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Creator: Jolee KeplingerProfile pic

Welcome! I created this blog during my senior year at Principia College. I graduated in 2020 with a major in Mass Communication and minors in Sustainability and Sociology/Anthropology.

The mission of this blog is to raise awareness about the local food movement (in relation to the broader topic of sustainable food systems) within and surrounding my college campus. This resource is not only relevant for those living near Elsah, IL or St. Louis, MO, but for anyone interested in food, community, and sustainability.

About: I’ve previously volunteered at an organic farm in Slovenia through the WWOOF program, and worked for Principia’s Center of Sustainability as the Dining Services Liaison Officer. Other food-related experiences include working at a home kitchen store and managing social media, interning for Hungry Planet® foods, developing recipes for Mighty Cricket and conducting a cost benefit analysis for a Freight Farm at Principia College.  I’m a food-venturer at heart, content creator, and future holistic wellness + sustainability coach. My ongoing passion-project started with this blog (Sophisticated Sustainability), and led to my sustainable lifestyle-themed Instagram account.

 

Resources & References

Key Terms

  1. Forage: To go from place to place searching for things that you can eat or use – Cambridge Dictionary
  2. Farm: A tract of land devoted to agricultural purposes – Merriam-Webster
  3. Feast: An elaborate and usually abundant meal / something that gives unusual or abundant enjoyment – Merriam-Webster
  • Foodprint: “the result of everything it takes to get your food from the farm to your plate” –FoodPrint.org
  • Foodshed: “The geographic location that produces the food for a particular population. The term describes a region where food flows from the area that it is produced to the place where it is consumed, including the land it grows on, the route it travels, the markets it passes through, and the tables it ends up on.” –Foodshed Alliance
  • Food Justice: “a holistic and structural view of the food system that sees healthy food as a human right and addresses structural barriers to that right” –FoodPrint.org
  • Food Miles: The distance food travels from where it is grown, to where it is ultimately purchased or consumed by the end user –grdc.org
  • Hyper-local: “food grown, processed, and consumed at the neighborhood level of a community” –Lexicon of Food
  • Locally Grown: food that is grown/produced, processed and then sold within a certain area –The Balance
    • There’s no standard definition of “local” though. Some may argue that 100 miles from the farm to table is local, while large grocery store chains may define “local” as up to 450 miles away.
  • Locavore: “one who eats foods grown locally whenever possible” –Merriam-Webster
  • Organic: “the product of a farming system which avoids the use of man-made fertilizers, pesticides; growth regulators and livestock feed additives. Irradiation and the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or products produced from or by GMOs are generally prohibited by organic legislation“–BBC Good Food
  • Regenerative Agriculture: “farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle” -Regeneration International
  • Slow Food“to escape the tediousness of ‘fast-food’” and “rediscover the rich varieties and aromas of local cuisines.” –Money Crashers
  • Sustainability: “the idea that goods and services should be produced in ways that do not use resources that cannot be replaced and that do not damage the environment” -Cambridge Dictionary

News/Magazine Articles

Scientific Studies

Videos