Category Archives: Food and culture

Week 5: Research Proposal

Food and culture, Food Processing, Food security, LFS 350

Welcome to our 5th blog post!

Last week we received feedbacks of our written proposal and we got a satisfactory grade, which is encouraging since we had put a lot of effort into it. The feedbacks from Bryanna are very helpful. Here is a brief explanation of our research proposal: our original research question was how the Food Choice Kitchens canning workshops contribute to the improvement of food security in the aspects of food affordability and food safety in the Strathcona community? Today our group had a teleconference with our community contacts Diane and Shona to talk about and clarify our research proposal. However, after our talk with our community partner, we decide to modify our research question since the Fresh Choice Kitchens does not work directly with the general public; instead, they work with trainers who would deliver canning workshops to the general public over the British Columbia. Our new research question would be focusing on the need of “training the trainer” and how it relates to food literacy. Since we just had the conversation later this afternoon, we still need time to work on the research question as a group. Our research method will include literature review and discussions with a focus group. The method of literature review will produce reliable scientific information on canning processes for the canning manual. Second research method is conducting focus group interviews with trainers and possibly environmental health officers organized by our community partner to ensure the clarity and understandability of the added sections of the canning manual. So we could make adjustments to the new section based on their responses. By the end of this project, we hope to produce user-friendly material about the safety and science of canning that provides necessary safe home-canning information to the trainers of the canning workshops and increases the awareness of food literacy. Our research action plan is clearly stated in our written proposal, specific to completion date and work distribution. As Bryanna recommended, we would make our plenary presentation interesting and creative.

For the coming week: our group members are working efficiently on the frequently asked questions provided by our community partner by conducting background literature research, hopefully we would be able to complete the section by this Wednesday and start working on the new chapter of the canning manual. For our added section of the canning manual, we decide to focus on the science behind first two chapters of the original manual as suggested by our community partner and make sure the scientific information is clearly explained. Meanwhile, our group will also be putting effort on formulating our final research question and designing potential focus group questions. Today our group briefly talked about potential focus group questions including: 1) Did the trainers think the workshop and the manual is useful? Did the additional information on the manual increase their knowledge on food safety? 2) Which part of BC are the trainers from? Where will they hold their workshops? 3) Will the trainees from their workshops be able to apply the knowledge they gained from the workshop at home, i.e. do they can at home after attending the workshop? What do the trainers expect the trainees to take out from the workshops? 4) How many workshops do the trainers usually hold throughout the year? What is the average size of the workshop? What are the most popular workshops? 5) Why do the trainers hold these workshops? Why do the trainees attend the workshops? 6) What are the usual sources of the foods to be canned?  Are they from supermarkets, local farms, by donation, or self-grown? We will meet again on next Tuesday to talk about our project and keep each other updated. See you all next week!

Week 4: Proposal Presentation and Review

Food accessibility, Food and culture, Food Processing, Food security

This past week our group mainly focused on putting together both our proposal presentation and written proposal. We got answers to quite a few questions with regards to the proposal, with the most important one being clarification of what exactly our research question was going to be and what was expected. In the end, as a group we decided that in addition to updating the canning manual as requested by the GVFBS that we were also going to research about whether being taught how to can food would actually have any overall impact on a person’s food security with a focus on affordability. It became clear through group discussions that although teaching people how to properly and safely can at home is half the battle, having access to the required equipment for low-income individuals is just as important, if not more important. We felt that it was essential to look further into the effect canning would have on individual food security to get a richer understanding of food education/literacy and its relation to food security. As a result of this research question, we decided that while conducting a focus group on the usability of the additional FAQ and science sections of the canning manual, that we were also going to ask some questions about food security and its relation to people’s canning knowledge. One possible solution to this barrier that was proposed by our group was having sets of canning equipment at the GVFBS food depots that people could borrow when needed, as you only need access to canning supplies for short periods of time.

After reading last week’s assigned reading, Enhancing food security through experiential sustainability leadership practices: A study of the Seed to Supper program by D. Withers and H. Burns, the power of experiential learning to conduct positive change through physically engaging individuals on a mutual task was clearly illustrated. It quickly became apparent that the experiential learning that occurs at the GVFBS “train-the-trainer” canning workshops is essentially no different than what was highlighted in the Seed to Supper program. Both programs increase people’s food literacy and empower individuals with the ability to take food security into their own hands. With this in mind, the importance of producing high-quality material for the canning manual was considerably reinforced.

For the upcoming week, our main focus is going to be on conducting a detailed literature review to produce answers for the FAQ section of the canning manual. The FAQ that the GVFBS requested answered were equally split up amongst the group and are to be finished by next week. After our proposal presentation and having greater clarity on our research question, we became very aware that we were going to have to finish our updates to the canning manual relatively quickly so that we are able to conduct a focus group sooner than later. As we are going to require adequate time to work on answering the second part of our research question about canning knowledge and its relation to improving food security.

 

Introduction to LFS 350

Farming practices, Food access, Food accessibility, Food and culture, Food marketing, Food Processing, Food security, Food sovereignty, Garden management, LFS 350, Surveying farmers, Sustainable food resources, Waste management and composting

The Land, Food, and Community series is a number of classes that the students of UBC Land and Food Systems take every year.  The students of Land Food and Community II (LFS 350; formerly known as AGSC 350) complete extensive projects on food security issues in British Columbia.  Students work in groups of 6 or 7 to explore issues within their assigned communities and themes, and team up with members of the community to tackle these issues.  In this way, students can engage in their education by learning from community partners and immersing themselves in “real world” situations outside the classroom.  Community Partners can learn about what students are doing and learning at UBC, and can work with students to make a positive impact on their organizations and communities in terms of food security.  The Land and Food Series classes are unique from most other university courses as they emphasize teaching as a “community of learners” and community based research instead of top-down instruction and research.  Students learn from the teaching team, their peers and the communities of British Columbia making for an education that bridges university academics with real world issues.