Food Justice: What it means and why it matters

With Thanksgiving coming up, it’s a good time to step back and think about what we’re grateful for. At LACGC, we are grateful for all of our affiliated community gardeners and food growers. Part of this gratitude comes from recognizing the important role that community gardens and gardeners play in creating a more just and equitable food system here in Los Angeles. Thanksgiving and the holiday season is not only about gratitude and recognizing all that we are lucky to have, but also acknowledging the ways in which we can help others and make our communities stronger and happier! One key way of doing so is in recognizing, discussing, and working towards food justice everywhere.

What is food justice?

Food justice is defined by three principles:

• Access to fresh, healthy, locally grown, and culturally appropriate food
• Living wages and fair working conditions for all food system workers
• Community control over food systems, through community-based agriculture, cooperatives, faith-based initiatives, etc.

Why do we care about food justice?

Food justice recognizes the fact that the food system is influenced by factors of race and class, and problematizes those influences on production, distribution, and consumption of food. Food is so central to each of our lives, and good food has the ability to bring us together, build community, keep us healthy, strong, and successful; the absence of good food in one’s life has the ability to dominate our daily lives, cloud our minds and weaken our bodies, and deeply harm our communities. The inaccessibility of food is a form of injustice that is generated at a structural level and hurts people in deeply personal ways. Food insecurity and food deserts are two of the main forms of food injustice that we experience here in LA, and they disproportionately affect poor communities of color. In addition to facing daily discrimination, both interpersonal and institutional, many people of color in LA deal with these struggles while hungry and malnourished. Good food is a right, not a privilege, and it is a right that we must ensure is extended to those most vulnerable in our society. Therefore, in order to build a better Los Angeles, one that affords equal opportunity to all and is committed to improving the lives of each and every citizen, repairing our food systems needs to be a top priority.

What can I do?

Well, first of all, you are already doing a lot! Community gardens are one of the best ways to relocalize the food system, and LACGC and its partner gardens allow low-income communities to grow their own fresh, local, and healthy food on a daily basis. It is very important that in the search for food justice, affected communities are able to build their own avenues towards and means for just food production and acquisition. During the holiday season, it’s quite easy for one to contribute even more to the food justice movement, whether or not you are part of a community that faces these injustices. A few actions that could directly help are:

1. Making a donation to LACGC to help us continue our support of community gardeners and farmers and the food justice they are creating across LA.
2. Volunteering at a local food bank or free meal center during the holiday season. Over 2 million Angelenos are food insecure, and the hunger, pain, and emotional distress of this can hit even harder during the holidays.
3. If you don’t already grow, start growing! Reconnecting to the soil and the means of food production not only allows you to access food in a more just way but leading by example is the first step towards structural change!
4. Support organic farmers, local farmers, farmworkers unions, co-op-style food stores, free food initiatives, and legislation that focuses on reducing the prevalence of food deserts and food insecurity

By, Isabel Best