Elizabeth Gutman, a master's student in health education at Penn State Harrisburg, is tackling the issue of food insecurity with her website "A Nourished Community," a resource dedicated to making access to affordable, healthy food, a reality. With this website, Gutman hopes to make a lasting impact on Penn State Harrisburg and local communities that are facing food insecurity.
Dixin Xie, an undergraduate in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, is conducting a research project on food insecurity and mental health outcomes, thanks to faculty mentorship from the department and support from the College of Health and Human Development.
Pests and diseases are taking a substantial bite out of the world’s five major food crops — in some cases, up to 40 percent — according to a recently released publication, one of the first to inventory the impact on a global scale.
Access to wood fuels for cooking must be considered when formulating policy to deal with food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa, according to researchers who advocate expanding the effort to improve wood-fuel systems and make them more sustainable.
On Sept. 6, a crew at Penn State Greater Allegheny broke ground on a new community garden with the hopes of helping to combat food insecurity on campus and in the local neighborhoods.
This semester Alison Gernand’s Community Nutrition class participated in the Backpack Program of the Centre County YMCA, which provides backpacks of food for the weekend to children that are on free/reduced lunch and low-income families.
The Student Nutrition Association is using a small project grant to distribute recipe cards to area food banks in an effort to make nutritious and affordable meals accessible to families in need.
The Community Food Security Club and the Student Farm Club at Penn State will host a free screening and panel discussion of the documentary "A Place at the Table" from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 12 in 102 Thomas Building.
With the cost of education and student debt rising, Penn State has made affordability and accessibility a priority for its students. A multitude of resources are available for all students, including additional resources for historically underserved populations. But even in the happiest of valleys, many students don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Penn State students have created Lion’s Pantry, an on-campus food bank intended to supplement any Penn State student’s food budget by providing them with a weekly assortment of goods donated by community members and corporate partners.
"When we talk about globalization," Bryan McDonald says, "people tend to think about computers or airplanes. But the way most people interact with the world on a daily basis is through what they eat." That's why McDonald, an environmental historian and assistant professor of Science Technology and Society at Penn State, chose food as the focus of his most recent book. Food Security, published by Polity Press, examines the interlocking challenges of developing a sustainable global food system for the 21st century.
