Just a Taste: Local & Organic

In Just a Taste: Local and Organic, we learned about various food justice issues, such as food insecurity, GMOs, animal cruelty in our industrial food system, the cocoa trade, and the palm oil trade, and we created a restaurant that would teach customers about these issues and how they can prevent them. During this project, we read The Omnivore's Dilemma by: Micheal Pollan, to help us understand why we have the food justice issues. In addition to reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, we also visited Father Joe's Homeless Shelter, Casa de Luz (a restaurant in North Park), and Wild Willow Farm, which all strive to end food justice issues in one way or another.

This project really opened up my eyes to our food system. I learned about the truth behind our food. Just a Taste oushed me to be more cautious about my eating habits and to take better care of myself.

During this project, I was a part of the Digital Relations group. This group's responsibility was to promote this project via the internet. During this process, we created a web site, Facebook, and Instagram. I was mostly a part of creating the website for this project.

I was really proud of what I had accomplished along with my digital relations group. The most amazing thing that my group and I had accomplished was our website. I feel like it looked very professional and organized. Everyone who visited our website was able to figure out who we are and what our goals are. That in itself is an accomplishment.

During this project, we went on several field trips. I went to Father Joe's Homeless shelter and Casa De Luz.

When my class went to Father Joe's, we helped in the cafeteria. Some of us working in the kitchen to prepare food, some helped serve food, some of us picked up dirty dishes and some of us served the disabled and people with dogs. I personally helped by picking up dirty dishes and served those who had dogs and were disabled. Almost everybody that I helped were very kind and thankful. I greeted them with a smile and the happily greeted me back. I enjoyed serving those people. Others, on the other hand, were very bossy. They treated me more as a waitress rather than a volunteer, but I still didn't regret serving them. Overall I had a great experience.

We also went on a field trip to Casa De Luz, a restaurant in North Park. There we learned about eating healthy and cooking healthy. We took a cooking class and they were all very delicious. They cooked with all natural ingredients and learned about the benefits of each ingredient. At Casa De Luz, I learned how to make one of my now favorite recipes. It's a dessert called Chia Seed Pudding. It vegan and contains no unnatural sweeteners. It has tree ingredients; coconut milk, chia seeds, and either maple syrup or agave nectar (as a sweetener). This field trip really changed how I cook and inspired me to change my eating habits. Ever since this field trip, I've been inspired to cook more rather than eat out.