A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of sitting down with an up-and-coming food professional focused on urban agriculture and social justice, and a dear friend, Azziza Robinson. Check out the video to learn about urban agriculture, how Azziza got started, and how she thinks the pandemic will impact the food system in this first video of FoodStories, a series by the Museum of Food and Culture.
Azziza Robinson first began her journey into the food space as an undergraduate at Tuskegee University studying food science. Within the food science program she was able to learn a great deal about the science behind the creation of food products and people mainly as consumers, but she grew increasingly more interested in learning about the process of growing food and about how the food system effects people, animals, and the environment. With this new focus in mind, Azziza went on to attend graduate school at Chatham University for a masters in food studies. Her focus in graduate school was largely centered on black farmers and the role of sustainable agriculture in food justice.
Azziza currently works as the Youth Program Coordinator for an urban farming non-profit in Chicago called Urban Growers Collective, where she coordinates the organization’s youth education programs that teach high school aged teens about the many aspects of urban farming and community food system development.