Promoting Food Citizenship in Universities

Abstract

This article explores whether university projects, configured as experiential spaces, can act as ‘levers for change’ to promote food citizenship. Through a discussion group with six scholarship students from the university extension activity ‘PoliFeira do Agricultor’ at the Federal University of Santa Maria (Brazil) and semi-structured interviews with six students from the Nutrition and Dietetics Degree programme at the University of Antioquia (Colombia), who have completed their professional training in Food and Nutrition Services for Communities, we analyse how these students value the capacity of these initiatives to promote food citizenship. The results show the potential of these experiences as spaces for learning and training on food and the food system; their capacity to integrate different actors in the food system and to facilitate fair and equal access to healthy and quality food, especially for disadvantaged groups; and the opportunity they provide to empower students to take responsibility for transforming the food system as professionals, but also as citizens.