Summertime Rewind

The crabapples are red, the salmon are about spawned out, berry picking and moose hunting is on many an Alaskan mind, and parents across the state are getting back into the school year groove. University students across the UA system and at APU return to classes today (August 26), and Fall feels like it’s actually here.

So now, we at FRESH are taking a moment to reflect on the whirlwind summer — and we wanted to share with you some of the activities and accomplishments that we’re most proud of, say thank you to those who helped us along with way, and highlight future opportunities to engage with FRESH:

Food Lab

With UAA Sociology Professor Zeynep Kilic in the lead, FRESH was proud to co-organize the June 2019 Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS) and Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society (AFHVS) annual conference in Anchorage, Alaska. We hosted ~300 food scholars from across the US and around the world, resulting in an economic impact of over $1 million on the city of Anchorage (according to Visit Anchorage). Highlights included the What Why How We Eat exhibit at the Anchorage Museum and food by Muse Chef Laura Cole, a wild harvest banquet with Chef Amy Foote at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, and a Turkish picnic hosted by Dr. Kilic and several visiting Turkish chefs.

FRESH collaborators submitted several grant applications in recent months, and while we’re waiting to hear back, we’re moving forward with INBRE funding to conduct soil analyses at the former Alaska Native Medical Center site in downtown Anchorage. Drs. Micah Hahn and Liz Snyder are coordinating with the Municipality and EPA Brownfields consultants to inform urban agriculture efforts at the neglected site.

Foodpreneurship

We are excited to hire APU student Silvia A Leon-Guerrero as a research assistant, with support from the Walter J. Hickel Endowed Professorship in Strategic Leadership fund. Leon-Guerrero will be developing an employer survey and conducting an Alaska food systems workforce needs assessment, so that future FRESH programming is responsive to current and predicted needs. If you have requests for survey content or key informant suggestions, please email Rachael Miller at remiller@alaskapacific.edu.

GrowU

FRESH hosted two UAA Center for Community Engagement and Learning (CCEL) student interns who completed community-engaged projects in support of FRESH’s mission.

UAF Cooperative Extension Agent Heidi Rader, Dr. Sheri Coker, and Dr. Liz Snyder completed a two-week series of learning modules with the Alaska Summer Research Academy, entitled What’s for Dinner? Why We Eat What We Eat in Alaska and What it Means for Our Health. Funded through a grant from the USDA Women and Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Fields Program (WAMS), Rader, Coker, and Snyder worked with Alaska highschool students to explore Alaska food systems and apply lessons learned in a culminating culinary competition.