

Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University

Marcia Eames-Sheavly, M.S., Senior Extension Associate,

Department of Horticulture, Cornell University

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An Experiential Learning Program

For Young and Inquiring Minds

Discovering the Food System:

An Experiential Learning Program

For Young and Inquiring Minds

Funding and Acknowledgments

Funding

We would like to acknowledge generous support from the Cooperative States Research Education and Extension Service for the development and pilot testing of this resource. This project is one of several underway in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University and is supported by a Special Grant (99-34324-8120) entitled "Individual Differences in Setting and Meeting Nutritional Requirements." This grant supports a number of research projects that focus on a broad range of issues of relevance to setting and meeting nutritional requirements. Areas of investigation range from improving our understanding of the key roles of nutrients at the molecular level to the development of improved strategies to enable consumers to adopt newly

created knowledge easily and effectively. At the community nutrition level, the grant supports developing an increased understanding of the issues related to food insecurity among the elderly in the U.S., the use of a distance-learning strategy linking nutrition and dietetics practitioners with university

researchers, and the development of educational programs and tools to promote positive dietary change and food system sustainability. This project addresses the last of these community nutrition aims.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the teachers and students who participated in the pilot testing of this educational resource. We would especially like to thank the home school students for their valuable insights and the Cooperative Extension educators for providing county-based

coordination. (Pilot testers, grad students involved, CCE contacts.)

Several graduate students have been involved in the development of this resource at various stages. Shannon Hayes provided excellent support in the formative focus group interviews, coordinated much of the pilot testing of lesson activities and assisted in revisions to the lessons. Nicole LaDue added

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many creative ideas that turned into activities for the lessons. Three graduate students from the Cornell University Department of Education, Annalisa Lewis Raymer, Laura Torbert, and Amy Bonn also provided much enthusiastic

assistance, support and creativity to the development and pilot testing of the lessons.

Gwen Beck, a Lansing Middle School teacher, was most generous and helpful in the development of this experiential learning program. She opened her 6th grade science class to us as a place to try out lessons and activities. Many thanks to her students who made us believe we were on the right track. We’d like to thank Andra Benson, Peter Signor, Stephen Ast, Jacoba Baker, Shirley Cuykendall, and John Bender for giving of their time and telling their food system stories to groups of Gwen Beck’s students. We thank them for sharing so much about the work they do in their part of the food system and for responding so earnestly to the questions the students had prepared for them.

We also acknowledge the contributions provided by Anne Meyer-Wilber whose expertise in learning standards and lesson activity development and evaluation has been invaluable to the project. Finally, conversion of this tool into a widely accessible web based-educational resource was facilitated with careful editing by Jennifer Watkins, and technical expertise of Craig Cramer. The cover graphic/website logo is by Rachel Kennedy.

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Overview

WHO is Discovering the Food System for? This guided experiential learning program is designed primarily for youth ages 12 to 18. Given the potential level of complexity involved in conducting a community research project (Part 2) and the community action it may inspire, elements of this program may also be suitable for some undergraduate college level courses.

But really, Discovering the Food System is meant for anyone who is curious about food, how it gets from farm to table, and how we, as eaters, are

involved in that system. Such people with inquiring minds might be:

• a traditional student working with a teacher to develop an enrichment project. This could also be an independent team project that students could work within a block format.

• Home school students and their parent-teachers • Alternative school students working independently

• Community-minded groups like the 4-H, service minded groups, Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts.

• Anyone interested in food!

WHAT is Discovering the Food System? Discovering the Food System is a guided discovery of the food system. This experiential process of discovery is grounded in the places we live, eat, work, learn, and play.

With Discovering the Food System, we will use our own "backyards" -- the school cafeteria, local food stores, nearby canneries, restaurants and farms -- as our laboratory for learning about the food system. In this way the food system will move from the abstract to the real.

Through experiential learning activities, we will meet real people that represent different parts or aspects of the food system - farmers, grocers, restaurateurs, processors, and marketers, as well as community citizens, who eat, just like us.

Discovering the Food System provides a basic understanding of the food system and our connection to that system through the choices we make every day.

Because this experiential learning program promotes an in-depth

understanding of our own community food system, what is learned can be applied directly in local actions for community change. We can become involved in community action by asking questions, seeking answers and drawing conclusions about possible alternatives within our communities.

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Through the Discovering the Food System program, we will meet people in our local and possibly distant food system, explore the differences between a "community" and a "global" food system, and learn ways in which the food we eat and the food system are interrelated.

WHY do we need Discovering the Food System? Young people today are hungry – hungry for food and hungry for knowledge about the world around them. All of us, and increasingly our children, teens, and

pre-adults, have to make food purchases for ourselves and do our shopping for our families. For teens, and even for many adults, the complexity of the food system that feeds us is largely unknown. A walk down the aisles of today’s supermarkets provides a glimpse into our global food system -- one that offers consumers a safe, affordable, abundant, consistent and

convenient food supply that comes from all over the world. Lost amidst most of the more than 30,000 food items available to shoppers is the connection food can provide with our community, local economy and the natural environment. Indeed, the food system is, for the most part, hidden from view.

But the food system can be discovered by the sharp and inquiring minds of today! By learning more about our food system we can make food choices that improve our health and the economic, social and environmental sustainability of our communities.

Why is food system awareness important?

We all need to eat. Our biological need to eat is met by a complex set of interdependent processes from seed to table. This complex system depends on a tremendous amount of resources - natural, economic, social, political. While most of us enjoy food quite often – usually several times a day – the larger food system is virtually invisible to us. How can we learn about the food system? Food labels are excellent at providing nutrient content information but, for the most part, reveal little about how food is grown, where it was grown and processed, who was employed to grow and harvest the crop, or what mode of transportation was used to get the food to

market. These are just some of the multitude of questions that might be asked about a food product that, if we had the answers, would tell us a lot more about the food system.

Another reason for our food system ignorance is that all of us, including today’s youth, are exposed to numerous and often-conflicting messages related to food, nutrition and the food system. In the school cafeteria, local supermarkets and fast food restaurants we are exposed to a vast array of food choices. The typical household has shifted from consuming food prepared in the home to consuming quick, prepared or prepackaged foods. As adolescents we grew up or are growing up with supermarkets and fast food rather than homegrown and homemade food. Throughout our lives,

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we have probably seen little connection between food and the setting in which it is produced. During pilot testing of this curriculum, we asked young people where their food comes from. Most answered, “the store.” Through the Discovering the Food System program, we will gain an appreciation of our relationship to the local food system and the factors affecting food supply.

WHEN should we use Discovering the Food System? Discovering the Food System lessons have classroom applications or "curriculum links" to Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Music/Art and Career Development and Occupational Studies (CDOS). Because of the many links to a wide variety of subject areas, portions of Discovering the Food System can be incorporated easily into existing curricula.

WHERE should we use Discovering the Food System? Since one of the principles underlying the study of food systems is that food has a

connection to a specific place, the context in which Discovering the Food System is used needs to be taken into account in a very conscious way. Discovering the Food System is very much about place – where we live, where we eat, where our food is grown, processed and marketed – and the people associated with those places. To get the most out of Discovering the Food System, we need to become familiar with the agriculture and food system in our own geographic region - state, county, region of the country. Most of the examples used in the lessons and the project description come from the Northeast – the region where the curriculum was written.

However, the activities developed to engage us in learning about our food system can be applied to any region and other countries as well.

Some basic food system questions to ask ourselves include: What crops are grown in my area? Are there food processing businesses in my county, or state? Where are foods that grow in my area changed (processed) into products that I see on the supermarket shelves? Is there a farmers' market in the town I live in? What kinds of food stores are there in my community and where are they located? How are the foods the same and how are they different in the different stores? Are there any community gardens in my town, and who gardens in them? Of course, most of us are creative and curious. So you will have many of your own interesting questions to ask about the food system.

Your local Cooperative Extension office can be a valuable resource throughout the Discovering the Food System program as nutrition and agriculture educators maintain strong connections with people who grow, market, process, prepare, serve and donate food.

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HOW can we use Discovering the Food System? Discovering the Food System is designed primarily for middle school to high school age students. Many of the activities are suitable for grades 6 and 7 as well. While this program was developed primarily for use in a classroom setting, several of the activities are compatible with a variety and non-formal educational settings, Cooperative Extension 4-H youth development programs, home schools, school-aged childcare programs and community-based educational environments.

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Goals and Objectives:

• Learn through direct exploration about our food system.

• Engage in cooperative and inquiry-based learning with our peers. • Enhance our awareness of the food system and foods or our region. • Understand the links between food choices and the food system.

• Distinguish between foods that are likely to support the community food systems and those which are less likely to do so.

• Immerse us in highly participatory, community-based experience, involving interviewing community members and gaining information about the food system.

• Foster relationships with our community and between the agricultural and non-agricultural community.

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Organization of the Program

Discovering the Food System is organized into two major Sections. Section 1: You and Your Food System

This section contains instructional lessons designed to help you better understand how nutrition, diet and the food system are connected. This section introduces the food system components and concepts and an overview of dietary guidelines and the food guides, and how food choices every day influence and are influenced by the food system.

Lesson 1: Food and You introduces the dietary guidelines for Americans. It shows how these guidelines support our health yet have little

relationship to the food system. The USDA Food Guide Pyramid is

compared with the Northeast Regional Food Guide, which is designed to promote healthful diets from foods grown and processed in the

Northeast. This lesson explores the ways that dietary guidelines and food guides can impact upon the food system.

Lesson 2: Food System Basics introduces the concept of a system and then the various components of the food system.

Lesson 3: Think Globally, Eat Locally introduces a comparison between local and global food systems and the complexity involved in making such a comparison. There are no neat distinctions between the "local," or "community" and "global" when it comes to the food system. This lesson asks: what do these terms mean and how should they be used to

examine the food system?

Lesson 4: Food Labels and the Food System helps you learn how to read the Nutrition Facts food labels, and to explore "food system" information that might also be included. What's on food labels and what is not can

provide insights into why our food system is often mysterious and hard to know.

Section 2: Discovering The Food System Project

This section provides a guide for conducting a Discovering the Food System project. You will be provided with tools for exploring your food system. What you choose to focus on and the methods you use are flexible and should be guided by your interests or those of the class, club, or after school program of which you are a part. It is this flexibility that assures a high level of

engagement on your part. The food system discovery is accomplished through a search of existing food system facts, interviews with people who represent the food system and a public survey about some aspect of the food system that interests you the most.

The program does not end with discovery, however. It also provides tools to teach you how to share your newly obtained food system understandings with the community with an eye for creating community change. You will learn

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about the potential impact information can have on policies in a school, or in the broader community.

Step 1: Finding Food System Facts provides tools and guidelines to locating and understanding data that has already been collected on the food system, and is therefore available for use and interpretation. This is very much like the processes being used across the country to conduct

community food assessments. Also, food systems stories are frequently in the news. You will learn about the breadth of issues that are related to the food system that you might read about in any daily newspaper. Step 2: Learning from People in the Food System will give you a better

understanding of your food system by interviewing some of the people whom you will identify as being part of the food system. This step in the food system project builds on the previous lesson by clarifying the

aspects of the food system that most interest you, identifying who is directly involved in those aspects, and formulating questions about issues for those most likely to have interesting insights. This step in the Discovering The Food System Project provides an opportunity for you to gain experience with a qualitative social science methodology: the open-ended, in-person interview method. You will practice basic interviewing techniques in a role play, contact community members who are part of the food system, arrange to meet them, and finally, actually conduct in-person interviews.

Step 3: Community Survey: Getting Ready will provide you with an opportunity to work with a classic quantitative social science

methodology: the survey. You will identify topics that interest you (from previous research and your interviewing experience) and design a

questionnaire.

Step 4: Conducting a Community Food System Survey will take us beyond the design stage and into the actual survey experience. You will have the opportunity to choose a population sample, distribute the survey and compile the results. In doing so, you will learn how some segment of the broader community feels about food system issues.

Step 5: Sharing Food System Stories with Your Community will help you develop methods of taking your newly won food system knowledge and presenting it to your local community with the eye towards community change. You will learn how to present your food system facts, interview experiences and survey results and how to wrap up your project

experience in a cohesive manner.

Discovering the Food System - The Lessons • Summary

The summary is a brief paragraph to help you identify what types of activities you will engage in for the particular lesson. It will be an

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• Learning Objectives

For each lesson, we have defined what we think are the most important concepts for the you to learn. The objectives are intended as guidelines for you to assess what you have learned upon completion of the lesson.

• Key Concepts

Each of the lessons introduces concepts that are relevant to understanding the food system and the relationship between consumers and the food system.

• “Getting to the Core”

Throughout this curriculum the themes being explored are applied to a consistent example – apples. In each lesson and in each part of the project description, how the topic applies to apples is described. For example, in Section 1, Activity 1, we have given you information about where apples are found on the food guide pyramids, the nutritional value of apples, and how apples fit into a nutritious diet. These “Getting to the Core” sidebars provide a quick and easy example of how the concepts being developed can be

applied to real food. One of the reasons we chose apples for this purpose is that there are many varieties of apples grown and marketed in our state of New York. I you like, you can develop your own “food thread” as you go about discovering your food system. This food might be a potato, tomato, strawberry or orange, or a product native to your location. Or, if you are quite ambitious, you might chose and food product that contains more than one food from more than one food group – yogurt for example. The

important thing is that the food that is chosen should have some meaning and relevance to the food system that is being discovered.

• Activities

Each lesson has several activities within it. For example, to understand what a food system is you need to be familiar with the setting of the food system, what aspects are part of the food system, and other important basic concepts. Therefore, each lesson will have many parts to help build a

complete concept. The activities will be numbered to help guide you through the lesson. Also, some of the activities will have numbered steps to make the procedure clear.

• Going Further

You may be interested in learning more and have the time for further investigation of a topic. We have provided ideas for optional activities that will help reinforce what you have learned in the lesson. Some of the

additional activities are also geared to help you connect with your community before the interviewing and survey lessons.

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The lessons are designed to meet the needs of a formal classroom setting as well as a variety of non-formal educational settings. The background section provides a discussion of important aspects of the food system on the specific topic of the lesson. This section will help provide you with the necessary background information to navigate the lesson. If you are a teacher using this curriculum at a group or class level, it will provide you with the

information you need so that you are able to better educate your students and guide discussion. Our goal to provide enough information so that you will feel well-versed in the major issues and questions involved in discussing lesson topics. In one or more of the lessons, it may be beneficial to use the Internet as a resource for gaining information about the food system. In any of the lessons that suggest the use of the Internet we have also provided alternative non-electronic sources of the comparable information for groups using the activities which do not have Internet access.

• Lesson Resources

Some of the lessons will guide you in investigating your local food system. In a few of the lessons you will need to seek data about the food system. In each lesson we will provide any resources we recommend using to obtain data not supplied in the lesson itself. The resources might be websites, phone numbers, or names and addresses of community organizations and governmental agencies.

• Food for Thought Journal and other handouts

Each lesson will have a journal entry to bring the material covered in the lesson to the context of the your day-to-day lives. In addition to the journal, there may be other handouts that you will need to copy. Once you have completed the worksheets you can collect them to make up a Discovering the Food System Portfolio.

• Student Portfolio

To assess your progress through the Discovering the Food System

curriculum, we suggest collecting work produced in each of the lessons in a Discovering the Food System Portfolio. The resulting collection will help display how your understanding changed through the completion of all of the lessons and will provide you with a reference packet as you prepare to share your work with the community in the final lesson.

• Glossary

Throughout the lessons certain words and phrases appear in bold type. These are defined in the glossary which follows Section 2.

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A Primer on Community Food Systems:

Linking Food, Nutrition and Agriculture

Introduction

The term "food system" is used frequently in discussions about nutrition, food, health, community economic development and agriculture. The food system includes all processes involved in keeping us fed: growing, harvesting, processing (or transforming or changing), packaging, transporting, marketing, consuming and disposing of food and food packages. It also includes the inputs needed and outputs generated at each step. The food system operates within and is influenced by social, political, economic and natural environments. Each step is also dependent on human resources that provide labor, research and education.

Community Food Systems

Several qualifying terms have been used to describe the food system: simple, complex, local, global and regional. A community food system is a food system in which food production, processing, distribution and consumption are integrated to enhance the environmental, economic, social and nutritional health of a particular place. A community food system can refer to a relatively small area, such as a neighborhood, or progressively larger areas – towns, cities, counties, regions, or bioregions. The concept of community food systems is sometimes used interchangeably with "local" or "regional" food systems, but by including the word "community" there is an emphasis on strengthening existing (or developing new) relationships between all components of the food system. This reflects a prescriptive approach to building a food system, one that holds sustainability – economic, environmental and social – as a long-term goal toward which a community strives.

Four aspects distinguish community food systems from the globalized food system that typifies the source of most food Americans eat: food security, proximity, self-reliance and sustainability.

• Food security is a key goal of community food systems. While food security traditionally focuses on individual and household food needs, community food security addresses food access within a community context, especially for low-income households. It has a simultaneous goal of developing local food systems.

• Proximity refers to the distance between various components of the food system. In community food systems such distances are generally shorter than those in the dominant or global food system. This proximity increases the likelihood that enduring relationships will form between different

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stakeholders in the food system – farmers, processors, retailers, restaurateurs, consumers, etc.

• Self-reliance refers to the degree to which a community meets its own food needs. While the aim of community food systems is not total self-sufficiency (where all food is produced, processed, marketed and consumed within a defined boundary), increasing the degree of self-reliance for food, to be determined by a community partnership, is an important aspect of a community food system.

• Sustainability refers to following agricultural and food system practices that do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their food

needs. Sustainability includes environmental protection, profitability, ethical treatment of food system workers, and community development. Sustainability of the food and agriculture system is increased when a diversified agriculture exists near strong and thriving markets, when non-renewable inputs required for every step in the food system are reduced, when farming systems rely less on agri-chemical fertilization and pest control, and when citizen participation in food system decision-making is enhanced.

Goals of Community Food Systems

Building a community food system requires comprehensive or holistic approaches to meeting the food needs of people living in a particular place. Efforts to develop community food systems address multiple goals

simultaneously:

• Optimized health, reduced risk of diet-related chronic diseases, and increased enjoyment of food among community members.

• Dietary change that complements the seasonal availability of foods produced and processed by the local food and agriculture system.

• Improved access for all community members to an adequate, affordable, nutritious diet.

• A stable (or in some cases, expanding) base of family farms that use integrated production practices to enhance environmental quality,

• Marketing channels and processing facilities that create more direct links between farmers and consumers, and, by shortening the distance between these partners, conserve resources needed for transporting food.

• Food and agriculture-related businesses, resulting in stronger community economies through job creation, and re-circulating financial capital in the community. Such businesses could include food processing, or value-adding processing to expand opportunities for locally produced food to be

consumed locally.

• Increased public participation in food and agriculture policies that promote local food production, access to local retail and processing markets, and institutional procurement of local agricultural commodities.

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Elements of Community Food Systems

There are several well-recognized elements of a community food system: • Farmers’ markets provide the opportunity for eaters to meet and talk

directly with the people who grow the food they are buying. By the same token, farmers can learn more, in a direct way, about what their customers want and need to know about the food from their farms. By decreasing the amount of fuel used to move food around, this proximity to food sources increases the environmental sustainability of the system.

• Community and school gardens are recognized as an important source of fresh produce, particularly for underserved populations in low-income neighborhoods, thereby increasing dietary quality and food security. They provide spaces for community interaction, decision-making, problem-solving, creativity and celebration. Community gardens also provide opportunities to learn about food production, develop job skills, increase agriculture literacy, generate food-related businesses, and create links to nearby restaurants and soup kitchens.

• Community supported agriculture (CSA) farms are arrangements whereby a group of people buy shares into the eventual harvest of a farm before the crops are planted. In exchange for their investment into the farm,

shareholders receive fresh fruits and vegetables (and sometimes, other products such as local cheeses, fresh flowers, eggs and meats), on a weekly basis throughout the harvest season. By making this investment, CSA

members accept part of the financial risks associated with farming. Further, the farmer receives a portion of the cost of production at a time when it is most needed. Many CSA farmers also market through local farmers'

markets, which can increase farm profitability and stability.

• U-Pick operations and roadside farm stands provide access to fresh produce direct from the farmer who grew it. Through a U-Pick, the price paid to the farmer is reduced substantially in exchange for harvest labor. In the

process, eaters come in contact with farmers, experience another aspect of the food system, and increase their intake of fresh and processed local produce (if some of what they harvest is preserved through freezing or canning, for example).

• Community kitchens are facilities where locally produced, gleaned or recovered foods can be further processed or preserved for members of a community. Food product development often takes place at these facilities, thereby creating income generating opportunities and products with local identity.

• Small-scale food processing and decentralized root cellars provide

infrastructure and technical expertise necessary to launch new food-based businesses. Much of the food we eat is processed in some way and in areas with relatively short growing seasons, such as the Northeast. The use of canned, frozen and stored fruits and vegetables when produce is "out of season" is another way to develop community food systems.

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Externalities

The word externality is an economic term used to describe costs or benefits generated by an agent (say a farmer, or a truck driver) that do not register as a cost or benefit to that agent or end-user. The pollution generated by transporting food is not paid for by the trucking company in the price of the fuel, or by the consumer in the price of the food. The external environmental and social costs related to food production, processing, storage, and

distribution are seldom accounted for in the price we pay for food at the grocery store register. Community food systems, by narrowing the distance between producers, processors and consumers, have a greater chance of

“internalizing” any externalities in the food system and actually reducing many. For example, since the distance food is transported in a community food

system is shorter, less fossil fuel is burned, less pollution generated and less wear and tear on trucks and roadways results from the transportation of food. Likewise, because more of the steps in the food system are carried out locally, the loss of food system-related jobs is minimized.

Actions to Create a Community Food Systems

As individuals, consumers can do a lot to support and collectively strengthen community food systems:

• choose a diet rich in locally grown and processed foods. Regional food guides, such as the Northeast Regional Food Guide, provide guidelines to help consumers choose healthful local and seasonal diets.

• ask food stores to buy from local growers and processors.

• ask where items on restaurant menus came from and express interest in eating locally produced and processed foods.

• shop at farmers' markets and food co-ops (which are more likely to offer local, in season, and often organic choices).

• buy a share in a CSA farm or sponsor someone else's share.

• participate in a community or school garden or start a home vegetable

garden and share excess with neighbors, a community kitchen or local soup kitchen.

• cook from scratch.

• support policies that favor local farms and other elements of community food systems, join or create a food policy council to assess community assets with respect to the local food system, identify areas of need, and develop strategies collectively to meet those needs.

In order to support local community food systems in their food choices, consumers need:

• access to local foods,

• ways to identify local alternatives,

• ways to learn meal planning and preparation skills, • an understanding of seasonal variation,

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• knowledge of the local food and agriculture system, and

• an appreciation of the benefits of eating seasonally and locally. Nutrition practitioners can do a lot through their professions to support community food systems as well, such as:

• include considerations about seasonal availability of locally produced foods when providing dietary advice to clients,

• substitute non-local foods in meal plans with foods that are nutritionally equivalent and are produced locally,

• create seasonally varied institutional food service menus that reflect local agricultural production. This might include, for example, the use of root vegetables in the winter in northern climates,

• shift procurement strategies in food service operations toward local food sources, and include information about the sources of foods at the point of purchase.

Conclusion

We all can benefit from learning more about our own food system, and participating in its development. Community food systems offer an alternative to our current approach to meeting our daily food and nutrition needs and promises several social, environmental and economic benefits. As individual stakeholders, we all have a role to play in shaping the future of our community food systems.

References

Allen, P. 1999. Reweaving the food security safety net: Mediating entitlement and entrepreneurship. Agriculture and Human Values 16:117-129.

Garrett, S. and Feenstra, G. 1999. Growing a Community Food System. Community Ventures: Partnerships in Education and Research Circular Series Topic. Washington State University Cooperative Extension, Puyallup, WA. June. Gillespie, A. and Gillespie, G. 2000. Community Food Systems: Toward a

Common Language for Building Productive Partnerships. Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Harmon, A., Harmon, R. and Maretzki, A. 1999. The Food System – Building Youth Awareness Through Involvement. A Guidebook for Educators, Parents, and Community Leaders. The Pennsylvania State University, College of Agricultural Sciences.

Sobal, J. Khan, L.K. and Bisogni, C. 1998. A conceptual model of the food and nutrition system. Social Science and Medicine 47:853-63.

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Winne, M., Joseph, H. and Fisher, A. 1997. Community Food Security: A Guide to Concept, Design, and Implementation. Community Food Security Coalition. Los Angeles, CA.

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Section 1:

You and Your Food System Introduction

This section contains instructional lessons designed to help you better understand how nutrition, diet and the food system are connected. This section introduces an overview of dietary guidelines and food guides, the food system components and concepts, and the effect and influence every day food choices have on the food system and vice versa.

Lesson 1: Food and You introduces the dietary guidelines for Americans and how these support our health, yet have little relationship to the food system. The USDA Food Guide Pyramid is compared with the Northeast Regional Food Guide that is designed to promote healthful diets from foods grown and processed in the Northeast. This lesson explores the ways that dietary guidelines and food guides can impact upon the food system.

Lesson 2: What is a Food System? introduces the concept of a system and then the various components of the food system.

Lesson 3: Think Globally, Eat Locally introduces a comparison between local and global food systems and the complexity involved in making such a comparison. There are no neat distinctions between the "local," or "community" and "global" when it comes to the food system. This lesson will explore what these terms mean and how they should be used in examining the food system.

Lesson 4: Food Labels and the Food System teaches how to read the Nutrition Facts food labels, and helps to explore "food system" information that might also be included. What is on food labels and what is not can provide insights into why our food system is often mysterious and hard to know.

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Lesson 1:

Food and You

(or “You (and your food system) are what you eat”)

Summary

Today we face an array of food choices in our supermarkets, school cafeterias, and homes. Because of the importance of establishing healthy eating habits at an early age, we are never too young to need a good understanding of how what we eat impacts our nutrition and health. Eating is also a very real way that knowingly or not, we connect with our food system – several times each day!

Food and You makes connections between the foods we eat, our health, and the food system. This lesson introduces the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for

Americans, and the national nutrition education tool that implements these guidelines – the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Guide Pyramid. Other food guides have been developed for specific places, people and goals. For example, the Northeast Regional Food Guide (NERFG) is designed to promote healthful diets from foods grown and processed in the Northeast region of the United States.

In this lesson, we will analyze the content and meaning of these important resources in terms of diet and health. We will also compare and contrast the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the USDA Food Pyramid with the NERFG to identify the differences and similarities between national and

regional food guides. We will learn how seasons affect the availability of certain foods in our area and what different forms foods can take on the supermarket shelf. Completing the Lunch Laboratory will teach us how to design a balanced, local and seasonal menu using our school or home lunch menu, or the

Discovering the Food System Café menu provided. Finally, the Food for Thought Journal for this lesson will help us reflect on our own daily food choices.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this lesson, we should be able to:

• Use the USDA Food Pyramid to identify the food groups, the proper number of daily servings from each group and how to choose a healthy diet.

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• Describe the similarities and differences between the USDA Food Pyramid and the Northeast Regional Food Guide.

• Identify examples of seasonal differences in produce availability in the Northeast

• Identify the different forms in which food is available in the supermarket.

• Recognize that other forms of the food guide are used in other parts of the world. Key Concepts • Nutrition • Food Guide • Food Group • Dietary Guidelines • Seasonal Availability • Food Choices

• Food Forms - processing and preservation • Plant Foods

• Animal Foods

“Getting to the Core”

Because apples are fruit, they appear in the “Fruit Group” of the food pyramid – both the USDA and the Northeast Regional versions. The apple pictured on the USDA Food Pyramid looks like a very familiar apple. Several different

varieties of apples grow in the Northeast. How many different kinds can you see on this food guide? Apples, in many forms (fresh, applesauce, apple butter, juice, etc.), will fit in the fruit food group. Being a fruit, apples have no fat, are low in calories, are a good source of fiber and provide a modest amount of vitamin C. Definitely a good snack item!

Activities

• The Power of Pyramids

• There’s a Reason for the Season • The School Lunch Laboratory • Food for Thought Journal

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Activity 1: The Power of Pyramids Summary:

To help us become more familiar with food guides, the first step is a short activity to identify the differences and similarities between the USDA Food Pyramid and Dietary Guidelines and the Northeast Regional Food Guide (NERFG). You may have been introduced to food guides in previous grade levels, but you are likely to be unfamiliar with the Northeast Regional Food Guide.

Materials:

• Photocopies of the USDA Food Pyramid, U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and the NERFG

• Transparencies (for use on an overhead if available) of the USDA Food Pyramid and the NERFG.

• Writing board and markers • Paper and pencils/pens

Before class

Prepare the photocopies and transparencies as needed. Review the tables provided in the Background section about the USDA and NERFG food guides and any other background information needed.

Class itself

1. Look at the USDA Food Pyramid. Have you ever seen the image before? Have you heard of the term food guide? Describe what a food guide is. This is the food guide developed by the U.S. government for all

Americans. What is the nutrition background to the USDA Food Pyramid (pertinent information is in the Background section of this lesson and includes links to various web sites you may be interested in investigating after the lesson)?

2. Look at the Northeast Regional Food Guide. This is a food guide that was developed for people living in the northeastern United States.

3. On the board or a piece of paper, write two column headings: “Different” and “Same.”

4. With both food guides visible, look for ways in which the two food guides are the same and ways in which they are different. List the comments in the appropriate column.

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Activity 2: There’s a Reason for the Season

Summary

In activity 1, we learned that one of the differences between the NERFG and the USDA Food Pyramid is that the regional food guide includes lists of foods available in the Northeast during each of the seasons. One way to support our community food system is to eat seasonally available produce. Although we cannot harvest fresh strawberries from our gardens in

January, we can enjoy local foods throughout the year. The way we do this is by consuming produce that was grown by local farmers and then

preserved in order to be eaten long after harvest.

Materials

• Photocopies of the "Seasonal Availability of Produce" list on the Northeast Regional Food Guide

• Writing board and markers • Paper and pens/pencils

Before class

Prepare photocopies as needed

Class itself

1. Look at the “Seasonal Availability of Produce” chart.

2. Why are some of the items listed in summer and fall missing from the winter and spring lists. Fruits (except for tree fruits) and vegetables are planted and harvested at a certain times of the year and not others; this is called the "growing season."

3. Pick a few produce items (e.g., apples, tomatoes, or corn). On the board or paper, make a list of the different forms in which they can be found in a grocery store. For example, tomatoes are found fresh in the produce section and in cans as whole tomatoes, sauce, paste, crushed, etc. If necessary, find other examples of food that are fresh, stored, canned, and dried. Which do you prefer to eat?

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Activity 3: The School Lunch Laboratory

Summary

Now that you are familiar with the two food guides and understand in what forms food can be stored, we can put the knowledge to work creating healthy, Northeastern meals. In order to continue building on what you already are familiar with, we will use our school or home lunch menus to practice creating balanced Northeast-based meals for various seasons. If you do not have access to a school or home menu, we have provided the Discovering the Food System Café menu with the lesson.

Materials

• Photocopies of the complete Northeast Regional Food Guide from Activity 1, a school lunch menu (or similar home menu), and the

School Lunch Laboratory handout

• Photocopies of the Discovering the Food System Café menu if needed • Transparency sheets or posterboard and markers if available

• Paper and pens/pencils Before class

Prepare photocopies as needed Class itself

1. Make sure you have a copy of the complete Northeast Regional Food Guide from activity 1, a sample menu and the School Lunch Laboratory handout.

2. According to USDA regulations, school lunches are required to meet one-third of the recommended daily allowances for vitamins, minerals and protein. Therefore we need to build lunches to contain approximately one-third of the servings suggested in the food pyramid. For example: the USDA recommends 2-3 servings from the protein group for a full day. Therefore, for lunch we want to plan needs 1 serving of protein.

3. Complete Meal #1 to become familiar with the activity. If there are a large number of you, divide into groups and assign each group to do one of the other three meals. When each group has finished creating their meals, they can share them with the other groups via verbal response or by creating their own transparencies and using it as a basis for their explanation. If you do not divide into groups, finish the other three meals yourself. If you wish, cut out pictures from magazines to create illustrations of your meals and create a poster.

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Directions:

Use the USDA Food Pyramid and the Northeast Regional Food Guide (NERFG) to compare meals on the school lunch menu.

When planning each meal use the EVALUATE 1-2-3 method! 1. Which Food Group is it from?

Fill in the part of the meal that fits into each food group. 2. Is it Local?

Using the Northeast Regional Food Guide, determine if this food item could be locally grown. Write “local” if it can be produced locally or “global” if it cannot

3. What Form is the Food in?

Is the food fresh, canned, frozen, dried or stored? Next to the food group, write what form the food item is in.

Meal #1

Choose a meal from the menu calendar you would like to eat and evaluate it. Describe the meal:

Evaluate 1-2-3:

1. Which Food Group is it from?

Grain ____________________________________ Fruit ____________________________________ Vegetable ____________________________________ Dairy ____________________________________ Protein ____________________________________ 2. Is it Local? Grain ____________________________________ Fruit ____________________________________ Vegetable ____________________________________ Dairy ____________________________________ Protein ____________________________________ 3. What Form is the Food in?

Grain ____________________________________ Fruit ____________________________________ Vegetable ____________________________________ Dairy ____________________________________ Protein ____________________________________

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Meal #2

Create a meal for the fall that only includes foods from the Northeast region using the lists in the Northeast Regional Food Guide. To accomplish this, you can use a meal that is already on the menu calendar and substitute

Northeastern foods for non-regional foods. Example: instead of peas as the vegetable, use broccoli. Evaluate 1-2-3.

Describe the meal:

Evaluate 1-2-3:

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Meal #3

Create a meal for the winter using the NERFG. Evaluate 1-2-3. Describe the meal:

Evaluate 1-2-3:

Grain ____________________________________ Fruit ____________________________________ Vegetable ____________________________________ Dairy ____________________________________ Protein ____________________________________ 2. Is it local? Grain ____________________________________ Fruit ____________________________________ Vegetable ____________________________________ Dairy ____________________________________ Protein ____________________________________ 3. What Form is the Food in?

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Meal #4

Create a meal for the spring using the NERFG. Evaluate 1-2-3. Describe the meal:

Evaluate 1-2-3:

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Discovering the Food System Café Menu

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

Cheese Pizza Pepperoni Pizza

Garden Salad and Apple Milk

Cake

Hamburger Deluxe Yogurt, Bagel & Fruit Carrots Milk Pudding Tomato Soup Toasted Cheese Macaroni Salad Milk Apple Crisp Spaghetti w/meatballs Caesar Salad Garlic Bread Milk Pears

Chicken Patty on Bun Pasta Salad Green beans Milk Fruit Cup Cheese Pizza Pepperoni Pizza

Garden Salad and Apple Milk

Brownie

Chicken Nuggets w/roll Sweet Potatoes Corn Milk Cookie Choice of Fruit Bacon Cheeseburger Baked Beans Carrots Milk

Rice Krispie Treat Choice of Fruit Cheese Ravioli

Tossed Salad Bread Sticks

Milk and Fresh Fruit Make your own Sundae

Hot Sausage Sub Cold Sandwich Salad and Fresh Fruit Milk

Juice Icees

Chicken Rice Soup Tater Tots Veggie Sticks Milk Sliced Peaches Tacos w/toppings PB&J Carrots Milk

Cookie and Fresh Fruit

BBQ Ribs on a Bun French Fries

Corn

Milk and Fresh Fruit Cake

Cheese Pizza Pepperoni Pizza

Garden Salad and Fruit Milk

Brownie

Baked Chicken & Roll Cold Sandwiches Green Beans Milk

Apple Pie

Clam Chowder Yogurt & Bagel Carrots Milk Fruit Cup Hamburger Deluxe Cold Sandwiches Salad Milk Apple Crisp

Chicken Nuggets w/roll French Fries

Green Beans Milk

Ice Cream and Fruit Spaghetti w/meatballs

Garlic Bread Caesar Salad Milk

Pears

Ham & Cheese Melt Macaroni Salad Carrots

Milk

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Activity 4: Food for Thought Journal

Summary

Finally, as an independent assignment, complete the Food For Thought Journal for Lesson 1.

Materials

• Photocopies of “Food for Thought Journal” • Pens/pencils

Before class

Prepare photocopies as needed

Class itself or homework

In the journal you will describe a meal you have eaten recently. In the process of analyzing the meal, you can begin to understand how your food choices affect your local community food system. Keeping the journal is strongly recommended as it can be used as an

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Questions of the Day:

¾ Describe a meal that you ate today or yesterday.

¾ Did you help prepare the meal?

¾ Which food groups were represented in your meal?

¾ Describe a food that you eat regularly that you know is canned.

¾ Describe a food that you eat regularly that is usually fresh.

¾ Which foods generally taste better to you, canned or fresh? Why

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If time permits, describe the growing season in your area. You can either keep track of the weather forecasts or contact your county

Cooperative Extension office to get information about frost dates for your community. To help you understand the relationship between the

calendar seasons and agricultural seasons, note the date of the beginning of the growing season on a calendar. This activity will demonstrate that the agricultural seasons are not fixed dates for each year, unlike the solstice and equinox, which are used to define the calendar seasons.

Another idea, which you can try if you are truly motivated, is to research various meals or recipes from certain parts of the country or world and see if and how they fit into the pyramid. Many countries and regions around the world use these as guides for food selection and health education.

Commencement Level Challenge

It might surprise you to discover many other countries or regions have food guides/pyramids. Examples are Thai, Asian, Mediterranean, etc. Check out websites and download information. If you like, create a visual with pictures and words. Compare and contrast similarities and differences as modeled above with the USDA and Northeastern Regional Food guide. One possible site to try is www.oldwayspt.org.

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Background

One of the most important things about the food system, from our standpoint, is that it provides us food to eat and enjoy and with which we can maintain good health. Of course, some food choices are better than others, and a food guide is an educational tool designed to help people make food choices that are healthy and will prevent a number of diet-related diseases. A food guide translates recommendations on nutrition intake into recommendations of food intake. It organizes foods into categories or “food groups” that are similar in nutrient content. A food guide provides recommendations on what food groups to choose from and the number of servings of food from each group in order to get a nutritionally adequate and wholesome diet.

A National Food Guide

At the national level, the USDA has been publishing food guides since 1917. The first food guide contained five food groups: flesh foods, starchy foods, fat foods, watery fruits and vegetables, and sweets. This food guide reflected the state of knowledge about nutrition at that time. The USDA has published several food guides since that time, changing to reflect advances in nutrition science and in our understanding of the relationship between diet and health. For a bit of history on the

development of food guides in the United States, visit the USDA National Agriculture Library website: www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/history/.

The latest national food guide, the USDA Food Guide Pyramid, provides an outline of what to eat each day based on the Dietary Guidelines. The fifth edition of Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a joint publication of the Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture, was released on May 30, 2000. The food groups on today’s Food Guide are: fruits; vegetables; breads, cereal, rice and pasta; meat, poultry, fish, beans, eggs and nuts; fats, oils and sweets; and milk, yogurt and cheese. The Food Guide Pyramid is not a rigid prescription but a general guide that lets us choose a healthful diet that takes into account individual food

preferences. The Pyramid calls for eating a variety of foods to get the essential nutrients and at the same time the right amount of calories to maintain healthy weight.

The new guidelines also emphasize physical activity as important for healthy living, more than just for weight management. For the first time, there is a guideline that focuses on keeping food safe to eat, particularly on the need to keep and prepare foods safely in the home. The standard USDA Food Pyramid and Guidelines have been included in the handout section of this lesson. The latest edition of these dietary guidelines can be viewed at www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/.

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A Regional Food Guide

The Northeast Regional Food Guide (NERFG) is based on the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans. However, it goes further to include guides for healthy community food systems. The NERFG is based on the same dietary guidelines as the USDA food pyramid, but its focus is on the Northeast food system. The complete NERFG is included as a handout at the end of this lesson. To understand how the guides differ refer to the following comparison tables:

Comparing the USDA Food Guide Pyramid and the Northeast Regional Food Guide

The Northeast Regional Food Guide and the USDA Food Guide Pyramid have several elements in common. However, there are several important differences as well. Below is a comparison of these two food pyramids. The NERFG includes a guideline to help people support their local community food system.

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USDA Food Guide

Pyramid Northeast Regional Food Guide

Format Pyramid shape Pyramid shape

Food

Groups Bread, Cereal, Rice & Pasta; Vegetable; Fruit; Milk, Yogurt, & Cheese; Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, & Nuts; Fats, Oils, & Sweets.

Food groups are identical to the USDA Food Guide Pyramid, but the word order is changed for the high protein food to reflect an emphasis on plant foods in the diet: Dry Beans, Nuts, Eggs, Fish Poultry, & Meat.

Food

Images Foods represent variety in each group.

The number of foods pictured on the NERFG is much greater than on the USDA Food Guide Pyramid. The foods pictured on the NERFG are foods that do currently, or can potentially, grow in the Northeast region.

Forms for fruits and vegetables

Foods are pictured in their fresh form only.

The names of the fruit and vegetable group include the various forms in which these foods can be found (fresh, canned, frozen, and stored). Eating a diet based on the availability of locally grown foods means that the form in which we eat foods might change throughout the year. For example, we might not have fresh tomatoes in the winter, but canned tomatoes or sauce would be consistent with local foods.

Foods at the top of the

Pyramid

Symbols for fat and sugar, no foods pictured.

This section actually has foods pictured. These foods, such as jams, jellies, honey, butter and syrup provide little more than sugar and fat (empty

calories) but they represent food products of the region that add to the agricultural economy of Northeast communities.

Seasonal Availabilit y of Produce

None. Contains lists of fruit and vegetable available for each season. In the winter, the foods listed will need to be provided from storage.

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USDA Food Guide Pyramid Northeast Regional Food Guide Aim for Fitness

Aim for a healthy weight. Be physically active each day. Build a Healthy Base Let the Pyramid guide your food

choices.

Choose a variety of grains daily, especially whole grains.

Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables daily.

Keep food safe to eat. Choose Sensibly

Choose a diet that is low in

saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat.

Choose beverages and foods to moderate your intake of sugars. Choose and prepare foods with

less salt.

If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.

Aim for Fitness Aim for a healthy weight. Be physically active each day. Build a Healthy Base Let the Pyramid guide your food

choices.

Choose a variety of grains daily, especially whole grains.

Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables daily.

Keep food safe to eat. Choose Sensibly

Choose a diet that is low in

saturated fat and cholesterol and moderate in total fat.

Choose beverages and foods to moderate your intake of sugars. Choose and prepare foods with less

salt.

If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation.

Support a Community Food System Choose a diet with plenty of foods

produced in your state and region. Choose a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables when they are available from local farmers.

Choose a variety of root vegetables during the winter and early spring. Choose a diet low in out-of-season

produce.

Choose a diet low in foods that are not produced in your state or region.

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What is a Season?

Usually we think of seasons as having very specific starting and ending dates. Looking at our calendars we can see that summer officially begins on the summer solstice, or on June 21st_{. The first day of fall is on} the autumnal equinox, or September 22nd_{. These dates are based on the} tilt of our planet in reference to the sun. Depending on how close or far our part of the earth is from the sun, we may have longer periods of sunlight or more intense sun exposure.

The changes in the Earth's position relative to the sun is important to what crops we can grow at various times through the year. In the Northeast, seasons greatly affect our crop production. Since varieties of fruits and vegetables have different growing seasons, it is difficult to specifically identify growing seasons. In general, growing seasons are based on when frosts occur. The primary growing season is the average length of the frost-free period between the last frost in the spring and the first frost in the fall. We may not notice when the first and last frosts occur in our area because they will occur when the temperature drops at night. The local weather bureau or Cooperative extension office keeps records of the frost dates.

The NERFG includes lists of seasonal vegetables available in the Northeast. In general, most of our produce grows well during the

summer season. This includes the more delicate fruits and vegetables. Depending on location in the Northeast, fall produce may be available from one to several months before very cold weather sets in. Winter produce consists of those hearty root crops harvested in the fall that can be stored for long periods of time. In milder sections of the Northeast, more tender vegetables may be available all winter. Several crops are also available from greenhouses, and there are always a wide variety of canned and frozen alternatives available during the Northeast winter. As winter ends, the temperature warms again. Since the Northeast region covers a large variation in climate conditions, the variety of produce available in the spring will vary greatly. One of the most helpful aspects of the Northeast Regional Food Guide is the list of seasonal produce available in the Northeast.

Saving for a Snowy Day

At first, it may seem logical to us that we simply cannot enjoy our Northeast summer fruits and vegetables in the middle of winter unless we purchase them from other parts of the country and world. However, we often consume foods that have been changed so that we can enjoy them long after they are harvested. It is difficult to compare the

efficiency of the various ways to store food. Each form has a trade-off. For particular foods one method may be preferred over another to preserve the most taste or nutrition.

Discovering the food system

An Experiential Learning Program

For Young and Inquiring Minds

Jennifer L. Wilkins, PhD., R.D., Senior Extension Associate,

Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University

Marcia Eames-Sheavly, M.S., Senior Extension Associate,

Department of Horticulture, Cornell University

An Experiential Learning Program

For Young and Inquiring Minds

Table of Contents

Discovering the Food System:

An Experiential Learning Program

For Young and Inquiring Minds

Funding and Acknowledgments

Overview

Goals and Objectives:

Organization of the Program

A Primer on Community Food Systems:

Linking Food, Nutrition and Agriculture

Section 1:

You and Your Food System Introduction

Lesson 1:

Food and You

(or “You (and your food system) are what you eat”)

A Regional Food Guide