Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 26, 2007|Volume 36, Number 8

Changing students’ food habits
and attitudes is focus of summit

Changing the way students eat, think and talk about food is the focus of “The Real Food Summit” to be held Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 3-4 at Yale.

Hosted by the Yale Sustainable Food Project (YSFP), the summit will bring together students from 50 colleges in the Northeast area to develop strategies to change education and operations related to food and agriculture on campuses across the region and, ultimately, the nation.

According to organizers of the event, Yale can serve as a model to other colleges. Since it was founded by students in 2001, YSFP has worked with University staff and administration to enact lasting changes in how food is purchased and served — and its importance valued. YSFP has introduced a sustainable dining program with a seasonal menu in all of Yale’s dining halls, established an organic campus farm, and initiated a number of programs with guest speakers, film screenings and educational presentations to raise awareness of the cultural, environmental, social and health implications of our eating habits.

The summit will include workshops, panel discussions and a collaborative art project. It will culminate in the ratification of a written declaration of principles and a call to action. Summit delegates will bring this declaration back to their college administrations, providing them with a list of specific goals.

The summit is open to all, but is geared to students working on projects centered on food on their campuses, from running college farms to finding organic, local food sources; and from safeguarding farm workers’ rights to supporting the fair trade of products.

The summit will also kick off the Real Food Challenge, a collaborative network that will serve as a resource to students seeking to change colleges’ food culture, providing them with educational information and an infrastructure for communication.

“The Real Food Summit” is being organized as a joint effort of students and staff at The Food Project in Boston, the Brown Sustainable Food Initiative and YSFP, in conjunction with a planning committee comprised of student leaders at Princeton University, New York University, Sarah Lawrence College, Boston University and Mount Holyoke College, and with support from the Small Planet Fund.

More information is available at www.yale.edu/sustainablefood/RealFoodSummit.html. Registration is closed for this event.

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