Conversations in the Neighborhood: Let’s Talk About Food (Food Access: Race, Class, and the Environment)

Food allows people to create social ties. The theme of Conversations in the Neighborhood’s first series focuses on food, which under normal circumstances brings us together in families, among friends, and in larger communities. The series addresses questions raised by food consumption and production at a moment in which a global pandemic challenges our physical and social connections. By gathering artists, community members, local farmers, government officials, and humanities scholars, we ask: How do we consume food in Gainesville? How do we tell our families’ stories about food? How does migration impact the ways we eat in Gainesville? And how do we think about the work that goes into producing food in Gainesville?

Food sustains our bodies, but it also reflects our cultural upbringing and economic position, reveals who we are, and links us to certain people and places in Gainesville. Through consuming food, we become part of a global web through which food and recipes travel – literally and through stories we tell – to reach our tables. Conversations in the Neighborhood invites you to explore these links between the individual, local, regional, and global.

Conversations in the Neighborhood invites community members to gather monthly on Zoom to share meals of comfort and taste new flavors. It provides an opportunity for participants to connect with each other while sharing knowledge about food and cooking across generations. These discussions are open to everyone to engage with new or familiar food in a space where food is revealed to drive social development.

About this session: How do race, class, and the environment influence food access and food choices? Against the backdrop of COVID-19, this discussion examines the state of food security in Gainesville: What are the barriers to food access in Gainesville? How does food access relate to health disparities in our community? What is currently being done to help all residents be food secure in Gainesville? What is the role of UF in ensuring local food security?

All events will be held virtually. They are free and open to the public. For questions, please contact Alexandra Cenatus at [email protected].

This project is funded in part by a Florida Humanities Community Project Grant, in partnership with the University of Florida Center for the Humanities in the Public Sphere.