Culinary Approach to Inclusion and Belonging in Higher Education

Jana Noel, Ph.D., is professor emeritus at California State University, Sacramento, with over 30 years of teaching, research, and service in multicultural education. She created and coordinated the Urban Teacher Education Center, an award-winning university-school-community partnership program that served socioeconomically challenged students and their families living in public housing. She served as Sacramento State's Special Assistant to the President and Provost's Fellow for Community and Civic Engagement, and she led the research and evaluation team for the Sacramento Mayor's Office and United Way's community service initiatives. Her edited book Moving Teacher Education into Urban Schools and Communities: Prioritizing Community Strengths received the 2013 Critics Choice Book Award from the American Educational Studies Association.

• Acknowledgments Series Foreword by T. Jameson Brewer Introduction: The Culinary Experience in Higher Education by Jana Noel Chapter 1. The Many Flavors of Jewish Eating: Kashrut and More on College Campuses by Patricia Munro Chapter 2. Breaking Fast, Breaking Barriers: Implementing Halal and Ramadan Accommodations for Muslims in Higher Education by Milie Majumder and Shafiqa Ahmadi Chapter 3. Unwelcome Toasts: The Exclusion of Non-Drinkers in Academia and Professional Spaces in Higher Education by Hind Haddad Chapter 4. Celiac on Campus: Understanding and Navigating the Medical Need for a Gluten-free Culinary Environment by Jana Noel Chapter 5. Front of House, Back of Mind: Autistic Student Stories and the Call for Neuro-Inclusive Campus Dining by Carolyn O'Laughlin and Dan Brewer Chapter 6. Queer Foodscapes on Campus: Culinary Marginalization, Dysphoria, and Resistance in Higher Education by Ishan Tripathi Chapter 7. Missing on the Menu: Campus Dining and African International Student Sense of Belonging by Evans Lorlornyo Aglah and Ali Watts Chapter 8. The Art of Gathering Across Borders: Creating Belonging Through Shared Meals by Sadiq Mohammed Chapter 9. The Sustenance of Teaching: An Examination of the Connection between Food Philosophy and Ethnic Studies by Dellyssa Edinboro Conclusion: Incorporating Culinary Lessons to Ensure Inclusion and Belonging in Higher Education by Jana Noel About the Authors Index

"After reading this book I now understand why food is more than nourishment. It can affirm dignity, express identity, and cultivate belonging in higher education. A Culinary Approach to Inclusion and Belonging in Higher Education makes a compelling case that the culinary dimensions of campus life are central to creating diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging on college campuses. Insightful and incredibly timely, this edited volume expands how we think about justice in higher education and why culinary practices matter so deeply on our college and university campuses." - Nicholas D. Hartlep, Berea College "The chapters in A Culinary Approach to Inclusion and Belonging in Higher Education invite readers to sit at a table filled with culinary histories and storied experiences that are at times painful to witness but also filled with hope. The heart work of this book illustrates the best of courageous writing at a time when we all need courage to see each other's humanity and act in ways that foster spaces of loving belonging. Conversations around and about food and the places where we nourish our bodies, souls, and communities are a great way to start." - Sarah B. Shear, University of Washington Bothell"As someone who falls under the 'food is the language by which I show love, support, and care' umbrella, this collection of smart and insightful pieces provided both pause and possibility. It's hopefully commonplace for institutions to ask about dietary restrictions as a means to signal and enact a version of inclusivity. These essays, in my mind in conversation with the literature in Critical Disability Studies, push the conversation beyond inclusion. If food and drink are often used to welcome and show hospitality, the authors generously offer compelling positions as to why we need more than just something Kosher, something gluten-free, or something non-alcoholic. How we do and think about food communicates much about who belongs (or who gets promoted), and I thank the authors for pushing the conversations in critical, abstinent, sweet, and savory directions." - Mark Stern, Colgate University"The authors highlight an often forgotten aspect of life on college campuses, yet food permeates all of our daily lives. This book provides valuable insights on how food serves as a medium of and for identity and belonging, specifically through physical and emotional (dis)connections and (mal)nourishment, all of which are mired in complexity in higher education. Essential reading for anyone who wants to learn more about the intersections of food, justice, and campus cultures." - Christina W. Yao, University of South Carolina