Food Day Event Celebrates Autumn Harvest

By Brianna Buuscher (Guest)

What do autumn leaves, a culinary student, the Christian Vegetarian Association and zucchini pasta have in common?

While this might sound like the beginning of a bad joke, all of these things could be found at the “Food Day Celebration: Fall Harvest” event this past Monday. Three student organizations — Food Recovery Network (FRN), Environmental Stewardship Coalition (ESC) and Students for Compassionate Living (SCL) — teamed up to host the party-like event. Conversation, music and the scent of cinnamon and brown sugar squash filled the room as students spoke with the guest speakers and reflected (and munched) on the meal.

Food Day is a national time of appreciation of good, nutritional food as well as an opportunity to spread awareness of food justice. For the Calvin Food Recovery Network, this was the third year of participating in the celebration, and the turnout at the event was the largest yet. The theme, Fall Harvest, was chosen to represent the festival nature of Food Day and to pay tribute to Michigan’s bountiful harvest season.

In welcoming the gathered multitude before the meal, Cameron Kritikos, president of the Calvin Food Recovery Network chapter, referred to the dishes prepared for that evening as “good gifts” and urged that everyone take them as such. These gifts, he noted, were also “hyper-local”; all of the produce used to make the dishes was purchased from Fulton Street Farmers’ Market, which is supplied by farms within a 10–15 mile radius of Calvin College.

While farms and gardens surround the Calvin College area, there are some places in Grand Rapids where produce is more of a rarity. Food justice, which hinges on equal access to local, nutritional food, is an issue all across the United States and the globe.

Some people choose to take action by altering their own diets. Suzanne Smalligan, a guest speaker from the Christian Vegetarian Association, has been vegan for many years and raised two children on a vegan diet.

“God gave us bodies that can do just fine living off of a plant diet,” she said. Vegetarianism and vegan diets aim at a more just food system by decreasing a person’s consumption of meat, which takes more resources to produce than plants. Calvin’s student organization, Students for Compassionate Living, is one group on campus that advocates this lifestyle and the fair treatment of livestock. The Environmental Stewardship Coalition  also supports better farming practices and care of the natural resources that Christians are called to steward.

Rita Selles, a culinary student and home cook, also spoke at the event and expressed a desire to work with the Calvin College Alumni Office to provide student treats again. Recognizing the need for healthy food, she would like to make treats that have less sugar and more nutrients, but still taste like desserts.

By bringing in speakers and hosting events like the Food Day Celebration, FRN, ESC and SCL are continually seeking to raise awareness of the ways in which students, staff and all people can work toward a more just world and enjoy food and friendship in the process.