Lead the Charge for Food Education

I am very proud of the wonderful assortment of food bloggers in Sacramento. We consist of a group of go-getters. Food bloggers who take their passions and create events or organizations around them. One of these people is Amber Stott, from Awake at the Whisk, who created the California Food Literacy Center only two years ago. It has grown by leaps, bounds and influence and last month Amber was even named one of Sacramento's Top 40 Under 40! Now Amber will be commenting that this post is supposed be about the California Food Literacy Center, and it is. But you can't have it without the creator and so I had to start there.

No, this post is to let you know of a way that you can make a difference in the area of food education for children in a way that won't take too much of your time, but it will make a huge difference in the lives of children and yourself. So let's start with a little background on the organization first.

The mission of the California Food Literacy Center is "To inspire change today for a healthy, sustainable tomorrow through enduring community food education." They do so by educating children on making proper food choices and helping them to learn about food and where it comes from. 


In order to do this, they need teachers, or Food Literacy Advocates. But before the teachers can teach, they need to be taught. Thus the start of the Food Literacy Academy, a 10-week course that will teach you everything you need so that you can go to schools and children's groups to teach about food and nutrition. Topics covered include:

• key food literacy lessons and activities to take into the classroom or community
• classroom management and teaching to audiences of varying ages
• nutrition 101
• recipe development
• cooking in a classroom
• food safety & official food handler certificate
• our food system

After you have completed the course you will be "certified" and will be expected to provide 100 hours of annual volunteer service in food education
services.

I think this is a noble pursuit for those with children or who love to work with them. It's also a great opportunity for people who are looking for some meaningful and fun ways to volunteer.

The course does cost $250, but there are a couple of scholarships available. The deadline to apply for the first enrollment is January 28th with classes starting on February 6th.

Please consider applying via the application form.  This document also has a detailed breakdown of the Food Literacy Academy.

As a final note, I am pleased that my own project, the Sacramento Food Film Festival, will be donating some of its proceeds to the California Food Literacy Center. Film is a great medium for teaching and so it made sense for Slow Food Sacramento and the film festival to team up with them this year.