Moral Voices, a campus–wide awareness initiative based at Hillel, is spending this year focusing on our favorite topic, FOOD! Caroline Kassie and Ariella Messing, the club’s chairs, share a bit with Street about the theme.
Street: What is Moral Voices?
Caroline Kassie: Moral Voices is an awareness initiative that focuses on a single social justice issue each academic year. We try to examine this issue through a variety of lenses in order to reach as much of the student body as possible. While we are not a service organization we try to be a liaison for students who want to take action on the issues we examine by providing a number of different ways they can get involved.
Ariella Messing: Moral Voices is a new student activism and awareness group at Penn. Every year, we choose a topic that we think people on campus aren’t talking about, or aren’t thinking about through a moral lens. We try to plan cool events that look at the issue in a variety of ways and will appeal to different students on campus.
Street: What did you focus on last year?
C.K.: Last year our theme was human trafficking. We unanimously decided that this should be the inaugural theme as it spoke to every member of our board. Our program last year examined how modern–day slavery takes place across the globe and even in our own backyards right here in Philadelphia. It is a harrowing and difficult topic but one that is well worth learning about.
A.M.: Last year’s theme was human trafficking and sex slavery. I personally knew very little about the topic until we started doing research for our events, and it is something that I still think about a lot. It was a tough topic to deal with because it really hits an emotional nerve and also becomes easy for us to simply ignore and allow to take place.
Street: What exactly is this year’s theme? What aspects of food and eating are you focusing on?
C.K.: This year’s theme is food oinjustice. While the topic appears to be extremely broad what we are really focusing on is how poverty causes and fuels the problems of obesity, chronic hunger and malnutrition. Our focus is really about the moral issue — that we do not all have equal access to healthy foods. This manifests itself differently in different parts of the world and this is what we are trying to examine this year.
A.M.: This year’s theme catchphrase is “The hungry, obese and malnourished: victims of the poverty paradox.” What we seek to explore is how poverty serves as the underlying cause of these three ailments. Ultimately, I think this is about establishing the basic human right to a healthy and adequate diet.
Street: Why food this year?
C.K.: We selected this topic because for starters, everyone is affected by food. We will continue to eat food for the rest of our lives; it is not an issue we can avoid. It is an issue we can take action on simply by changing our everyday eating habits and being conscious consumers. We also saw that this was an issue that we didn’t feel was being adequately represented on campus. We see different groups that are focusing on hunger in Philadelphia or obesity in America or hunger in the developing world but we thought it was important to bridge these issues and create a coalition of the groups that are focusing on different aspects of it.
A.M.: Food is a really intriguing topic. Not only do we all need it, but we also spend a considerable amount of time each day buying it, preparing it, eating it and talking about it. While I am interested in the ethical implications food topics such as GM crops, local food and the meat business, I think that very few students are talking about equal access to food. There are so many cool student groups on campus that are doing service projects in schools and soup kitchens in Philadelphia, so we really wanted to start a campus–wide discussion about how morality plays into food and bridge all of these individual topics which at first glance may seem unrelated to one another.
Street: What’s with all the depressing food signs on Locust Walk?
C.K.: These are facts that we found through our research this summer on the topic. They struck us and made us passionate about the issue. We are hoping that being exposed to disturbing statistics will do the same for some students and faculty. We also believe that most people do not stop to think about where the food comes from or how their meals are a part of a broader food system that is causing many problems. It’s as much about awareness as it is a call to action.
A.M.: Moral Voices is an awareness campaign. Our goal is to get the conversation started and to inspire students to take action. So, I’m pleased to hear that you find them depressing; hopefully many other students feel the same way and are motivated to do something about those alarming statistics.
Street: What will you be doing to promote the theme — any cool events or meals?
A.M.: We have a ton of cool events lined up for this year. Last week we showed a great documentary as part of Bon Appetit’s Food Week. Our next event is an interfaith dinner on Friday, Nov. 19 with Rabbi Richard Marker and Mirele Goldsmith. We also have a photo competition currently going on with a $200 cash prize to the winner and a great display of all the entries on college green in December. In the spring, along with a few other small events, we have a hunger banquet with awesome speakers and a top–secret celebrity speaker coming to campus in March. Stay tuned for more information on www.moralvoices.com and in the DP! Hopefully each of these events will speak to different people and propel them to take action – or at least to continue to come to our events!
Street: What’s one thing you didn’t know about food before you started this year’s project?
A.M.: The more I learn about the topic, the more I realize how little I really know. I have also learned that the global food system is involved in a huge number of other seemingly unrelated fields and industries.
Street: What do you hope for people to learn or know about by the end of the theme’s year?
C.K.: We hope that students will learn something about each of the subtopics but also that they are really all connected. We also want to convey that as young as we are, it is possible for us to make huge differences in people's lives and that this starts by becoming aware.
A.M.: I hope that people learn to question the current food system and keep the discussion going. While the theme will be over at the end of the school year, the problems will definitely still be present!
