Author: Kirsten Wright
Last fall, seven Occidental students altered the theme of Sustainability House to target a more specific mission. The result? Food Justice House, located behind Bell-Young Hall at 4863 Stratford Rd. This week, the spring 2012 residents share their experiences living in this cooperative environment, their methods of practicing food justice and sustainability—and their favorite guilty pleasure TV shows.
Defining Food Justice
Julia Carrizosa ‘14, Geology (Boston, MA): “Food justice is caring about where your food comes from and what it goes through to get to your plate. It’s about finding ways to make nutritious food accessible and affordable to everyone and cause the least amount of harm in the process.”
Dan Crowley ‘13, Biology (Petaluma, CA): “Food justice is about improving access to nutritious foods for all people. At the house we try to use our purchasing power to support farmers and retailers that make this one of their priorities.”
Zoë Butler ‘14, Studio Art (Austin, TX): “It’s a difficult thing to define. I think this comes from the fact that no matter what, you’re going to eat the food, so the food itself experiences no justice of any kind. However, I like to think of it as working toward a world where everyone involved in the production and consumption of food (farmers, animals, grocery store clerks, cooks, consumers, etc.) are treated respectfully and with fairness. It’s living in a world where healthy, tasty and affordable food is available to all.”
Ben Tuthill ‘13, ECLS (St. Paul, MN): “The real definition has something to do with community outreach and social action, but I take it more as a dedication to Not Being Evil. By that I mean buying local, buying organic, buying natural, growing your own vegetables, avoiding processed/GMO foods, eating in season, cooking well, being conscious of the sustainability/footprint of your food, reducing waste and generally maintaining good food practice.”
Constant Gardeners
Dan: “I like to spend my time managing and working on expanding the garden. I’m also the RA, so I deal with ResEd in order to get the money we need for projects.”
Zoë: “I’m serving as the President of FEAST, Oxy’s student-run organic garden, which works toward educating Oxy students about growing their own food and reminding them of how incredibly tasty carrots are when you pull them straight out of the ground.”
Noah Donnell-Kilmer ‘13, UEP (Boston, MA): “One of our big projects has been setting up the house garden. We all pitch in to make it work, whether it’s constructing our raised beds, planting seeds, watering, weeding, or picking the fruits of our labor.”
Zoë: “The garden supplements our food. It’s pretty easy to take care of, and since there are seven of us, we each water once a week.”
Dylan Sittig ‘13, UEP (San Dimas, CA): “We try to fit in as many projects in as possible. We have a house blog where we talk about updates in the food justice movement in Los Angeles, we have our backyard garden which has over 15 types of vegetables and we buy the majority of our groceries from local farmers or Figueroa Produce.”
A Not-So-Typical Day
Ben: “We all wake up within an hour of the crack of dawn to till the fields and water the gardens. Breakfast is usually a free-for-all, though sometimes we do something collaborative. Afternoons we go to class or sit around and wonder how we let the kitchen to get so messy. Someone makes dinner (we have communal dinner every night; everyone picks a day to cook at the beginning of the week; most of us eat here every night). We eat dinner. Someone cleans the kitchen. We do homework. Someone decides to make a midnight snack. Everyone eats said midnight snack and leaves their dishes out. The kitchen is thrown into chaos and filth. Everyone is too tired to do anything about it and goes to bed.”
Zoë: “For breakfast and lunch, food is an individual effort, but dinner we have family-style dinners. Meals range from soups and falafels to pasta and lentil ‘meatballs.'”
Ben: “We drink tea all day. There is water boiling nearly constantly. We have 12 varieties of fine loose leaf tea and a nearly endless selection of bagged teas.”
Julia: “There are always people around the house. Everyone’s energy and enthusiasm are contagious, and I am constantly being inspired. My housemates are always thinking about ways they can make things better, whether it’s fixing something around the house or researching where they can buy locally-grown bananas.”
Life as a Housemate
Ruby Paiva ‘14, Media Arts and Culture (Seattle, WA): “My favorite part of living at Food Justice House, besides the delicious food, is living with my housemates. They are truly such a great group of people who are undeniably some of the funniest I’ve met.”
Ben: “My favorite physical feature of our house is our clothesline, which is something I’ve dreamed of having my whole life. My life is idyllic and perfect.”
Dan: “In terms of my living space, I’ve never felt more connected to the college. It’s great having an identity that is tied to where you live, which I never quite got living in the residence halls.”
Zoë: “Living with a group of people who have the same goals as you and are eager to stimulate discussion and exchange ideas over a fantastic dinner is one of the top qualities of the house. Everyone also has a great sense of humor and does their best to chip in.”
Julia: “One negative aspect about living in a themed house off campus is that many people don’t feel welcome. The fact that we live in a house sort of implies that it is a private space, but I consider our common spaces to be equal to any residence hall common room. I wish more people would stop by, hang out and get to know us and what we’re passionate about.”
Dumpster Diving and Reality TV
Dan: “At the beginning of the semester I watched this documentary called ‘Dive’ about dumpster divers in LA. I’ve always thought of them as a bit crazy, but after I watched the documentary I realized it was very much tied with the mission of the Food Justice House. The amount of good food thrown out in our country is horrendous, and I couldn’t believe the quality of food that comes out of these dumpsters. I told the house about it and everyone got really into the idea. Two weeks ago we went on our first dumpster dive at one of Eagle Rock’s grocery stores. It is a pretty exhilarating experience and had a feel of civil disobedience to it.”
Dylan: “Heading back to our house with our cache of goodies after dumpster diving, I felt extremely satisfied—like I had given this food a second life, while also allowing it to fulfill its original intention of being digested by stomach acids—as opposed to being tossed in a landfill. That night, on top of other foods, we got 17 bags of bagels.”
Ruby: “One of my favorite things I’ve done living here is help Dan collect bugs for his Biology class. There is an ongoing competition in the house to see who can collect the most bugs in jars. It’s gotten pretty tense. Lots of threats and backstabbing.”
Zoë: This has absolutely nothing to do with Food or Justice, but Monday night we all gather ‘round the tube to watch “The Voice,” America’s best singing competition show ever. We’ve set it up so we each have our own fantasy leagues, teams of eight contestants that we think have what it takes to win the show.”
Meal Plan B
Zoë: “Figueroa Produce is bomb. They don’t have everything, but they have a great selection of the staples and they give Oxy kids a 10% discount. Farmer’s markets are also a great place to get local, fresh produce at the best prices. CSA boxes are also really good, and you can pick them up right here on campus. No car or gas money necessary!”
Ben: “Try to only eat meat a couple times a week (it’s so much easier than I thought). Don’t get more than you can eat at the Marketplace. Stop getting bottled water. Watch Food, Inc. and have your life ruined for a little while. Get a weekly CSA box delivery (you can do it through Occidental). Shop at the Eagle Rock Farmer’s Market. Shop at Figueroa Produce, or Organics (Figueroa’s vegetarian soon-to-open counterpart). Go to the Blue Hen instead of Lemongrass (better pho, better service, better local and organic options). Shop at Galco’s (support small bottlers!). Get involved with any of the food justice organizations at Occidental: FEAST, Well-Fed, anything in the UEP department. Occidental is a rising star in the food justice world; we have so many programs and classes focused on it.”
To read more from the brave-thinking, dumpster-diving, food-conscious residents of Food Justice House, visit their blog at www.foodjusticela.blogspot.com.
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