Colonization by kale: marginalization, sovereignty, and experiential learning in critical food systems education

ABSTRACT

In increasingly cross-cultural global settings, the performance and promotion of healthy food, “good” food (comida saludable) have become conflated with a narrowing range of iconic vegetable and “superfood” trends that often reflect the health and dietary preferences of an affluent and/or aspirational consumer culture. These colonizing cultivars, and the haute cuisine trends they embody, often displace indigenous food knowledge, techniques, and products already compromised by the penetration of processed foods. Through experiential pedagogical examples from Guatemala and Vermont, this paper explores the ways in which participatory, indigenous food and seed sovereignty curricula can help decolonize these newest kinds of hegemonic impositions and reaffirm traditional food systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Marginalized foods
• food sovereignty
• experiential learning
• critical food systems education
• pedagogy

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Gabriela Maldonado, Melody Brook, and Carol Dickson for providing early constructive feedback on this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tony N. VanWinkle

Tony N. VanWinkle is an assistant professor in environmental studies and sustainable food systems at Guilford College, in Greensboro, North Carolina.