How moral are your food choices?

By Erika L. Mantz, Media Relations

Explore the connections among eating, ethics and the ability of citizens and communities to shape a sustainable food system through their food choices in a symposium and lecture series April 25-27, organized by UNH’s Office of Sustainability Programs.

The Eating as a Moral Act: Ethics and Power from Agrarianism to Consumerism 2003-2004 Saul O Sidore Memorial Lecture Series will feature lectures over the course of three days by Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition and food studies and author of “Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health”; Sidney Mintz, an anthropologist who studies the history of foods; Dana and Laura Jackson, a mother and daughter who co-edited “The Farm as Natural Habitat: Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems;” Brother David Andrews, executive director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference; and Sandy Oliver, editor of Food History News. The lecture series is free and open to the public. The fee to attend the symposium is $100. UNH students, staff and faculty may attend the symposium panel sessions free of charge. This waived fee does not include meals.

The symposium will include the lecture series and additional panel sessions exploring topics ranging from food education models to relocalizing the food system, as well as informal networking opportunities and some meals. The goal of the symposium is to draw attention to the scholarly discourse and political activism currently asking provocative questions and offering controversial answers about the connection between consumers’ freedom of choice, environmental sustainability and human rights ethics.

The Saul O Sidore Memorial Lecture Series was established in 1995 in memory of Saul O Sidore of Manchester. The purpose of the series is to offer the university community and the state of New Hampshire programs that raise critical and sometimes controversial issues facing our society. The series is sponsored by UNH’s Center for the Humanities. For more information or to register for the symposium, visit www.sustainableunh.unh.edu or call the Office of Sustainability Programs at 2-4088.