Food systems change and the alternative campus foodscape

Abstract

Postsecondary students, staff, and faculty across North America are actively involved in transforming food systems on campuses and beyond. Much of the scholarship documenting these inroads has focused on procurement, production, and pedagogy. While this work is essential, it paints an incomplete picture of the ways postsecondary campuses—and students in particular—are contributing to realizing more just and sustainable food systems. In this paper, we elaborate the contours of what we propose as the alternative campus foodscape in Canada by highlighting campus food systems alternatives (CFSAs), which we define as on-campus initiatives that are motivated by animating structural, practice, and/or policy change through the campus foodscape. We demonstrate how CFSAs are distinct from conventional food systems and argue that they are essential elements of a robust movement for food systems transformation.