“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” ~ Kofi Annan
What is food literacy and how can it help you, your household and community?
In the past blog posts, we have been exploring the Keys Drivers to Food Security as seen through the lenses of SOCS (Seeds of Change Surrey) leadership team, and presented some questions and ideas for you to explore what is being done and what you can do to improve them in your own life, your household and community.
We also explored how food literacy is actually in your hands: while many organizations and groups are doing an excellent job offering information, skills, resources and tools, the real change happens when communities and individuals decide to learn and apply this knowledge and skills on their own.
Food literacy can bring joy and fun to your table along with health and food security and resilience for you and your community.
By choosing wisely, you can also be part of the solution for many of the current challenges we have, from hunger to poverty, to social inequality to resource depletion, to pollution to climate change!
Your food choices matter!
Food literacy involves various aspects around food:
- Food nutrition and knowledge: knowing all the food groups and their nutrition value, where the food comes from and what’s in it
- Food skills: being able to prepare nutritious and healthy foods by using basic skills, the ability to read and follow recipes and be food safe
- Self-efficacy and confidence: includes nutrition literacy, the ability to apply this knowledge, cooking self-efficacy and attitude towards food
- Ecologic (external) factors: understanding the interaction of food and other systems and the social determinants of health
- Food decisions: pertains to our behavior, the ability to apply the knowledge and skills to make healthy and sustainable food choices for ourselves, our households and communities
How do you start being food literate?
In the upcoming weeks, we will explain the above categories with examples and will be sharing some tips and resources you have (in our region or online) to make this happen.
Let’s start a challenge! Let’s become food literate and spread the word!
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