| |
| author |
Anna Beth Lee
| | title |
Finding the Food Voice: "Farm-to-Table" Experiences of Grow It Green Morristown CSA Participants
| | abstract |
This project investigates the journey of produce from the Urban Farm Stand at Grow It Green
Morristown onto the kitchen tables of community locals. The results provide insight into the life
of the produce after leaving the marketplace and speak more broadly about participants’
relationships to sustainable food systems. After volunteering at the farm for a month and a half
through October 2024, I recruited CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) participants to fill
out a Pre-Research Demographic Survey and an Informed Consent Form. During the last week
of October into the first week of November 2024, 36 participants signed up for the project. They
were asked to photograph all stages of the produce from the Urban Farm Stand for one
week—including food preparation, cooking, meal times, finished dishes, leftovers, and any other
processes they wished to document. 21 participants followed up with photographs that captured
their food journey. Afterward, 12 of the 21 participants elected to conduct a follow-up interview
with me, providing more insight into their personal relationships with their CSA produce and the
photography stage. The consumer photos and interviews were analyzed thematically to display
how these interactions with produce provide insight into North Jersey residents' relationship to
fresh produce—and, by that measure, their relationship to their American and heritage identities,
sustainability ethics, family values, and experimentation with food in the home. This research
demonstrates the value of participation in Grow It Green's CSA program and calls to expand the
farm-to-table experience by pushing for CSA and urban farming to spread further into the
food-insecure communities that need it the most.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2025)
|
| advisor |
Summer Harrison
|
| committee |
Marc Boglioli
|
| full text | ALee.pdf |
| |
