Fourteenth International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

We share our curriculum and approach to developing a Food Justice focused Capstone business course for our undergraduate Management and Leadership Major. In this course, our Los Angeles based seniors study the issue of food, the topic of food justice, and create a deliverable that is a digital learning pathway. The digital learning pathway is helpful for professionals, managers, and leaders in the food industry. Our class is composed of both seniors who travel globally to study food justice issues as well as those who stay locally. For example, this year a portion of the class traveled to Costa Rica to study food sovereignty, indigenous diets, and organic food production as well as the related cultural and political issues. Students not traveling studies these same issues with local communities and the diaspora present in Los Angeles. Topics of digital learning pathways have included food waste, food pantry development in higher education, food deserts, and sustainable packaging. We share our curriculum development, course exercises, and sample projects so that others can readily adopt our examples to their own work. This approach can be suitable for higher education as well as professionals seeking to expand their knowledge in the area of food justice.