Eleventh International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

On December of 1969 a group of activists and community organizers attended the White House Conference on Food and Nutrition in Washington D.C. and they refused to eat at the luncheon. Not only did they refuse the $18 per person luncheon, but they boycotted the event and invited other participants to join them in making a statement about the amount of money being spent on one meal, all the while national Food Assistance Programs advocated for recipients to eat an entire meal for less than $1. With a focus on the 1900s, paper addresses the long history of food activism that led to the 1969 boycott at the White House. Particularly, how food boycotts have drawn attention from the media, influential people, and the general American public with the aim to create change and develop a more equitable society.