Course Spotlight: Food Access

Food Access (FST509), taught by Mim Seidel, MS, RD, LDN, has two components: a general exploration of the contexts in which hunger and food insecurity develop, and a directed exploration of food access in Pittsburgh. This course is enriched through interactions with many Pittsburgh-based anti-hunger organizations.

At the beginning of the semester, students tour the Food Bank, meet the people working there, and visit the Swissvale Community Garden, created by Master of Arts in Food Studies alumnus Leland Scales, ’16.

Community building is a core component, with emphasis on volunteering and developing skills related to task negotiation, network development, social interaction, and cultural acumen. Topics covered through reading and discussion include health consequences of poverty; poverty and policy; food deserts; the Farm Bill and Child Nutrition Re-Authorization; school meals; and global nutrition and food access.

If food is a basic human right, how do societies create universal access to food? What is the moral ethical basis for making citizens food secure in an age of global inequality?  To what extent does providing food access need to consider culturally appropriateness, nutrition, and sustainability, and justice? - syllabus for FST509

Students work in groups to create menus and shop (go to the grocery store and price the food) for six fictitious families according to the guidelines given by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).