Tag Archive | Food Justice Class

Food Justice class: Mapping the Food System

The Southeast Area Farmers’ Market is one of the healthier locations on GR’s southeast side food map! Saturdays 11 a.m. to 4p.m. at MLK Jr. Park.

Mapping the Food System
Monday July 10, 6—8 p.m.
Baxter Community Center
935 Baxter SE 49506
(entrance on Bemis)
Sponsored by OKT &
Baxter Community Center

Whether you are a parent, grandparent or live alone, if you want to discover better ways to stretch your food dollar and improve your diet, this workshop is for you. Join OKT and Baxter Community Center as we work together to create food maps for our neighborhoods. What is a food map? It is a map listing all the options for accessing food where you live. After identifying these locations, we will talk about (1) the nutritional quality of the food available and (2) how we can get more nutrients into our diets using the resources that we have: food assistance dollars, gardens, foraging, pantries, farmers’ markets, buying clubs and retail establishments.

We’ll also talk about food justice, food security, food apartheid and food literacy! In OKT also welcomes those who work on issues of hunger, under-nutrition and food justice to join this important conversation.

Food Justice Primer April 17

Apr14

April 17, 6—8 p.m. at Garfield Park Lodge, 334 Burton St SE 49507

The idea of eating healthier foods in many ways has become mainstream. However, for people experiencing income challenges or living in neighborhoods of color, access to these healthier foods is not a reality. A true food apartheid exists in our community—and that’s where the work of food justice begins.

This food justice class will define what food justice is, explore the roots of the industrial food system and investigate the many facets of food justice. If you want to know more about food justice—or become involved in it yourself—please join us for this free, brief introduction to food justice. OKT will conclude the informal dialogue with group input on how we can practice food justice locally.

April Events

Apr4

View the entire OKT 2017 Community Calendar here.

Flyer April 2017

OKT hosts GVSU student group for day of service and learning at Baxter Community Center

Jan26

On Saturday Jan. 21, Our Kitchen Table hosted a group of 17 Grand Valley State University (GVSU) students for a Food Justice class and service opportunity at Baxter Community Center. GVSU’s MLK Jr. Day of Service and Solidarity has the goal of educating students about the Civil Rights movement and inspiring them to serve their communities in the spirit of social change. In addition, students have opportunity to experience solidarity through service projects.

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During a two-hour Food Justice class, students learned what food justice is, the history of the industrial food system and actions they can take to play a part in the bigger food justice movement.

After a tour of Baxter’s food and clothing pantry, kitchens, medical and dental clinics, greenhouse and childcare center, the students divided into small groups to take on various tasks around Baxter Community Center. They picked up trash on the property, cleaned out the greenhouse, organized the food pantry and and tidied up the kitchen.

OKT was happy Baxter came on board to offer a service portion as part of the day’s activities. Hopefully, some or all of these students will go on to be champions of food justice where they live and work.

The MLK Jr. Day of Service and Solidarity is one event in a week-long commemoration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Food Justice Primer tonight!

Jul11

Food Justice Primer
Monday July 11 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Garfield Park Lodge
334 Burton St. SE 49507

For the better part of a decade, people in West Michigan have been excited about and explored the importance of eating local and eating organic. The idea of eating healthier foods in many ways has become mainstream. However, for people experiencing income challenges or living in neighborhoods of color, access to these healthier foods is not a reality. A true food apartheid exists in our community—and that’s where the work of food justice begins.

If you want to know more about that work—or become involved in it yourself—please join us for this free, brief introduction to food justice. OKT will facilitate an informal dialogue on the principles of food justice with group input on how we can practice it locally.

Join OKT for a Food Justice Dialogue Monday

Apr15

Food Justice Primer
6 – 8 p.m. Monday April 18
Garfield Park Lodge
334 Burton St. SE 49507

Though many know Our Kitchen Table as an organization that helps people grow food, our goal is environmental justice and, hence, food justice. On Monday, our Food Justice Primer will introduce food justice concepts, share how our current food system came to be and present opportunities to dialogue about ways we can build healthy alternatives. Yes, you can expect a PowerPoint and handouts, but the most important part of the class is you. Only as we dialogue together about food justice issues can we build a movement and create change. So, even if you’ve attended OKT’s food justice classes in the past, we hope you will join us again. Please come and share your thoughts, ideas, challenges, work and dreams for creating equitable access to healthy food in every neighborhood and demographic in the greater Grand Rapids area!

OKT staff member, Stelle Slootmaker, is facilitating this dialogue that will be based on

Defining food justice and food sovereignty.
How the current food system came to be and the injustices it promotes (food apartheid, exploitation of workers and animals, environmental destruction, nutrient-poor foods, et al.)
What can we do here in Grand Rapids.

Spring into Activism: OKT April Events

Apr11

Activist, farmer, mother and MSU PhD candidate, Shakara Taylor will lead “Diagramming Your Food System” on April 25.

APRIL 18 6 – 8 p.m.
Food Justice Primer
OKT’s Stelle Slootmaker will facilitate an introductory dialogue on Food Justice at Garfield Park Lodge. Even if you’ve been to OKT Food Justice classes in the past, we hope you will stop by to share your thoughts and how you are working for food justice locally. At the conclusion of the dialogue, you are invited to stick around for a yoga nidra relaxation exercise. (Bring a blanket to lay on if you wish to practice this lying down.)

APRIL 22 6 to 7:30 p.m. Earth Day Spring Tree Tour

Laura Casaletto will take you on a foraging adventure in Garfield Park that teaches you to identify edible trees and shares information on other edibles growing in our neighborhoods. After the 30-minute walking tour, come to the lodge for snacks and dialogue on other neighborhood edibles. The Earth Day Spring Tree Tour remains one of OKT’s most “poplar” events.

APRIL 25 6 – 8 p.m. Diagramming Your Food System wsg Shakara Taylor

Learn to identify how the industrial food system functions in your neighborhood and, despite its limitations, figure out ways to build a healthier food portfolio for your families and community. A mother, returning generation farmer, educator, activist-scholar and PhD student at Michigan State University Department of Community Sustainability, Shakara explores decolonial pedagogies in the food justice and food sovereignty movements within the communal praxis of black agrarianism.

Food justice series continues Dec. 12 & 19

Dec8

A dozen or so community members have come out for the first two sessions of OKT’s food justice series, The Food Justice Movement: Moving Forward. The group, which includes OKT constituents, people from the Grand Rapids Food Co-op Initiative, Access of West Michigan and Calvin College has enjoyed great conversations. We are excited to see these folks delving into the issues of food justice and looking for ways to incorporate it into their work and lives.

Please join us for weeks three and four of this free series, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday Dec. 12 and 19 at Garfield Park Lodge, 334 Burton St. SE 49507. The first two sessions covered food justice definitions and how the current food system came to be. Session three will address, Why food justice is about overcoming racism, sexism consumerism and other “-isms.” Session four’s dialogue will encompass What the Food Justice Movement is doing to create a better world and defining our part in it, here in Grand Rapids.

Reading material for the class will include the book Our Food, Our Right and the OKT Food Justice Series. You can view the PowerPoints and handouts from sessions one and two on OKT’s website. Please email OKTable1@gmail.com to let us know you are coming!

Food Justice class meets Saturday

Nov19

tomato justice Please join OKT for week 2 of its free, four-session class series that explores what is food justice is, why we need it and what we can do in Grand Rapids to make it happen. The class, “The Food Justice Movement: Moving Forward,” will meet 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturdays Nov. 21, Dec. 12 and Dec. 19 at Garfield Park Lodge, 334 Burton St. SE 49507.

OKT staff member, Stelle Slootmaker, is facilitating this dialogue that covers:

Defining food justice and food sovereignty–what does it all mean?
How the current food system came to be and the injustices it promotes (food apartheid, exploitation of workers and animals, environmental destruction, nutrient-poor foods, et al.)
Why food justice is about overcoming racism, sexism consumerism and
other “-isms.”
What the Food Justice Movement is doing to create a better world and defining our part in it, here in Grand Rapids.

Reading material for the class will include the book Our Food, Our Right and the OKT Food Justice Series.

You can view the PowerPoint from class 1 here:

1 The Food Justice Movement Moving Forward

You can download the handout here. Handout 1 Food Justice

Please email OKTable1@gmail.com to let us know you are coming!

Food Justice class starts Saturday

Nov12

What, exactly, is food justice?

For a complete answer, join OKT for its free, four-session class series that explores what is food justice is, why we need it and what we can do in Grand Rapids to make it happen. The class, “The Food Justice Movement: Moving Forward,” meets 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturdays Nov. 14, Nov. 21, Dec. 12 and Dec. 19 at Garfield Park Lodge, 334 Burton St. SE 49507.

OKT staff member, Stelle Slootmaker, is facilitating this dialogue that covers:

Defining food justice and food sovereignty–what does it all mean?
How the current food system came to be and the injustices it promotes (food apartheid, exploitation of workers and animals, environmental destruction, nutrient-poor foods, et al.)
Why food justice is about overcoming racism, sexism consumerism and
other “-isms.”
What the Food Justice Movement is doing to create a better world and defining our part in it, here in Grand Rapids.

Reading material for the class will include the book Our Food, Our Right and the OKT Food Justice Series. Stelle’s experience includes eight years teaching a nutrition-based childbirth method, 20 years writing about nutrition and alternative health, four years as an adjunct faculty member at Aquinas College and 10 years actively working for social justice, including seven years with OKT.