Sustainable Food – Page 2 – Sustainability & Environment @ OWU

Spring 2017 Internships through OWU at the Stratford Ecological Center

Stratford is offering an 8-hour-per-week internship (120 hours total) to Ohio Wesleyan students for Spring 2017. Upon completion of these hours, along with appropriate readings, research projects, and other academic components, students can receive class credit through Ohio Wesleyan.

Internships through OWU at the Stratford Ecological Center

Sustainable Agriculture- How can we raise meat, dairy, fiber and egg producing animals, agronomic and horticultural crops in line with natural cycles, while also producing enough to feed customers and support a business? Interact with goats, sheep, hogs, cattle, and chickens while also learning about crop rotations, farm equipment, and other skills.

Organic Gardening- Learn to start, plant, and raise a variety of fruit and vegetable crops in an organic fashion in the field, garden and greenhouse. Composting is an important skill!

Environmental Education– Assist in planning and running field trip programs for kindergarteners and first graders. Develop environmental curricula, educational tools, or adult education classes!

Maple Syrup Production (Agroforestry)- Interested in the way that maple syrup is extracted and made? How does this industry allow forests to be preserved, while also being utilized by humans? (Maple sap used to produce maple syrup only flows for about 6 weeks from February through March, so semester-long internships would require additional subjects, or extended agroforesty research).

Invasive Species Management- This 95 acre State Nature Preserve surrounding three sides of the farm at Stratford requires maintenance in the form of invasive species removal. Learn how to identify and remove these plants, and research their effects on Ohio ecosystems.

Apiculture– Shadow our beekeeper to learn about bees and their management, queen rearing, nook production, pollination services, and honey production. Bumblebees are the recommended focus of spring internships, due to the seasonality of bee activity.

Non-profit Management/ Marketing and Development- Learn about the business side of Stratford, including public relations, marketing, advertising, community connection, donor cultivation and management, and grant-writing.

These are just a sample of possible internship topics at Stratford. As an intern, we at Stratford will encourage you to find where our needs and your passions and interests intersect. We’d love to hear your ideas for research, experiential learning and new initiatives using the resources at Stratford!

Please contact Dr. Laurie Anderson at ljanders@owu.edu for permission to register. Students will receive one upper level course credit in the Botany/Microbiology department. The course will be graded satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Limit: 5 students – first come, first served. Students must arrange their own transportation to Stratford Ecological Center. See syllabus on the next page.

Stratford Ecological Center Internship

BOMI 495 – Spring 2017

Instructor for Spring 2017: Dr. Laurie Anderson (BOMI 495)

Course Objectives

Gain practical experience in organic and sustainable agriculture, environmental education, local ecology, local food issues, land management, non-profit management, and related areas.
Build critical thinking, research, and writing skills by pursuing and completing an independent project developed in collaboration with Stratford staff, and submitting a final report on this work.

General Information

Stratford Ecological Center is a 501(C)(3) that offers a working organic 236-acre education and research farm and nature preserve located on Liberty Rd., approximately 5 miles south from Ohio Wesleyan. Stratford offers a 120 hour (average 8 hours per week for 15 weeks) internship to Ohio Wesleyan students. Upon completion of these hours, along with appropriate readings and activities related to a project developed by the student in consultation with the Stratford staff and their faculty advisor at Ohio Wesleyan, students can receive class credit through Ohio Wesleyan. Stratford’s diverse programming and many natural environments allow for a range of subjects for the internship including apiculture, organic gardening, sustainable agriculture, invasive species management, agroforestry and maple syrup production, environmental education, and non-profit management. Projects may explore multiple topics as long as there is a central area of focus.

Students who successfully complete the internship will receive an upper level credit towards graduation and/or their major, but do not receive a letter grade. A grade of S (Satisfactory) or U (Unsatisfactory – no credit received) will be awarded.

Details and Requirements

Students are expected to work at Stratford for an average of 8 hours per week for 15 weeks, although weekly deviations up or down from this standard may be required for a particular internship, given the demands of a student’s specific project.
Students must submit journal entries biweekly to Blackboard, i.e., on the Friday of weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 of the semester. These should include reports of your activities, updates on progress, next steps planned, and reflections on what has been learned to date.
At minimum, each journal entry should be about two typed, double-spaced pages.
Journals should be submitted biweekly, even if you had reduced hours at Stratford during that period. Just submit a statement that explains the situation, and describe plans for the upcoming time period.
Journal entries must be submitted on time. Failure to submit two journal entries results in no internship credit.
Each student must have at least one mid-semester meeting with their faculty advisor to discuss progress to date. This must be done during weeks 7-9 of the semester. You or your faculty advisor may request additional meetings, as needed.
Final Report. This is a final paper describing the student’s project and its findings or outcomes. Each report should be 8-10 double-spaced, typed pages in length, include a background section with references to appropriate sources and an attached bibliography, a description of project goals or hypotheses (if the project is an experiment), a description of activities or methods, and a discussion of project findings or outcomes. The final draft is due no later than the last final exam of the semester. A copy of the Final Report must be submitted to Stratford Ecological Center as well.

OWU Food Minor & Association for the Study of Food & Society

The September 2016 Newsletter of the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS) includes information about OWU’s new Food Minor. It is worth taking a look at the newsletter and also the ASFS organization to get a sense of the breadth of ideas and topics within the emerging field of food studies / food and society.

Dr. Chris Fink passed along a link to the September 2016 Newsletter of the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS) which includes information about OWU’s new Food Minor (detailed in an earlier post).

It is worth taking a look at the newsletter and also the ASFS organization to get a sense of the breadth of ideas and topics within the emerging field of food studies / food and society.

For more information about OWU’s new Food Minor please contact Dr. Fink or Dr. Anderson.

OWU Food Minor Approved for Fall of 2016

Ohio Wesleyan Faculty approved a minor in Food Studies beginning the fall of 2016. The minor is being facilitated by the Health and Human Kinetics Department and Environmental Studies Program.

Ohio Wesleyan Faculty approved a minor in Food Studies beginning the fall of 2016. The minor is being facilitated by the Health and Human Kinetics Department and Environmental Studies Program. We are calling the new minor a Mentored Minor as the program has a significant amount of engaged work (at least two semesters of internships or independent study)

Details about the Food minor are in the 2016-2017 OWU Catalog, and are listed below. Please contact Dr. Christopher Fink, Dr. Laurie Anderson, or Dr. John Krygier for more information.

Food Studies Mentored Minor

The Food Studies mentored minor is overseen collaboratively by the OWU Department of Health & Human Kinetics and the Environmental Studies Program, and views food from a multidisciplinary perspective. We recognize the importance of food as biological fuel, as a natural resource with problems of abundance and scarcity, as a focus of celebration, as a human obsession, as a cultural expression, as a multi-billion dollar industry, and as an interaction with the global environment through agriculture and waste disposal. By studying food across a range of disciplines, students in this minor will improve their ability to investigate, debate, and solve some of the most important problems affecting the human condition in the 21st century, including food scarcity, malnutrition, obesity, preserving cultural heritage in a global society, and feeding people in a world of 7 billion and more.

Requirements

To complete the mentored minor, a student must:

Identify an owu faculty member associated with the Food Studies minor to serve as their mentor
Create A proposal, in collaboration with their mentor, to the food studies faculty contacts, outlining courses and projects that fit with their specific interests in food.
Complete 5.5 units of coursework, consisting of:
- 3 units of courses selected from the list below, 1 unit from each of 3 different departments.
- The 0.5 unit interdisciplinary Food Seminar (after completion of at least 1 full unit food course)
- 2 project-based units (Independent Study, Directed Readings, Internship).

Courses

The following are the courses that can be used for the 3 non-seminar and non-project courses required in the minor. As a reminder, students must take the 0.5 unit Interdisciplinary Food Seminar (INT 300.6 – Interdisciplinary Food Seminar), and select three other courses, representing three different departments. They must complete at least 1 full unit of coursework from this list before enrolling in the Food Seminar. The Food Seminar will be offered in alternating years.

BIOL 122 – Organisms and their Environment (Anderson, Downing, Hankison, Johnson, Kelly, Reichard)
BOMI 103 – Biology of Cultivated Plants (Murray)
BOMI 106 – Enology (summer only) (Goldstein)
BOMI 107 – Food (summer only) (Wolverton)
BOMI 233 – Ecology and the Human Future (Anderson)
CMLT 110 – Myth, Legend, and Folklore of the European Continent (Merkel)
ENG 145 – Reading: The Global Kitchen (Comorau)
GEOG 499 – Sustainability Practicum (Krygier)
HHK 114 – Personal Health (Fink, Busch)
HHK 270 – Sport and Exercise Nutrition (Fink, Staff)
HHK 347 – Special Topics in HHK: A Qualitative Inquiry (Fink)
HHK 300.8 (0.5 unit) – Health Program Planning (Fink) and HHK 300.9 (0.5 unit) – Health Education Instructional Methods (Fink)
PHIL 250 – Environmental Ethics (Stone-Mediatore)
PSYC 262 – Health Psychology (DiLillo)
SOAN 111 – Cultural Anthropology (Howard, Peoples)
SOAN 347 – Health, Illness, Disability and Dying (Howard)
SOAN 367 – Human Ecology (Peoples)
ZOOL 101 – Human Biology (Kelly)
ZOOL 325 – Human Physiology (Kelly)
ZOOL 335 – Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology (Kelly)

Mentors

A current list of mentors can be obtained from the faculty contacts for this minor, Dr. Laurie Anderson (Botany/Microbiology), and Dr. Christopher Fink (Health & Human Kinetics). Faculty mentors will oversee the development of proposals from students, and may also serve as the faculty supervisors of independent studies, directed readings, or apprenticeships.

Food Studies Mentored Minor Faculty Contacts

Dr. Christopher fink (Health & Human kinetics) and Dr. Laurie Anderson (Botany/Microbiology)

Farm / Food / Environmental / Sustainability Internships at Stratford and Methodist Theological School of Ohio

Ohio Wesleyan is offering several internships at two locations for the Fall 2016 semester. Opportunities are at the Stratford Ecological Center and the Seminary Hill Farm, part of the Methodist Theological School. Both are just south of OWU’s campus.

Opportunities at the Stratford Ecological Center are detailed in the flyer below (click for PDF).

Opportunities at the Seminary Hill Farm, part of the Methodist Theological School of Ohio are detailed in the flyer below (click for PDF).

The internships can count towards your Environmental Studies independent study requirement (for ES majors). They will also count towards the proposed Food Minor (to be voted on by faculty later this month). Yes we have transportation options for carless interns. Yes I will accept a bushel of rutabagas you grow as part of the internship.

OWU Environmental Studies & Sustainability Progress, Spring 2016

A summary of established and ongoing efforts during 2015-16 in environment and sustainability by Ohio Wesleyan students, staff and faculty as well as off campus collaborators.

*Stitched together drone images of central Bahia Ballena-Uvita, Costa Rica. Environmental Studies / Geography Travel Learning Course, Fall 2015.*

Environmental Studies & Sustainability Progress, Spring 2016

March 7, 2016

A summary of established and ongoing efforts in environment and sustainability by Ohio Wesleyan students, staff and faculty as well as off campus collaborators. All the projects below are active during the 2015-16 academic year.

OWU Sustainability Plan: Drafted in the spring of 2015 and currently under revision, a comprehensive overview of OWU’s environmental and sustainability efforts with goals for future efforts.

May Move Out: A student initiated project in collaboration with Goodwill, to defer usable materials from the trash as students move off campus in May. 9.5 tons of donations collected in the spring of 2015. One year grant funding offset costs for the 2015 May Move Out. Efficiencies initiated by Buildings & Grounds have made the 2016 May Move Out possible without the grant and without additional expenditures over last year’s budget for dumpsters alone. Ohio Wesleyan’s May Move Out program was awarded the 2015 Recycling Award from the Keep Delaware County Beautiful Coalition.

Reusable Food Containers in Hamilton Williams Campus Center: A student project initiated in the fall of 2015 has met with success and is being expanded during the spring of 2016. A new dishwasher was installed in HWCC over the summer, making reusable containers an option. Limitations of OWU’s aging ID Card system and cash registers limit further expansion of the program.

Environmental Studies Mentored Minors: A Food Studies Minor (developed from the Food Course Connection) has been officially proposed to APC (as a collaboration between Health and Human Kinetics [HHK] and Environmental Studies). Two more minors, Sustainability and Climate Science are being developed.

Farm and Food Collaboration: Building on the Food Studies Minor and student interest in gardens, farming and food, OWU faculty in Environmental Studies and HHK are developing a collaboration between Stratford Ecological Center farms and the Methodist School of Ohio farms. Initial efforts will focus on student internships and engagement of OWU in a regional food network. With financial support for staff (donations or grants) campus gardens will be developed. Efforts will focus on the practice of ecologically sound farming, food production, regional food networks and social outreach (building on the existing Cooking Matters Program, organized by Dr. Chris Fink) to engage students and community members in growing food.

Environmental and Sustainability Internships: 10 internships at Stratford Ecological Center and the City of Delaware, spring 2016. Focused on environmental education, marketing, farming, and sustainability.

Amy Work (OWU '06) and Olivia Lease (OWU '17) working with drone imagery, Bahia Uviata, Costa Rica, January '16 — *Amy Work (OWU ’06) and Olivia Lease (OWU ’17) working with drone imagery, Bahia Ballena-Uvita, Costa Rica, January ’16.*

Global Environmental Change Collaboration & Travel Learning Course: OWU collaboration with Amy Work (OWU 2004) and her organization GeoPorter in Bahia Ballena-Uvita, Costa Rica. Learning and using environmental assessment methods in Delaware, Ohio (Fall 2015) and during a travel learning course trip (Geography 347) to coastal Costa Rica (January 2016). Goal: to understand how local environmental data is collected and relates to regional and global climate and environmental change.

*Proposed locations for chimney swift towers, near Stuyvesant Hall on the OWU campus.*

Chimney Swift Towers: A collaboration between students and OWU Alumni Dick Tuttle (OWU 1973) to build a chimney swift tower on the residential side of campus. Plans have been drawn up and a budget is being developed by a contractor. Funds will be provided by Tuttle. We anticipate construction this summer pending approval from B&G and OWU’s Administration.

Bird feeders near the Schimmel Conrades Science Center on the OWU campus.

Campus Wildlife Habitat Enhancements: Student efforts to install and maintain bird houses, feeders and solitary bee houses on campus.

The Place of Waste: Exploring Asian and Western Perspectives on Waste, Sustainability & Environment. Sagan National Colloquium & Luce Initiative on Asian Studies and the Environment. Funding received from the Luce Foundation and OWU’s Sagan National Colloquium by faculty in East Asian Studies and Environmental Studies to explore the idea of waste in cross cultural context. Funding for a Fall 2015 Symposium and Summer 2015 and 2016 travel to Asia. Next round of funding (up to $400k) to be submitted summer of 2016.

Green Week 2016: Building on a successful water-focused week of events in 2015, students are organizing another week of events for the spring of 2016 (the week prior to Earth Day).

Meek Retention Pond Native Species Planting: A collaboration between students and Friends of the Lower Olentangy Arboretum (FLOW) who have provided funds for the purchase of native plants, shrubs and trees to be planted adjacent to the Meek Aquatic Center retention pond.

Delaware Run Assessment and Restoration: Ongoing student research focused on restoring Delaware Run between Sandusky St. and Henry St. Emerging collaboration with stream restoration specialists who propose restoration of the stream and adjacent riparian zone in return for state of Ohio stream credits. Ongoing hydrogeological assessment, Spring 2016.

“Salamander Swamp” Restoration and Research: Student-driven efforts to rehabilitate a campus wetland (behind the tennis courts on Henry St.). Initial research has focused on environmental assessment of the impact of invasive species in the wetlands area.

Bottled Water Sales Reduction: Student-led efforts to drive down bottled water purchases on campus, including the installation of hydration stations and promotion of reusable water bottles. Chartwells reports declining campus sales for bottled water.

Food Recovery Network: Student-initiated effort to donate unused campus food to lower-income Delaware residents through a clinic nearby campus.

Tossing The Trash Habit

Imagine if you will: a world without garbage. No landfills, no dumps, and no garbage trucks driving down the street once a week to pick up bags and bags of trash. It’s a nearly impossible world to imagine, but for the past 3.5 weeks, I have tried to do my part to get a little closer to that world.

by Reilly Reynolds (OWU ’16)

Imagine if you will: a world without garbage. No landfills, no dumps, and no garbage trucks driving down the street once a week to pick up bags and bags of trash. It’s a nearly impossible world to imagine, but for the past 3.5 weeks, I have tried to do my part to get a little closer to that world. I delved into the lifestyle modernly known as “zero waste”…or at least I attempted.

I made a plan all those weeks ago to take the steps necessary to reduce my garbage footprint. I made a list of what I would do to toss my trash habit. I would:

Collect all the trash I did make in a mason jar so I could evaluate what I used the most of.
Carry reusable items with me everywhere.
Create DIY products to replace some of my more waste intensive/ less planet friendly products.
Reduce my consumption of packaged/processed foods.

The first day of my new lifestyle, I bought a hot chocolate without thinking about the reusable mug I had with me. I gained a paper cup to throw in my mason jar. The second day, I realized that every time my school dining hall charges for a meal, an automatic, unrecyclable receipt prints

We live in a trashy world. As such, I had to get creative. I started saving my receipts, and I crafted a to-do list note pad. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s a start. At least those tiny slips of glossy paper will have one more purpose before the landfill gets them.

My goal was to have only accumulated one mason jar of trash by the time the month was up. With three days of the month left, I have filled two jars.

Examining the contents, I see:

2 paper coffee cups
6 single-serving chip bag wrappers
3 granola bar wrappers
And various kinds packaging from food, clothing, and assorted day-to-day items

I consider the month a success. I didn’t hit my goal, but I did learn a lot about my consumption patterns, and I made decisions I wouldn’t ordinarily make. I started refusing straws at restaurants, carrying my own take-out containers with me, and sending an email to my school’s dining services director to see if there’s anything we can do about those blasted receipts.

I followed my plan pretty closely. I carried my thermos, travel mug, water bottle, cloth napkin, and silverware with me everywhere, and though it frustrated some baristas and servers, others accepted (and even praised!) my sustainable choices.

My processed food consumption could be improved. Chips are my downfall, but I suppose I will just have to learn to make my own. After all, it turns out I’m okay at making my own things. I crafted natural hair mousse, laundry detergent, a foot scrub, and body moisturizer this month! Once I run out of my current shampoo and conditioner, I’ll try my hand at those too.

Will I continue my zero-waste trend? That’s the plan. We’ll see if I can meet my mason jar goal next month.

For me, being zero-waste has become more than a new way of life. It’s also a mission, a challenge. It’s a way to start recognizing the patterns of consumption that we all take for granted every day. It’s a way to make change, and encourage others to ask questions.

Perhaps most importantly, trash stinks for the Earth, and we’re running out of places to put it. So rather than finding a new landfill spot, I propose that we cut our consumption.

Let’s take a hard look at what we buy, why we buy it, and how we can buy it more sustainably. Let’s vote with our wallets.

Let’s write letters to corporate executives and ask for less (or at least more Earth friendly) packaging. Let’s make change, because we can.

In fact, it would be a waste not to.

Perhaps most importantly, trash stinks for the Earth, and we’re running out of places to put it. So rather than finding a new landfill spot, I propose that we cut our consumption.

Let’s take a hard look at what we buy, why we buy it, and how we can buy it more sustainably. Let’s vote with our wallets. Let’s write letters to corporate executives and ask for less (or at least more Earth friendly) packaging. Let’s make change, because we can.

In fact, it would be a waste not to.

OWU Theory into Practice: Research on Olives & Sustainability in Morocco

Michael Durfee, an Environmental Studies and Medieval Studies dual major, was awarded an OWU Theory into Practice grant to travel to Morocco during the summer of 2015 to study sustainability and olive agriculture.

Michael Durfee, an Environmental Studies and Medieval Studies dual major, was awarded an OWU Theory into Practice grant to travel to Morocco during the summer of 2015 to study sustainability and olive agriculture.

Olives and Sustainability: A Traditional Setting in Marrakech, Morocco

Objective:

Behind this project lies the theory that traditional ecological and agricultural knowledge and practices are naturally more sustainable and beneficial for the environment and human health. Traditional societies, if we listen, can offer the Western world ways to combat issues with the environment and sustainability. The olive tree and its fruit are hardy and versatile, and Morocco is a place that requires it. The benefits of using olives and their products are endless. Marrakech has been growing olives for hundreds of years and is of great importance in the diet, agriculture and economy of the people. I will investigate the sustainable aspects of the olive and the production and sale of food and trades material as done in a traditional society.

Description:

As negative environmental consequences of human activity become alarmingly evident, sustainable alternatives to current practices grow in importance. Sustainable alternatives are found in traditional communities around the globe. These communities have ingenious approaches to living sustainably, having adapted their strategies to work well with the environment, not against it.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is the collectively owned and shared knowledge of people whose everyday lives depend on and/or support good land stewardship and species and environmental conservation. These people understand firsthand that biodiversity and environmental health are synonymous with human health. TEK can be found in proverbs, folklore, language, local trades, agricultural practices and conservation, dietary choices, commercial purchases and general mindset.

In order to understand the role of TEK in modern sustainability efforts, I will investigate the olive in Morocco. I will explore the practices of olive growing, processing and marketing within their environmental and sustainability context. Morocco’s High Atlas region and the ancient city of Marrakech is a prime region for olive production. My intentions in Marrakech are to trace the environmental impacts of olives and other produce growing, processing, transport to market, and consumption. To document the “farm-to-table” process in a more traditional society, I will visit several urban markets, bazaars and local restaurants in the city and as many olive groves and olive oil mills as possible.

Image: Fresh food markets in the Medina

As traditional knowledge is found throughout a society, I will supplement my focus by investigating local trades like smithies, tanneries, carpet makers, vineyards, and bakeries. I will get my hands dirty volunteering at these places. During two separate two-week periods, I will put theory into practice by living and volunteering at farms, immersing myself in the world of the olive. The first period I will participate in WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) at an organic farm near northern Morocco. My stay there is confirmed with the owner. I will determine my second volunteering experience while in Morocco (as the most traditional places have no internet presence) based on contacts I have made in Morocco.

Image: Landsat Satellite Image of Agricultural Areas Surrounding Marrakech, Morocco.

TEK can be found in the Developed World. We find it in Delaware County in small businesses like the Delaware Community Market, Stratford Ecological Center and the Glass Rooster Cannery. Their sustainable methods and are in many ways a reinvention of traditional practices. I plan to compare my experiences in Morocco with practices in central Ohio in order to gain a better understanding of both locations while providing insights into how to better integrate traditional practices in a modern, Western setting.

“The Real Utopias of Argentina” Visiting Worker Cooperatives and Sustainable Farms on an OWU Travel Learning Course

Poverty, Equity, Social Justice Course Connect Spring Lecture

“The Real Utopias of Argentina” Visiting Worker Cooperatives and Sustainable Farms on a Travel Learning Course.

Paul S. Dean, Assistant Professor of Sociology / Anthropology. Wednesday, March 18 at noon, Corns 312

Poverty, Equity, Social Justice Course Connect Spring Lecture

“The Real Utopias of Argentina” Visiting Worker Cooperatives and Sustainable Farms on a Travel Learning Course.

Paul S. Dean, Assistant Professor of Sociology / Anthropology. Wednesday, March 18 at noon, Corns 312

The purpose of PESJ is sharing information, analysis about the impact of poverty, (in)equity & social justice, locally, nationally & globally. A sense of what social remedies and activism may reduce these disparities. Free and open to the public. OWU Sponsoring Organization/Office: PESJ Course Connection. Contact: Pam Laucher at jcdurst@owu.edu.

Ohio Wesleyan’s Community Garden

The Ohio Wesleyan Community Garden is a student initiated project, run by OWU students, faculty and Chartwells (campus dining services).

We are always in need for volunteers and “taste testers.” Please come visit us! We are located behind the old observatory.

More information and many pictures can be found at:

OWU Community Garden @ Facebook
OWU Community Garden @ WordPress

This season’s plantings with additional fascinating details can be found at What’s In the Garden.

Contact: Susannah Waxman: sewaxman@owu.edu

Cooking Matters @ OWU’s Human Health & Kinetics

A team of OWU students, trained as nutrition and/or culinary educators, teach a course for adults in the city of Delaware who are at risk for food insecurity. The participants enroll in a 6-week course led by the students, highlighting nutritional, budgeting/shopping, and food preparation tips and tricks: all to help participants find ways to more effectively feed their family healthful meals on a budget.

Dr. Chris Fink, in the Department of Health and Human Kinetics (HHK), heads up the Cooking Matters program at Ohio Wesleyan.

A team of OWU students, trained as nutrition and/or culinary educators, teach a course for adults in the city of Delaware who are at risk for food insecurity. The participants enroll in a 6-week course led by the students, highlighting nutritional, budgeting/shopping, and food preparation tips and tricks: all to help participants find ways to more effectively feed their family healthful meals on a budget.

Images are from the first Cooking Matters class, held on October 21, 2014.

Cooking Matters is also a hunger easement program, as participants receive a bag of groceries to re-create each week’s recipes at home, for their families. Inherently, this program addresses food waste as well, with a focus on how to re-use ingredients in various meals.

Cooking Matters arose out of the Department of Health and Human Kinetics relationship with Local Matters in Columbus, a direct partner of Share Our Strength, a national non-profit who developed the Cooking Matters curriculum. Ohio Wesleyan is now a satellite partner of this program, required to report outcomes, participation, etc. back to Share Our Strength.

As a health promotion program, Cooking Matters works perfectly in the HHK curriculum, as it allows participation in program planning and program delivery, as well as assessment, and to address one of the larger health issues in the Delaware community at the same time.

Contact Dr. Fink in the Department of Health and Human Kinetics for more information.