Resistance and Resilience Through Food Pedagogies

This research used platicas and photo elicitations as methods to understand how communities of color in Salt Lake County use food pedagogies to cultivate resistance and resilience. I recruited diverse youth or young adults of 18-24 and asked them to document through photos the process of preparing meals with their elders. Then, I used platicas (informal conversation) and photos to ask questions. Almost all participants talked about their grandmas or female elders as knowledge holders of food. Participants shared how food is accessed for survival and preservation as well as how they are prepared and handled and what they mean. Participants described the role of food for interpersonal and intrapersonal communication and relationship. Through this research, I show how participants use food as a multidimensional lens to understand self, community, societal issues, and planetary issues. Finally, participants shared their cultural resourcefulness and resistance obtained from gardening and practices to reduce food waste.