Food Justice As...
Illustrations in response to A scoping review of the conceptualizations of food justice by Sandra Murray, Fred Gale, David Adams, and Lisa Dalton. This article breaks down food justice into five themes.
I created this body of work during my residency with the Eliot School Fine & Applied Arts where I worked with a group of Teen Artists to facilitate conversations around food justice. We learned about and collaborated with organizations focusing on urban farming, food distribution, community cooking classes, and foods as acts of resistance, native crop preservation, and more to understand the time, love, labor, culture, and policy that goes into the food we consume. These engagements culminated in a series of illustrations that detail stories and processes about the food ecosystem in Boston.
Food Justice as Social Equity
The food system is symbiotically linked to public health. Yet, even when there's enough food in the world to feed everyone, there are a number of factors—climate change, inadequate food distribution, a surplus of low-nutrition/overly processed foods—that lead to undernourished communities. "Food justice Is emerging as a powerful mobilizing concept for driving social change to address food inequities from a more than human perspective—referring to the inseparability of human and natural interactions—but in theory and practice, it is a contested term.
Food Justice as Food (In)security
The article shares that the world "is at a critical juncture, as the state of global food insecurity—referring to the lack of access to sufficient and adequate food—increases after remaining virtually unchanged from 2014 to 2019" according to a 2021 report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Governments often use a needs-based response to food insecurity where a community-led, rights-based approach would achieve the United Nations FAO's vision of accessible and nutritious food that meets the needs, preferences, and convenience for people to lead healthy lives. Relying on the charitable food sector instead of a proper food systems redesign creates a "passive welfare ethos" where communities receive temporary care and don't have agency over their food needs.
Food Justice as System Transformation
Lisa Dalton. This article breaks down food justice into five themes, the third being Food System Transformation. Food system transformation is "the radical change needed in our food system to dramatically improve environmental, health, and livelihood outcomes." The article makes a call to action for food systems to recognize sustainability and agency as critical pillars to food security. Agency refers to people's capacity to express and make decisions about their food systems and sustainability supports citizens to choose what they eat, the food they produce, and the systems to produce and distribute those foods. Sustainability also supports people's and group's right to engage in food policy processes.
Food Justice as Community Participation and Agency
Food justice has become a powerful way to mobilize social change on the local and global scales. The article states that community participation in food systems helps directly address food insecurity and tackles the "underlying structural determinants of food inequities and engage[s] in discourses." Agency manifests through accessing food policy decision-making and governance, resisting and disrupting corporate food regimes, and empowering community-led, driven, and/or owned food solutions.
Food Justice as Environmental Sustainability
The article describes this final theme as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people concerning the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” It’s important that food systems use their resources responsibly and minimize harmful environmental impacts that lead to climate change and adverse effects to human and environmental health.