2026 Student Symposium on Food Justice
On Saturday, May 2nd, 2026, 83 students, faculty and staff from UC Davis gathered at the RMI Sensory building for the first Student Symposium on Food Justice. This gathering sought to unite students who are dedicated to a food system that nourishes both people and the planet and support our collective efforts to advance justice in our food system.
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Celebration of Success - Presentations
The Symposium kicked off with presentations from student leaders in six different organizations that support food access, sustainable food, and food justice at UC Davis. Learn about the presenters and their organizations below:
- David Blecherman from Real Food Challenge
- Andie Tarabzooni from ASUCD The Pantry
- Haley Donoho from Fresh Focus at the Student Farm
- Casey Cabugao from Food Recovery Network
- Bless Choi from the Aggie Eats Food Truck
- Daniela Sandoval from Fruit and Veggie Up!
Sessions & Panels
In five sessions and panels, student, faculty and staff leaders from across campus shared about their experiences and work with different aspects of food justice highlighting challenges they have faced and engaging participants in discussion.
Food Waste and Recovery at UC Davis
Students Renata Rosales-Verdugo, Ivan Martinez, Haiyi Lin, Maryam Tahira Hasan shared about their research on food waste and recovery, which was complemented by Casey Cabugao’s - President of Food Recovery Network UC Davis - own experience working to recover food on campus.
Impacting Food Justice Through Research
Three UC Davis researchers, Jessica Quiroz-Medina, an undergraduate researcher for the Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center, Ruby Bal, a Masters of Public Health student and Lia Faaleava, a Geography PhD student shared about their research.
Organizing Around Food Justice
Dr. Liza Grandia, Professor and Department Chair of Native American Studies, and Kase Wheatley, a PhD student in Geography, engaged participants in a panel on organizing around food justice and activism.
UC Davis Institutions: A Look at Food Security and Food Justice
Assistant Director of Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center, Robb Davis and student Staff, Lorena Alvarez Flores, Oliver Solorzano de Lara and Daniela Sandoval shared their perspective on food security and food justice as well as challenges facing the center.
Moderated Discussion on Cultural Relevance and Belonging
Symposium attendees were engaged in interactive discussion on the importance of culturally relevant food moderated by Mayra Concepción, a Graduate Student Researcher working with Chinese farmers in Locke, Will McMahan, a PhD candidate in plant sciences investigating cultural uses of jute, Niamh Maher and Sidra Habibi, undergraduate interns at the African Food Basket Project.
Lunch Workshop
We did lunch a little differently. Instead of catering, our Symposium attendees cooked lunch together. The Teaching Kitchen Team designed a plant-based menu, and led attendees to assemble the delicious lunch from scratch, with ingredients sourced from the UCD Student Farm and Davis Food Co-op.
Closing Keynote
Alison Hope Alkon, Professor in Community Studies at UC Santa Cruz, and alumni of UC Davis, delivered the Symposium’s closing keynote.
Open Space Technology
The final hours of the Symposium were facilitated as an Open Space Technology, where attendees chose the agenda. Discussions were held on decolonizing our food system, ethics in agriculture, herbicides at UC Davis, campus advocacy and adressing areas of overlap & opportunities for collaboration across food justice networks. The discussions were thoughtful, generative and action oriented.
What Comes Next?
Keeping the conversation going. We hope and encourage that the conversations started on Saturday continue. We invite everyone to join our Discord server to keep the conversation going. Updates on future Symposium planning will be shared soon.
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Thank You
The Student Symposium on Food Justice was supported by a grant from The Green Initiative Fund at UC Davis.
Thank you to all our session leaders and presenters for sharing your expertise, wisdom, and guidance! We would like to extend our enthusiastic gratitude to the following contributors who made this Symposium possible:
- Jonah Messinger, Eli Zemsky, Sean Tran: Organizers
- Alexandra Basquette: Graphic Designer
- Lieli Barakzai, Tamar Crump, Zahid Cruz, Asra Kakar, Johanna Kiegler, Tomoe Terada, Matthew Hecomovich and Aarna Singla for volunteering their time and labor to make the Symposium possible.
- Stasha Leonard for designing and facilitating lunch
- Darixa Medrano, Maria Zurita, Omolade Ajayi for assisting with lunch preparation
- Kathryn Olson, Helen Kim, Jennifer Radke for assistance facilitating our grant
- Leslie Kemp and Julia Holland for assistance in organizing and for hosting SSonFJ webpage
- Babette Orendain & Ned Spang for use of the RMI facilities
- Matthew Ford for use of the Food Innovation Lab
- Jan Velilla and the Student Farm Market Garden Team for gathering produce for lunch.
- The Davis Food Co-op for supplying and donating ingredients for lunch.
- The UC Davis Olive Center and Viticulture and Enology Department for donations made.
The following people for their consultation, advice and support as we planned the Symposium:
Claire Napawan, Kai Moser, Charlotte Biltekoff, Michelle A Villegas-Frazier, Colin Dixon, Chamayo Yniguez, Tim Galarneau, Ruben Canedo, Hamsa Ganapathi, Morganne Blais-McPherson, Richard Ronquillo, Emmanuel Momo, Geneva Sara Jost, Daniella Gutierrez-Flores, Eric Obrien, Dewansh Singh Matharoo, Stacey Baran, Elizabeth McQueen, Yansong (Kevin) Li