In April 2014, managing director Jon Garfunkel traveled to Austin, Texas to represent EduCulture at the 7th Annual National Farm to Cafeteria Conference. He was a presenter and facilitator for three conference sessions as a representative of EduCulture and our edible education partnership with Antioch University Seattle.
Jon gave a lightning talk called: Why are we doing this anyway? Grounding a Rationale for Edible Education in K-12 Schools. The presentation examined some of the major considerations informing edible education in K-12 schooling and explored the major “why’s” that help us, as educators, ground a solid, vibrant rationale for the many ways in which food plays a role in our schools: from the classroom, to the curriculum, to the lunch room.
Co-Presenters Megan Phinney, Jon Garfunkel, Melvin Giles and his peace bubbles.
EduCulture joined forces with a dynamic duo from the St. Paul, Minnesota area to facilitate a workshop called Creating a Welcoming and Inclusive Cafeteria Table: How We Talk About Diverse Food Choices, Values, and Systems and the Deep Issues Underlying Them. Community activist Melvin Giles and Master Gardener Megan Phinney created the Aurora/St. Anthony Peace Garden, which serves as a model for peace education through food in the St. Paul community. More than 70 conference attendees from across the U.S. spent an afternoon examining individual and institutional assumptions about food, explored diverse worldviews, and addressed issues of food sovereignty and edible democracy.
NFCC participants sharing their worldviews about food.
For the third session, Jon sat in for colleague Ed Mikel on a panel of edible education leaders from around the country for a workshop on Building a Field of Certified Edible Education Teachers. More than 60 participants discussed how to create a meaningful, formal accreditation system for edible education professional development in public schools, and addressed pathways to help legitimize edible education within the current cannon and culture of American public education.
Edible educators address ways to grow their professional field.