Photo: In a "creative kitchen" workshop designed to teach attendees about the cultural, historical, and ecological significance of traditional Indigenous foods, participants got some hands-on experience in McNary Dining Hall on OSU's Corvallis campus. This session was led by Ryann Monteiro, citizen of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). Photo credit: Riki Saltzman, University of Oregon.
Oregon State University recently hosted an international conference that brought together hundreds of researchers, writers, students and practitioners to learn about cultivating equitable and environmentally sound food and agricultural systems.
This was OSU’s first time hosting the joint annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Food and Safety and the Agriculture, Food and Human Values Society. The event was organized by the interdisciplinary Food in Culture and Social Justice program within the College of Liberal Arts.
“Food is central to the formation of community,” said organizer Emily Yates-Doerr, an associate professor of anthropology who teaches in the program. “Who we eat with and how we eat forms the foundation of our societies. While we are ostensibly here to talk about food, we are also talking about technology, politics, community and the ingredients of knowledge itself.”
OSU organizers chose the event’s theme of “Food Cultures and Social Justice” to highlight the ways food production, transportation and consumption intersect with human and environmental damages. They welcomed more than 500 attendees from across the U.S. and 17 other countries. Most attended in person, with many staying in residence halls on the Corvallis campus.
The conference ran from June 18-21 and started with a day of field trips, where participants could choose among seven options to explore food and agriculture in and around Corvallis. Trips included a tribal food sovereignty tour with representatives from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, a visit to the Letitia Carson Donation Land Claim to learn about Black stewardship of local lands, an exploration of sustainable seafood in Newport and more.
Catering for the event was also intentionally planned to showcase local produce and culinary talent, with a particular focus of honoring Juneteenth (which fell on the conference’s second day). Organizers engaged local BIPOC chefs and held a Juneteenth banquet and BIPOC lunch, and the opening reception was catered by Nez Perce member Lukas Angus, owner of 7 Waters Sovereign Foods LLC.
“That was really important to us as organizers – that no matter what happened, we were going to be building relationships with many food vendors in our community,” Yates-Doerr said.
Another photo from the kitchen workshop in McNary. Credit: Riki Saltzman, University of Oregon.
Among the 500-plus attendees were 34 OSU faculty and students, representing a wide range of disciplines, including education, biochemistry, fish and wildlife, food innovation, anthropology, agriculture, economics and geography. Eight campus units including the School of Language, Culture and Society and the College of Agricultural Sciences co-sponsored the conference.
Conference roundtables on topics of farm labor and migration included local speakers talking about the experiences and history of Latino and Indigenous farm workers. OSU Distinguished Professor and former NOAA director Jane Lubchenco spoke with award-winning author Paul Greenberg (“Four Fish”) about creating just seafood systems. Other panels and discussions covered issues like food waste, farmers markets, cookbooks, salmon farming, health and wellness, food and political resistance, AI and agriculture, food system governance and more.
The full program filled all 12 rooms at the OSU Alumni Center and The LaSells Stewart Center for the two-and-a-half days of presentations, with hundreds of speakers sharing their research and ideas.
“It’s a real honor to be selected to host this conference,” Yates-Doerr said. “It marks us as a place where great food studies scholarship is happening, and where the themes of agriculture and human values are central to our university.”
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