Critical Food Literacy: Learning to Challenge Power in the Food System

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Critical Food Literacy: Learning to Challenge Power in the Food System
Language: English
Authors: Jennifer Sumner
Source: Australian Journal of Adult Learning. 2024 64(3):401-421.
Availability: Adult Learning Australia. Office 1, Henderson House, 45 Moreland Street, Footscray VIC 3011, Australia. Tel: +61-3-9689-8623; e-mail: info@ala.asn.au; Web site: https://ajal.net.au/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 21
Publication Date: 2024
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Descriptive
Descriptors: Multiple Literacies, Food, Critical Literacy, Power Structure, Retailing, Foods Instruction, Cooking Instruction, Consumer Education, Adults, Sustainability, Human Body, Empowerment, Knowledge Level, Resistance (Psychology), Global Approach, Public Health
ISSN: 1443-1394
Abstract: As a derivative of the core concept of literacy, food literacy can similarly either empower or disempower people. For example, the meaning of food literacy can be narrowed down to knowing how to grocery shop and prepare a meal, resulting in obedient neoliberal consumers who never challenge the food system. However, given the problems associated with our current food system, adults need a broader, more critical understanding of food literacy to address issues such as human health and planetary sustainability. Using a Freirean analysis, this article explores how a new trend at the forefront of literacies in adult education -- critical food literacy -- can empower adults to 'read the world' through food in order to navigate, question and change the food system. It examines power in the food system, discusses both food literacy and critical food literacy, and illustrates how adults learn the set of skills, knowledge and understandings that can challenge power in the food system and open the door to more equitable and sustainable ways of producing and consuming food.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1452699
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:As a derivative of the core concept of literacy, food literacy can similarly either empower or disempower people. For example, the meaning of food literacy can be narrowed down to knowing how to grocery shop and prepare a meal, resulting in obedient neoliberal consumers who never challenge the food system. However, given the problems associated with our current food system, adults need a broader, more critical understanding of food literacy to address issues such as human health and planetary sustainability. Using a Freirean analysis, this article explores how a new trend at the forefront of literacies in adult education -- critical food literacy -- can empower adults to 'read the world' through food in order to navigate, question and change the food system. It examines power in the food system, discusses both food literacy and critical food literacy, and illustrates how adults learn the set of skills, knowledge and understandings that can challenge power in the food system and open the door to more equitable and sustainable ways of producing and consuming food.
ISSN:1443-1394