ANTH 489: Anthropology Practicum (Community Food and Culinary Medicine)

The course is for students who are interested in having some hands-on experience in learning about culinary medicine as well as contributing to food equity in our community.

Students can sign up for 2 credits of ANTH 489 credit. You will need an add code from the instructor to register. Participation opportunities will be offered F-Sun. Students must be willing to commit to 15 hours of volunteer time plus writing a 3-5 page personal reflection documenting what you did and what you learned at the end of the quarter.

We are teaming up with a local non-profit Meadowbrook Community Care to cook 2-3 meals for the Nightly Shelter at Maple Leaf Lutheran Church, an all-genders facility for 20 individuals. Our cooking activities will take place on some Saturday afternoons. We are also exploring the possibility of doing some cooking for the free cafe at the U District Food Bank.

We will also be working with members of the Seattle Giving Garden Network to build a temporary greenhouse at Maple Leaf Lutheran Church, which we will use to plant seed starts for the Meadowbrook Giving Garden and also for a large Giving Garden at Sandpoint. Together these two Giving Gardens supplied several tons of fresh produce for local food banks. Last spring, this internship produced over 20,000 seed starts distributed to giving gardens in the north Seattle neighborhoods. So it is possible to make a big impact in a very small space!

A giving garden is a space run by local volunteers and non-profits that can produce fresh produce for local food banks and vulnerable communities. Friday fieldtrips will be planned for each cooking activity so students can learn more about community food resources. Volunteer activity is playing an important role during the current crises of cuts to SNAP benefits. Creating community through improving food access is a positive action we can take to build democracy from the ground up.

Other volunteering opportunities can be made available in consultation with the instructor for filling out your 15 hours in case you are not able to attend all our group-organized activities.