Do you know the way to San Jose?

I am just back from an academic conference on environmental justice and sustainability in San Jose, California at Santa Clara University.  It was a really interesting conference and I got to meet a really interesting woman in my field, which is always a treat.  But this was, after all a conference on sustainability and that means there was some talk about food and sustainability.

The food served at the conference was, by and large, either quite good or typical conference fare.  The first afternoon at the conference started with a cocktail party with some passed hors d'oeuvres, your standard cheese and cracker plate and crudites.   Dinner was lovely, and I was assured by the people who worked for Santa Clara that much of the food really was sustainably grown (although I have my doubts about the chicken and the chocolate).

But I do have two moments from the conference that are both more important than the food or my doubts from the first dinner.  One has to do with the conference topic and presentations the other has to do with lunch on day two. 

Lunch on day two was a soup and salad buffet.  I like buffets since you can make your own choices about what to take and how much to take.  The salad was separated into individual bowls--lettuce in one, carrots in another--you get the idea.  It was pretty much sesame chicken salad.  I chose judiciously--only what I wanted to eat and only as much as I wanted to eat.  I skipped the soup, even though it looked pretty good.  But as I was finishing what I took one of the conference organizers, with whom I had dinner the night before mentioned that I hadn't eaten much--but I had eaten all I wanted and was full.  No need to take more than I needed.  Waste is not sustainable.  I don't mean to be critical.  She did not mean anything insulting by it.  Rather, I expect she was trying to be a good host--hospitality is a key trait of Jesuit communities and schools.  But it did stick with me.  Often we push food on others as a sign of hospitality and I am sure that in earlier times it made more sense than it might now.  But I am going to try to do less of this myself since it encourages overeating or waste, neither of which is good!

The other thing has to do with some discussions about food and sustainability as content of the conference.  Santa Clara has a garden to teach their students and others about food and the environment.  We are starting a garden here, too--the raised beds went in earlier this month.  They also do outreach into parts of their community to discuss and try to alleviate food deserts which are getting more and more prevalent in urban centers.  But the main focus of environmental justice, something I teach about in some of my classes, has really got my wheels turning.  How can I work this idea into my food ethics research?  I'm getting ideas.  this is not what I expected from my time at this conference.  I expected to go, asked to be the leader of the delegation from my school, and that was it.  But by taking the opportunity seriously, I got some food for thought, too.