Food Literacy as an Essential Framework for Nutrition Educators

Sunday, July 22 | 10:15 am - 11:15 am | Nicollet A

Moderator: Pamela Koch, EdD, RD, Teachers College, Columbia University

Speakers: Sarah Amin, PhD, MPH, Tufts University; Anupama Joshi, National Farm To School Network; Megan Lehnerd, MS, Friedman School Of Nutrition Science & Policy, Tufts University; Eva Ringstrom, FoodCorps

In the face of climate change and global food needs, youth must possess a systems-based understanding of food to ensure future human and environmental health.

In this session, we will explore food literacy (FL), a holistic framework encompassing food-related knowledge, skills, and behaviors associated with navigating the food system to support a diet pattern beneficial for health and the environment. Through a dynamic discussion with researchers and national leaders implementing school-based nutrition programming, participants will learn why FL should be promoted as a framework for nutrition educators and the potential for a FL survey to evaluate child outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

1. Define food literacy as a holistic, systems-based framework and its role in enhancing nutrition education for children and adolescents.
2. Observe the successful integration of FL and food systems-concepts into school-based nutrition interventions at the national scale.
3. Demonstrate the utility of a FL survey as an evaluation tool for school-based nutrition education programs.

Organized by the Division of Sustainable Food Systems.