City in a Garden: Producing and Consuming Food in the New Millenium

Abstract

We argue that food production and consumption is a rich area of study in the undergraduate general education curricula and one whose potential should be more fully explored. Given the array of human activities encompassed by food practices and students' (often unexamined) participation in these processes, this area of study lends itself to two vital components of undergraduate education: (1) developing critical literacy -learning to read and write in order to become conscious of one's experience as constructed within specific power structures; (2) education for sustainability-exploring how we can meet our current needs without compromising the well-being of future generations. We will discuss our work at a community college in Chicago's western suburbs, using food and agriculture in an interdisciplinary program (Biology and English) as a basis for engaging students in critical inquiry about human society, culture and relationships to the environment. The interdisciplinary approach is particularly useful for developing a holistic reality. The class moves from an exploration of personal practice towards food issues on a national and global level, using scientific and literary texts. Providing our students with a basis for critical awareness of their role as food consumers is particularly vital given that they reside in urban sprawl overlaid on the richest farmland in the world. They fully inhabit the "24/7" society, take food abundance and availability for granted and rely heavily on fast food. We hope to lay the foundation for students to develop an intentional, informed praxis in food choices.