Recap: Representing UCLA Food Studies at the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society (AFHVS) 2025 Conference

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Award presented to Sarah Schecter for highly attended session. The presentation was on food and political resistance.

By Sarah Schecter

On June 20, I had the privilege of representing UCLA at the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society (AFHVS) Conference, hosted by Oregon State University’s Food in Culture and Social Justice Program. The three-day event gathered scholars, activists, and students to explore food systems on every level imaginable, from a Juneteenth feast to a roundtable on cookbooks in Mexico City.

I was honored to present my paper, “Performing La Huelga: The Role of Theatre and Food in the Delano Grape Strike,” which received the AFHVS 2025 Undergraduate Student Paper Award. The strike began in 1965 when Filipino farmworkers walked out over low wages, soon joined by César Chávez’s Mexican-American union. On the picket lines, playwright Luis Valdez’s El Teatro Campesino staged bilingual actos—short political skits where foods like grapes, tortillas, and beans became symbols of both exploitation and resilience.

Title slide of Sarah's presentation. Presentation is called Performing La Huelga: The Role of Theatre and Food in the Delano Grape Strike.

I connected this history to present-day protests in Los Angeles against ICE raids, framing both as public performances negotiating belonging, labor, and nationhood. My panel, “Food and Political Resistance,” drew one of the largest audiences of the conference. Though I felt intimidated by my fellow presenters—who spoke on pie-throwing, Palestinian restaurants, and Italian fascist kitchen design—I was met by a room of curious listeners. During the panel talkback, a fellow presenter referred to my research as labor studies, which helped me see my project not only through the lens of food studies, but also through performance and labor studies. The exchange reminded me that food studies is inherently interdisciplinary and intercultural, living at the intersection of every subject food touches, both materially and metaphorically.

Beyond the panel, it was heartening to see a small but mighty UCLA showing: Alexandra Solodkaya, our Food Studies Librarian, and Dr. Elizabeth McQueen, a UCLA Food Studies alum. With support from the UCLA Rothman Family Institute for Food Studies, my first academic conference was a profoundly exciting and affirming step forward in my academic journey.

My second biggest highlight besides running into other Bruins was the catering: abundant and varied seasonal Oregon produce. Still, by the end, I found myself thinking UCLA dining halls might just be a little bit better.

Award presented to Sarah Schecter for highly attended session. The presentation was on food and political resistance.

A selfie of Sarah Schecter and two other woman. Sarah has short curly hair and smiles at the camera.

Sarah Schecter is a proud graduate of UCLA’s Class of 2025, where she minored in Food Studies and was honored as a Marcie Rothman Scholar in 2023, and graduated as Valedictorian of the School of Theatre. She currently works as a line cook at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, the restaurant that helped launch the Californian farm-to-table movement. In addition, she works with Diaspora Spice Company, a business dedicated to creating a more delicious and equitable spice trade, and contributes regularly to Edible LA magazine. Looking ahead, she plans to pursue graduate studies in interdisciplinary food studies. Her primary research interests include national identity and food culture, as well as the lives of restaurants and the people who work in them.