Food Studies Commons^™

Development Of An Intervention For Improving Food Acceptance Of People With Hearing Loss, Sara Esther Jarma Arroyo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hearing loss, defined as the partial or total inability to hear sound in one or both ears, is the most common sensory deficit in adults to date. Approximately 15% of American adults aged 18 and over report some trouble hearing. The impact of hearing loss may be profound, with consequences for the social, functional, and psychological well-being of the person. Surprisingly, very little attention has been paid on whether auditory loss can significantly impact consumers’ sensory perception and overall enjoyment of food. There were four objectives of this dissertation study. Chapter 1 aimed to determine the impacts of hearing loss …

An Assessment Of Information And Education As A Factor Of Agricultural Development And Sustainability In South Carolina, George Strickland

All Theses

Across the Southeastern United States, producers in the agricultural industry wage a constant struggle between combating negative economic impacts and discovering economic opportunity. Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) represent a crisis with wide-ranging economic impacts. The management of HABs presents a critical challenge for addressing the level of knowledge (LOK) and adaptability of Extension agents. Conversely, the emergence of markets for local and organic produce represents a burgeoning economic opportunity for producers. The growing trend of including more kale in the everyday American diet demands an assessment of those opportunities for local producers.

To identify the WTP for organic and local …

Seed & Story Conservation: A Rooted Historical Documentation And Analysis Of Living Seed Stories In The Us Northeast, Celia Luanna Nesbitt

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

Often a neglected item in our current industrialized food system, seed is now typically seen as a commodity. Agrobiodiversity is in decline with diverse crop varieties being lost from cultivation and memory, further threatening levels of biodiversity. Research indicates that seed systems are crucial for the conservation of crop diversity and local adaption of cultivars. Globally, people are working to grow and share seeds that support seed production based around the premises of community-based production and (agro)biodiversity. This project and paper draw attention to the regional seed work in the US Northeast. Through a participatory approach, and an active participation …

The Gardens Nearby: A Narrative Podcast Exploring Soil Contamination And Community Gardening In Burlington, Vt, April Mcilwaine

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

The city of Burlington, Vermont (Burlington) is home to the Burlington Area Community Gardens (BACG), a program of the Burlington Parks and Recreation Department. This program has a 50-year legacy in the Burlington community and today comprises 14 garden sites that serve over 1,400 people. Within the framework of food sovereignty, community gardens are valuable, multi-functional spaces that positively benefit residents and neighborhoods alike. However, planting gardens in reclaimed urban spaces may come with food safety concerns. Like other cities that have an industrial heritage, some of Burlington’s urban areas may have soils with high levels of toxic heavy metals …

Humanizing Hunger: Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Food And Healthcare Access In Northern New England, Malarie B. Mcgalliard

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

Rural communities have historically faced higher levels of food insecurity and lower healthcare access than their urban counterparts. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the challenges of accessing adequate and equitable food and healthcare resources, especially in rural pockets of poverty. Maine and Vermont are the most rural states in the US with over 61% of both populations living in rural areas. Drawing from recent 2022 survey data collected by the National Food Access COVID Research Team (NFACT), this project will seek to contextualize the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food and healthcare accessibility in Northern New England. The …

Consider The Lunch Lady: Examining Assumptions To Create A Paradigm Shift Within School Lunch, Molly E. Duff

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

Changing the school food system requires that we critically examine our existing assumptions about how this system works. Currently, school food mirrors our larger food system as it is both highly processed and highly consolidated (Gaddis, 2019). Further, school food reflects larger societal assumptions around issues of social welfare and racial equity as a system that leaves many undernourished and wanting (Levine, 2008). Engaging critically with these assumptions is an essential step to dissecting the paradigms that shape our systems. Ultimately, dismantling these paradigms is what creates deep change (Meadows, 1999). To challenge my own assumptions around how school food …

Freestyle: A Guide To Making Swimming Nutrition Simple, Megan Wills

Undergraduate Theses

Nutrition plays a critical role in the performance of an athlete. Although academic research surrounding the topic has increased, there is a disproportionate increase in materials created for the athletes themselves. Regarding competitive swimming, the scope of athlete-friendly instructional materials is even more limited. Therefore, there is an inherent disconnect between the academic research on the topic of competitive swimming nutrition and the athletes who need the information. The purpose of this project is to bridge the gap between the research and the content accessible for athletes themselves. Using an interpretive and simplistic approach, the available academic research was used …

The Influence Of Digital Media Consumption On Disordered Eating And Body Image, Tasha Casey

Senior Theses and Projects

Previous research states that disordered eating is a growing and concerning issue. With the rise in disordered eating, there has been a consistent rise of the media, especially in reports of time spent online. The key to understanding, and hopefully ending, the development of disordered eating may lie in understanding the media, and how it influences a need for perfection and the necessity of a thin-body ideal. To examine this, 83 students at Trinity College completed a questionnaire consisting of questions from the Eating Disorder Inventory -3 (EDI-3) and modified questions from the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale - 3 …

Making And Unmaking Collective Memory Through Food: A Case Study Of Windsor, Ontario’S Yugoslav Diaspora, Amanda Skocic

Major Papers

The preparation and consumption of food is not merely a physical act, but a deeply social one, conveying cultural meaning that functions to tie us to our identity and profoundly influence our memory. Drawing upon interviews done with members of Windsor’s Yugoslav diaspora community, this research seeks to explore the ways in which this group has negotiated its collective memory within the host society through the use of food. I identify four central aspects of food’s relation to collective memory within the diaspora. First, the use of food as a means of connection to the homeland, and therefore, to collective …

Provisional Food Security: The Role Of Emergency Food Systems In An Evolving Landscape, Luca Walker Tagliati

Senior Projects Spring 2023

A lasting consequence of Reagan administration rollbacks in government food assistance programs is the safety net of private food provision organizations. Over the decades that these private assistance agencies grew in scope, food justice movements began sprouting up around the country that sought to address rising food insecurity and other inequities of dominant food systems. Today, private food provision organizations and food justice movements make up a large portion of emergency food systems response, forcing food insecure individuals to rely on overburdened pantries and volunteers who depend on coherent community strategy to succeed. Oftentimes, vulnerable populations are excluded from these …

Decolonial Foodurisms: From Plantations To Agricultural Spaces Of Intersectional Healing, Dominic Arzadon

Pitzer Senior Theses

Considering the complex colonial histories and relationalities associated with agricultural food production, a reimagined future beyond the violent legacy of plantations is presented. Exploring land as the site for intersectional healing to take place, the symbiotic relationship between humans and food production is increasingly becoming a reality—a theoretical framework I propose called decolonial foodurisms (pronounced food-yoor-isms). Combining “food” and “futurism” to emphasize that our collective futures are predicated on food security and food justice for all and especially for marginalized and racialized communities with ancestral ties to agricultural violence, decolonial foodurisms aims to capture how intersectional healing can come into …

Analyzing Residential Curbside Collection For Food Waste In Humboldt County, Yvette Lindler

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The most prevalent material in the California landfill-destined solid waste stream is food. Food waste is not only an economic and social concern, but a significant environmental challenge as well. Most food waste is disposed of in landfills, where it anaerobically decomposes and releases methane, an extremely potent greenhouse gas and driver of climate change. Policies passed in California, including AB 1826 and SB 1383, aim to implement organic waste recycling programs and reduce methane emissions by diverting organic waste from landfills. The technology to process this food waste exists, but these facilities are limited or nonexistent in rural areas …

Who Farms The Future? Producing The Next Generation Of Agriculturalists, Jordyn L. Mcmaster Neely

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The proportion of young farmers and ranchers (ages 18-35 years old) within the agricultural workforce has been declining, raising concerns about the sustainability of the food supply. To gather more tools for solving this problem, this thesis research seeks to understand why young people want to work in agriculture by studying how they develop aspirations for an agricultural career. This thesis employed both survey and interview processes to gather data on how participants think about the field of agriculture in the context of both the challenges and opportunities for entry. Participants were asked how wide range of factors contributed to …

Love Is Real & I Just Had Some For Dessert: Legacies Of Communal Care & Compassion In Asian Diasporic Women's Food Writing, Miki Rierson

Honors Projects

In this project I work to recover influential yet often erased Asian American female immigrant chefs and food authors from the mid-twentieth century to the present, situating their contributions in a deep-rooted tradition of diasporic women who used cooking as a means of communal agency and care. Immigrant Asian cookbook authors and chefs have long faced internal criticisms from their own diasporic communities of either inauthenticity or engaging in “food pornography,” to use writer Frank Chin’s term—a line of criticism that Lisa Lau has elaborated on as “re-Orientalism.”Though these criticisms should not eclipse the works themselves, I discuss and counter …

Food As A Vector For Change: Lessons From The Third Sector On Improving Livelihoods With Nutritional Knowledge In Medellín And Bogotá, Solomon Treister

Honors Theses

In this thesis I argue that improving diet in communities depends on building nutritional knowledge. In examining the role of community level organizations, I look specifically at how knowledge is conveyed through agriculture and gastronomy. This project analyzes how civil society organizations work to reintegrate individuals into food systems, compelling consumers to take agency over their diets and pursue better livelihoods. The industrialization of food systems has fundamentally changed the way humans connect with food and diet. In Colombia, internal displacements and urban migration have accelerated a loss of connection with the land and food processes. At the same time, …

Using Primates As A Flagship Species In Marketing Campaigns: Effects On Proenvironmental Attitudes And Behavioral Intentions, Taylor Barber

All Master's Theses

Shade coffee plantations grow coffee under a canopy of trees and provide alternative habitats for many bird and primate species, known as agroecosystems, particularly in Latin America. The aim of the current project was to better educate the public about shade plantations and the positive effects they can have on conservation for primates. In addition, marketing tactics such as the presence of a shade plantation certification label and howler monkey images were assessed for their effects on consumer purchasing intentions as well as participant support for biodiversity and sustainability. Participants were recruited through the Department of Psychology’s research system at …

Constellations Of Capital: Applying Architecture’S Spatial Language To Global Networks Of Food, Armed Conflict, And Reverberations Of Violence, Oliver J. Mead

Senior Projects Fall 2023

Architecture, as the art and/or practice of designing and constructing buildings, offers an often overlooked array of representational devices that, as tested within this senior project, prove significant in reframing geopolitical perspectives in a manner that circumvents the limitations of metaphorization. The physical products and results of architectural design are the built objects that facilitate and coordinate socio-political spaces, yet it is the spatially descriptive process of architectural design itself in representing built relationships that can be valuable in constructing provocative and experimental investigations of present and future spatial environments.This project focuses on a tripartite of present-day global issues: food …

Growing Culturally Relevant Food At The Urban Farm: An Examination Of Sovereign Foodways, Place-Making Practices, And Autonomous Identity-Shaping, Dahlia Bess Zail

Pitzer Senior Theses

This paper examines channels of culturally relevant food production on the urban farm. It further investigates the connection between this production and the shaping of sovereign foodways, as well as how urban farm models provide space and resources for place-making practices and autonomous identity-shaping. This thesis shifts away from the notion of access to culturally relevant food and instead focuses on the multi-fold context that any food item takes on through its production, distribution, and consumption. This allows for a nuanced understanding of the role that culturally relevant food can play in immigrant foodways. Through case-studies at three urban farms …

Effects Of Indonesian Cuisine On The Dutch Kitchen And Culture Post World War Ii, Anton Syril Van Schaik

Pitzer Senior Theses

As a colony of the Netherlands, the Dutch East Indies (upon independence named Indonesia) was a prodigious source of economic revenue -- first due to the spice trade and then coffee -- for the Netherlands from around 1610 to 1949. But, despite the long history of Dutch colonization in Southeast Asia, Indonesian cuisine failed to make a large impact on Dutch culture and cuisine until the 1940s. Before World War II, despite the Netherlands primarily deriving its revenue from global trade, both economically, and especially culturally, all areas, except for the economically engaged, Western cities, were extremely insulated. However, due …

Making Scientific Information Usable: Development And Assessment Of A Novel Intervention To Boost Healthy Lifestyle Decision-Making, Brittany Nelson

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Context—Improving diet can reduce the risk of chronic health conditions such as cancer and heart disease. However, people continue to make poor dietary health decisions. A novel intervention based on the science of behavior change and incorporating Human-Centered Design (HCD) methodology is needed to boost informed dietary decision-making.

Objective—This research presents a Behavior Change Wheel (BCW), Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach to develop a novel high-usability video intervention that will increase informed decision-making for whole-grain dietary decisions. The intervention will target college students, improving habits that can carry on throughout later adulthood.

Design—Study 1 consisted of preliminary data …

Feeding Our Local Communities-The Benefits Of Food Assistance Programs At Local Farmers Markets, Courtney A. Archambeau

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Living in a rural area can make finding food that is good and affordable difficult, especially for those who rely on assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. Federal incentive programs assist those with SNAP benefits to purchase fresh produce. I studied three farmers markets in Houghton County in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula to identify how rural farmers markets are integrating these programs to increase access to fresh produce. Specifically, I asked: 1) How might farmers markets work to be more inviting and make their food more accessible to those of lower socioeconomic status?; 2) By studying these …

Intermittent Sucrose Access: Sweetness Versus Calories, Jarret Folmer, Rudy Eikelboom

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Nondeprived rats receiving every 3^rd day access (E3DA) to 4% sucrose solution consume more sucrose on access days compared to rats with everyday access (EDA). Rats receiving EDA or E3DA to 16% sucrose do not consume different amounts, but if placed on every 2^nd day access (E2DA) to 4% sucrose E3DA-group rats consume more than EDA rats (Eikelboom, Hewitt, & Adams, 2022). E3DA affects rats’ value of sucrose but effects appear hidden with high sucrose concentrations. Valyear and Eikelboom (2021) suggested that calorie ceilings limit E3DA-induced consumption with high sucrose, but this ceiling could also be caused by …

Consumers’ Preferences And Willingness To Pay For Value-Added Dairy Products In Kentucky - Considering Price, Provenance, And Environmental Product Attributes, Favour E. Esene

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Many medium and smaller dairies are shifting to various kinds of value-added products that may expand in demand nationally aside from fluid milk. This study uses a latent class logit model to investigate the heterogeneity of consumer preferences and willingness to pay for dairy value-added products across four latent classes considering different local and environmental sustainability labels. The dairy products examined for this research are butter, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. This research revealed that younger consumers, especially those that reside in rural areas, always pay attention to product attributes when they shop for dairy products, mostly the local state …

“Anything From The Land Is Good”: Understanding How Community Gardening In Kakisa, Northwest Territories, Can Contribute To Indigenous Food Sovereignty, Michelle Malandra

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Rates of food insecurity in Canada’s northern Indigenous communities are at levels that should constitute an emergency. Dominant explanations for these high rates of food insecurity often ignore the ongoing impacts of colonization and over-emphasize individual choices and nutritional guidelines developed by outsiders. The importance of holistic community health is ignored, along with the cultural and social values and practices that support community health and well-being, including traditional food systems. As the acute impact of climate change in the North threatens traditional food access, a shift toward an Indigenous food sovereignty approach in health and food policy is needed. With …

Navigating Food Affordability In The Two Bridges Neighborhood, Aina S. Izham

Capstones

This report examines a small neighborhood in Lower Manhattan of New York City called Two Bridges and how they're facing gentrification with a focus on food affordability. Ever since an affordable supermarket closed down in 2012, long-time residents have since struggled to get affordable groceries and are forced to face expensive supermarkets that have been on the rise in the area. Incorporating my journey to understand and listen to the community to find ways to support and work with the community, this report demonstrates that the neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying like most black and brown neighborhoods in New York City. …

Food For Harlem, Izania Gonzalez

Capstones

Food for Harlem is a resource guide for Harlem residents to find local food-focused organizations. It’s a list for you to find where you can get healthy affordable food in your neighborhood. This project was created after the feedback I heard in discussion during my time at a food market in Harlem. The final product includes a complete list of over 70 food-focused organizations in Harlem, an interactive map, some important information about the included resources, and a list of definitions.

The website can be found here: https://imgjournalism.wixsite.com/food-for-harlem

More Muslim, Salman Ahad Khan

Capstones

More Muslim is a show that explores the Muslim experience, with all its messiness.

Each episode is a narrative, transhistorical journey into one aspect of the Muslim experience that defined or is being defined by the modern world. This capstone forms the first two episodes of the series. Episode 1, "When Memes Meet Sufis," explores the question of how Rumi, a Muslim scholar from the 13th century, became the best-selling poet in the US. Episode 2, "The Halal Meat Conundrum," is a firsthand journey into the American halal meat industry and attempts to understand how halal became a $20 billion …

Implementing Food Insecurity Screening On A College Campus, Norma Martinez

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Background. Students attending universities have higher rates of food insecurity than U.S. households. Most college campuses do not routinely screen students for food insecurity, which can affect students’ health and school performance. Currently, the university health clinic does not screen students for food insecurity. Purpose. To screen all students who present to the university clinic for food insecurity and evaluate students with food insecurity for malnutrition. Evidence. Foreman et al. (2018) and Abu and Oldewage-Theron (2019) found that food insecurity was present at some of the largest Texas universities at rates higher than the national average. Project Objectives. To screen …

Investigating Quality Attributes And Wine Production Methods Of Arkansas-Grown Grapes, Amanda Fleming

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Grapevines (Vitis species) are grown worldwide to produce table grapes, juice grapes, dried grapes, and wine with the United States as one of the world’s largest wine and grape producers. Though not a large contributor to the U.S. grape and wine industry, Arkansas’ industry plays an important role in the state’s agritourism and economy. Most grapes grown in Arkansas’ warm climate include native species, such as muscadines (V. rotundifolia) and hybrids (crosses of Vitis species). Two important hybrid red wine grapes grown in Arkansas are Chambourcin, grown commercially for its positive viticulture and enological quality, and Enchantment, a newer cultivar …

A Study On The Environmental And Societal Impact Of Salad Packaging, Nathanael Stephens

All Theses

Packaged salads are becoming an increasingly popular segment of today’s fresh cut vegetables and salads market. This increased demand is leading to an increased need for packaging. This increase in packaging can lead to a potential increase in impact on the environment. With a large push for sustainability in the modern economy, this environmental impact is becoming more and more unacceptable. Several studies have been conducted to determine environmental impacts of packaging, but none have homed in on the salad packaging market segment in detail until this study. This study is also pioneering the way by pairing environmental impacts of …