Post 14: 20th Anniversary of the Canadian Association for Food Studies

What is the oldest profession in the World? Nope, it is not what you were told. Before politicians, we had storytellers. I cannot verify this empirically, but my hunch is that people loved telling stories and others loved listening to them. For thousands of years until the advent of writing, and even thousands of years after writing, most people relied on stories told to them by others. We invented new professions such as teaching and journalism, but only a brave few admit they are storytellers. There were many other stories before the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Odyssey of Homer, the Vedas, the Book of the Dead, or the Story of Job. Still, because they relied on the oral culture, many earlier stories disappeared or melted into those we are familiar with. As long as humans have existed, I imagine they have shared their experiences with younger generations.

The trouble with oral culture is that it relies on memory. Unfortunately, memory is a very selective storyteller. I heard multiple versions of the events I was part of and often wondered if my memory was failing me, as my friends would tell me a different story than the one I knew, with such conviction that I would doubt my own.

The secret to remembering a story is to keep repeating it. A storyteller like Homer could tell the Iliad hundreds of times, or until he was tired of it.

I decided to retire when I realized I kept telling the same stories, giving the same examples, and making the same jokes in my classroom. My new students never got tired of those, as they were new to them. I got bored with telling the same stories. I will stop this column one day if I get tired of repeating the same.

The Story of the Canadian Association for Food Studies:

Today, I will tell the story of the Canadian Association for Food Studies. I already told part of it in my earlier column, “On Being a Tree Planter.”

In 2005, I was chairing the Steering Committee of a civil society network we identified as Food Secure Canada. We were interested in finding ways to inform policymakers about key priorities regarding food security in Canada. This was to bring some academic and community-based researchers together, interview bureaucrats, journalists, and other policy advocates, and inform civil society organizations to develop the capacity to become effective researchers.

Until the 1990s, civil society-based researchers could apply for funding from public agencies such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) as principal investigators (PIs). Brewster Kneen's study of Cargill was a good example. Changes in the mid-1990s prevented CSO researchers from applying SSHRC grants as a PI. At the same time, charities were banned from engaging in partisan political activities but were allowed to engage in non-partisan public policy advocacy. While organizations with closer political connections or deeper pockets found ways to overcome these restrictions, smaller critical advocacy groups would find it difficult to find funding or engage in research that would be identified as “partisan.”

In response to criticism, the SSHRC established a grant category called Community-University Research Alliances (CURA)—this initiative aimed to foster stronger collaborations between community organizations and university researchers.

CURA seemed like a perfect solution for our university/CSO-based researchers. We wanted to study ways to strengthen civil society’s capacity to engage in the food security policy-making process and increase dialogue and participation between CSOs and governmental agencies. We wanted to improve methodologies for food security analysis by developing a common framework for national and community food security indicators and tools for evaluating outcomes.

Ours was an ambitious proposal with an impressive group of researchers and community partners. The team involved Micheline Beaudry (Univ Laval), Ellen Desjardins (OPHA), Debbie Field (FoodShare), Josée Johnston (U of Toronto), Kathleen Kneen (BC Food Systems), Mustafa Koc (TMU, as PI), Jean-Charles LeValee (AAFC), Rod MacRae (TMU), Aleck Ostry (UBC), Elaine Power (Queens Univ.), Daryn Qualman (NFU), Melody Roberts (Cancer Care Ont.), Wayne Roberts (TFPC), Cecilia Rocha (TMU), Sarah Wakefield (U. of Toronto), Gerda Wekerle (York), Jennifer Welsh (TMU), Nettie Wiebe (NFU), Patricia Williams (Mount Saint Williams Univ), Fiona Yeudall (TMU). Our community partners included, BC Food Systems Network, Canadian Association of Food Banks, Food Security Bureau, ofAgriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), National Farmers Union (NFU), Ontario Public Health Association (OPHA), Regroupement des cuisines collectives du Québec, Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, and Toronto Food Policy Council. Many of these friends moved to different institutions over the years, some retired, and some passed away. I had many opportunities to work with them and enjoyed reading their contributions, and I still remember them fondly.

In March 2005, we learned that our application was not successful. We hosted a meeting on 19 April 2005 to decide whether to reapply. At that meeting, we established an organization to bring together community and university-based researchers to respond to societal concerns, such as the causes of hunger, the impacts of industrial farming, or climate change. These were the types of questions that mainstream funders or journals would not necessarily be interested in. The Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS) emerged from that meeting.

I served as interim President until 2006 and as founding President until 2008. Alison Blay-Palmer was our second president, followed by Steffanie Scott. I am proud to have received the Canadian Association for Food Studies Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. CAFS is now a member of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and has its journal, Canadian Food Studies.

CAFS will have its annual conference on June 2-5, 2025, as part of the Congress of the Federation for Humanities and Social Sciences. As my memory is fading, I wanted to share some of the documents from the 2005-2006 period below to help my colleagues who may like to use these for future references.

Over the years, I noticed that worse than personal amnesia, the loss of institutional memory is one of the biggest threats to public organizations. In the age of digital knowledge, information is one click away. Unfortunately, erasing that information is also a click away, and I am afraid this could be the source of our institutional amnesia. I encourage institutional historians to keep archives or use tools like the Wayback Machine to study their organizational histories. Some organizations, such as the Agriculture and Human Values Society, have been keeping records of their past Board members. Unfortunately, they are rare.

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CAFS Founding Statement 2005:

Canadian Association for Food Studies

Founded in 2005, the Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS) promotes critical, interdisciplinary scholarship in the broad area of food systems: food policy, production, distribution and consumption. CAFS recognize the need for coordinated interdisciplinary research efforts in response to societal needs for informing policy makers, assessing the outcomes of community-based work, and demonstrating the environmental and social impacts of changes affecting food systems and food policies. Members are drawn from an array of disciplines including (but not limited to) adult education, agriculture, anthropology, economics, environmental studies, health studies, home economics, human nutrition, geography, philosophy, policy studies, public health, rural studies, sociology, social work and urban planning. Membership is open to academics, students, professionals and others interested in food studies research. CAFS encourages research that promotes local, regional, national, and global food security, but does not advocate or endorse specific policies or political platforms.

L'association Canadienne des études sur l'alimentation

Fondée en 2005, l’Association canadienne des études sur l’alimentation (ACEA) encourage le savoir critique et interdisciplinaire concernant le vaste domaine des systèmes alimentaires : politiques alimentaires, ainsi que production, distribution et consommation alimentaires. L’ACEA reconnaît qu’il doit y avoir des efforts de recherche interdisciplinaire coordonnés en réponse aux besoins de la société pour informer les décideurs politiques, apprécier les résultats de travaux à assises communautaire et démontrer les retombées environnementales et sociales des changements qui affectent les systèmes alimentaires et les politiques alimentaires. Les membres représentent un éventail de disciplines comprenant (mais ne se limitant pas à) l’éducation des adultes, l’agriculture, l’anthropologie, l’économie, les études environnementales, les études sur la santé, l’économie familiale, la nutrition humaine, la géographie, la philosophie, les études politiques, la santé publique, les études rurales, la sociologie, le travail social et la planification urbaine. L’adhésion est ouverte aux universitaires, aux étudiants, aux professionnels et autres personnes intéressées par les études sur l’alimentation. L’ACEA encourage la recherche qui favorise la sécurité alimentaire locale, régionale, nationale et globale, sans toutefois plaider en faveur ou endosser des politiques spécifiques ou des plate-formes politiques.

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Draft CAFS Constitution, June 15, 2005:

Constitution

Article I - Name
This association shall be known as the Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS) / L'association Canadienne des études sur l'alimentation

Article II - Objectives
1. The objectives of the Association are to promotes critical, interdisciplinary scholarship in the broad area of food systems: food policy, production, distribution and consumption. CAFS recognize the need for coordinated interdisciplinary research efforts in response to societal needs for informing policy makers, assessing the outcomes of community-based work, and demonstrating the environmental and social impacts of changes affecting food systems and food policies.

2. The Association is an educational organization, the activities of which shall be conducted without purpose of gain for its members. Any profits or other gains to the Association shall be used in promoting its objectives.

Article III - Languages
English and French shall be the official languages of the Association.

Article IV –Governing Bodies

The governing bodies of the Association shall consist of the following:

(a) the membership,

(b) the Executive Committee, and

(c) other committees and sub-committees as may be struck, from time to time, under the terms of this Constitution.

Article V - Membership
1. Membership in the Association is open to all who share its objectives.
2. Persons, institutions or corporations making a substantial contribution towards the objectives of the Association may be designated as Benefactors by the Executive Committee.
3. Membership categories shall be determined and dues fixed by the Executive Committee.
4. A member in good standing is defined as a member who has paid the membership dues of the current year.

Article VI – Executive Committee
The officers of the Association shall consist of a president, serving a two-year term; two vice-presidents, serving two year terms; a secretary-treasurer elected for a period of two years; six members at large elected for a period of two years one with a research focus/ or interest to the following regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies, West, North) .

Past-presidents and past secretary-treasurers will serve as non-voting members of the executive committee for a one year term after the re-election of a new executive committee to ensure smooth transition. The president, vice-president and secretary-treasurer shall not be eligible for immediate re-election to the same office.

Article VII - Executive Duties
The officers of the Association shall comprise the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee is empowered to:
1. transact the business of the Association;
2. appoint and delegate responsibilities to standing and special committees;
3. appoint the editors of the publications of the Association;
4. appoint and designate the duties of the administrative secretary and any other appointed posts required to carry out the business of the Association;
5. assign responsibilities to members of the Executive Committee;
6. determine the time and place of the annual meeting;
7. appoint, as required, through executive appointment or through election, representatives to act on behalf of the Association to other associations or events;
9. five shall be a quorum at Executive Committee meetings.

Article VIII - Accountability of the Executive
1. The president may convene a meeting of the Executive at any time and shall convene a meeting of the Executive Committee on request in writing of no less than five of the officers of the Association.
2. Executive decision can be undertaken by e-mail or teleconferences.

3. An officer or committee chair who is unable to fulfill the duties of the office for a period of a year shall resign.
4. The accounts of the Association shall be audited each year by a qualified accounting firm.
5. The Executive shall report on the business of the Association at each annual general meeting.

Article IX - Elections
1. Only members of the Association may hold office in the Association and vote in elections.
2. A nominating committee will be elected at the Annual General Meeting. It will be composed of five members: the Vice-President or Past President as chair, two members elected at the Annual General Meeting, and one member of the Executive Committee to ensure equitable representation.
3. A call for nominations to those positions on the CAFS Executive Committee, which will become vacant during the coming year, will be circulated to the membership. Nominations must be supported by two members of the Association, and the nominee must have indicated in writing her/his acceptance of the nomination.
4. The nominating committee will prepare a slate of candidates with the names of candidates nominated by the membership as well as its own nominations.
5. The Secretary-Treasurer shall conduct the election by mail prior to the annual business meeting.

Article X - Constitutional Change
1. Any member in good standing may propose a change in the Constitution providing the signatures of five other members in good standing have been secured.
2. The secretary-treasurer will circulate the proposed change to the membership by mail.
3. Ratification of the change requires the approval of two-thirds of the members who return the ballot within the specified time.

Article XI - Annual General Meeting
1. A general business meeting shall be held each year at a place and time designated by the Executive Committee.
2. All members shall be given two months notice of the date and place of the Annual General Meeting.
3. The agenda of the Annual General Meeting will be circulated in advance to all members and specific reference will be made to proposed constitutional changes, increases in membership dues, and proposals to undertake major new commitments.
4. All business at the meeting shall be settled by a simple majority of all members in good standing, present and voting.
5. A quorum of the Annual General Meeting shall be 25 members in good standing.

Article XII - Regional Divisions
1. Any group of members in any region may set up a regional division of the Association upon ratification of the proposed constitution by the Executive Committee.

Article XIII - Study Groups
1. The Executive may endorse the formation of a study group on evidence of the support of at least 15 members of the Association in good standing.
2. Study groups will have an elected chair and other officers as they may deem appropriate.
3. Study groups will submit a report annually to the Executive as evidence of their continued activity.
4. Study groups may hold special sessions at the annual general meeting, and may provide material to CAFS publications.

Article XIV - Awards
1. The Executive may constitute awards to further the interests of the Association and of Food Studies.
2. An awards committee shall be appointed annually by the Executive to select appropriate nominees for CAFS and other awards to be submitted to the Executive for final approval.

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From the CAFS Newsletter, May 15, 2006

About the Organization

Canadian Association for Food Studies is a new interdisciplinary association joining the annual congress of the Canadian Federation of humanities and social sciences. Our two day conference at the beginning of June will be our fist annual general meeting. At this not very well promoted event we will have 24 sessions and two plenary panels. For a brand new organization this is a major accomplishment. I like to thank those who spent a lot of time and energy for making this event a reality. But, in all fairness, our success has more to do with our ability to respond to a collective need than our organizing skills.

As researchers in academia, community organizations or public agencies, we have been increasingly aware of the need for cooperation for interdisciplinary research, training and dissemination of information. Organizations such as the Agriculture Food and Human Values Society and Food and Society had recognized this need for some time ago. I still remember our discussions on the need for an interdisciplinary systemic approach to food studies at the Crossing the Borders Conference we hosted in Toronto, in 1999. While recognizing this need, we also were aware of the difficulties for receiving funding for interdisciplinary projects. In recent years public funding agencies have tried to encourage universities to be more responsive to the needs of the industry by offering matching grants for research based on university-private sector partnerships. While some see this as an attempt to give Canadian industry a competitive advantage and create closer ties between industry and universities, others pointed out that this type of research set limits to availability of funds for research in areas of societal concern.

On April 19, 2005, following a meeting at Ryerson University a group of academic and community based researchers decided to organize an association to promote critical, interdisciplinary scholarship in the broad areas of food production, distribution, and consumption.

The Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS) recognize the need for coordinated interdisciplinary research efforts in response to societal needs for informing policy makers, assessing the outcomes of community-based work, and demonstrating the environmental and social impacts of changes affecting food systems and food policies. Members are drawn from an array of disciplines including (but not limited to) adult education, agriculture, anthropology, economics, environmental studies, health studies, home economics, human nutrition, geography, philosophy, policy studies, public health, rural studies, sociology, social work and urban planning. Membership is open to academics, students, professionals and others interested in food studies research. CAFS encourages research that promotes local, regional, national, and global food security, but does not advocate or endorse specific policies or political platforms.

As of early May we had 130 registered members. To demonstrate the diversity, let me offer you some figures. Of the 130 registered members, we had 65 from Ontario, 18 from Quebec, 17 from BC, 17 from the Prairies, 6 from Atlantic Canada and 7 international members. Of these, 94 of them came from academic community, 27 from community organizations and 9 from government sector. The academic disciplines of our members included (in alphabetical order) anthropology, contemporary studies, communication studies, development studies, English, environmental studies, folklore, geography, health sciences, history, justice studies, liberal studies, medicine, nutrition, political science, psychology, public health, religion, social work, sociology, and women’s studies.

Most of us who have been working in diverse fields of research dealing with food practices, structures, institutions and polices emphasize the need for a broader systemic perspective. As Ken Dahlberg argues, “food is a process not a product”. Looking at food as a process implies careful scrutiny of interlinkages and interconnections among these practices, processes, structures. This awareness, in return implies the need for interdisciplinary collaboration so that we can benefit from different methodological and analytical strengths of diverse academic disciplines. We also believe that seemingly mundane everyday activities and social troubles carry the hints for these complex interconnections. Research in food studies, for this reason, cannot be confined to laboratories and require closer cooperation among researchers in academic, public, and civil society based organizations. Focusing on the interconnections, food systems perspective should not take anything for granted, in terms of its face value, but tries to uncover meanings attached to complex behaviour, language, discourses, practices and policies dealing with food.

We began our journey in 2005 with a number of priorities. We hope to review these in our annual general meeting in Toronto. The list includes:

• bringing researchers from diverse disciplines working at universities, public and community based organizations to meet regularly to identify research priorities and to share research findings;

• creating a platform for exchange of information on key research questions, common funding concerns, curriculum development, graduate studies in food studies in Canada;

• coordinating interdisciplinary research efforts in response to societal needs for informing policy makers, assessing the outcomes of community-based work, and demonstrating the environmental and social impacts of changes affecting food systems and food policies;

• facilitating closer communication and cooperation among Anglophone and Francophone researchers in Canada;

• encouraging a systems view in food studies to have a better understanding of interconnectedness among diverse processes, structures, institutions and policies;

• encouraging applied research that would respond to broad societal concerns, needs of policy makers, and community organizations;

• informing funding agencies for new research grants that would respond to societal concerns and will encourage new partnerships between academic, public and civil society organizations.

First general membership meeting:

Our draft bylaws are developed and available at our website at ……….. We encourage you to examine these. We will open these to our members’ approval at the annual general meeting on June 2^nd 2006. We are new. Our resources are very limited. Most of what we do is supported by volunteers. We need your advice, ideas and suggestions.

We decided to meet at the annual congresses of the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences. Our next meeting will be in Saskatoon in 2007.

Organizational Priorities:

An early survey we conducted last year identified eleven priorities for CAFS, including, organizing annual research conferences; publishing a newsletter to disseminate information about upcoming conferences, events; publishing occasional paper series; establishing a refereed journal on food studies; organizing an annual best student essay competition; communicating with funding agencies and research councils to seek more research funding in food studies in general and specifically in food systems, food security, food policy research; encouraging joint collaborative research partnerships involving Canadian Universities and civil society organizations; encouraging interdisciplinary and interuniversity collaboration in food studies; publishing an annual compendium of course syllabi on food studies; posting career related announcements; creating a web site for CAFS. Among these four seemed to unite most:

1. Organize annual research conferences

2. Communicate with funding agencies and research councils to seek more research funding in food studies in general and

3. Encourage joint collaborative research partnerships involving Canadian Universities and civil society organizations

4. Encourage interdisciplinary and interuniversity collaboration in food studies

We are optimistic that many future research collaborations would come out of these meetings.

We want to thank Ryerson University, that offered us office space and for handling our accounts through their financial services. The Faculty of Continuing Education at Ryerson is hosting our inaugural party. The Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, and Centre for Urban Health Initiative (CUHI) at University of Toronto supported some of our expenses.

CAFS has been the product of a collective effort of many of our members. Many others volunteered but we were not yet ready to benefit from their enthusiasm. I like to thank the members of the program committee, especially Elaine Power and Catherine Phillips who went over many drafts of this program with great patience and attention. Robin Kortright and Irena Knezevich were the backbones of our organizing effort. From website, to membership contacts they spent many hours. Lauren Baker, Preena Chauhan helped with local planning and logistics. Jennifer Welsh came back from a well deserved retirement break to help us with our organizing efforts. Sarah Wakefield, Steffanie Scott, Alison Blay-Palmer and many members of our first all volunteer interim executive made this event a reality. Finally, I like to thank the editor of the CAFS newsletter, Rachel Engler-Stringer who patiently sent me reminders to complete my editorial. Our table is getting bigger, menu is getting richer and we are in good company. Bon appetite!