Food Systems

Food Systems

Food Systems: How do we create community through food? 

Lead Partner: Jamie Koehnlein Connor & Ken Cadow  ( English standards)

The Vermont Department of Health recently released a simple way to understand chronic disease in VT: 3-4-50.

  • 3 behaviors lead to 4 diseases that result in 50% of deaths in the state.

Many of these conditions are rooted in what we eat, so what do we do about all of this? Most consumers believe that eating healthy is cost-prohibitive, often selecting unhealthy, yet affordable products to feed themselves and their families. In this PBL Challenge, we will do the research necessary to understand the issues that prohibit people from engaging in a more healthy lifestyle. We will meet with experts, get out into the community, and advocate and implement change in the school and local community. We will take a journey together through the food systems pathway, from germination to propagation to harvest and distribution, all the while analyzing the challenges of sustainability, cost, and other factors that may contribute to the myth that eating healthy is complicated and unaffordable; and inviting and welcoming others to create community through a study of food systems. 

In addition, this PBL spends a significant amount of time in the kitchen learning food preparation skills and producing affordable, high quality homemade foods. 

Career Pathways: This PBL Challenge will appeal to those students interested in career fields such as sustainable agriculture, food service, supply chain management, economics, political science, biology, and nutrition.