Building a Bigger Table

Food insecurity, whereby individuals are unable to obtain sufficient amounts of nutritionally adequate food, is prevalent in the state of Oklahoma. According to the USDA, 17% or 656,000 Oklahomans are food insecure, and 24% of Oklahoma households with children are food insecure. As a response, several initiatives designed to alleviate food insecurity and restore marginalized communities’ rights to healthy, nutritious and affordable food have developed in Oklahoma. Designed as food resource centers (FRCs), these projects emerge as collaborations between local-level community leaders and the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Working in partnership with a local FRC, the Building a Bigger Table Oral History Project aims to understand the initiative’s emergence, illuminate individuals’ experience with food insecurity, discover local foodways of rural Oklahomans, and explore the ways that food practices impact individuals’ identity and sense of dignity.

About the Collection

Working in partnership with the FRC, Our Daily Bread, this project uses a food justice framework to understand the initiative’s emergence in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Our Daily Bread assembled a coalition of food pantries, community members, and civic and faith-based organizations with the goal of tackling food insecurity issues through unique strategies. By engaging with local food partners to support sustainable food access initiatives, as well as offering food choices and educational programming, the FRC’s intent was to restore dignity to the process of food procurement for underserved and under-resourced individuals. Early stages of development lasted for several years, resulting in the center’s grand opening in September 2017.

This collection houses interviews with three distinct groups of individuals, each representing a unique perspective in the local food landscape. Though the interview topics vary between groups in relation to community development initiatives and experiences with food insecurity, interviews with all three groups cover foodways, food practices, and the ways that food shapes identities and impacts dignity. Interviews were conducted from 2016-2018.

Group 1 individuals are current and past board members and volunteers of the FRC, local food pantry organizers and volunteers, government officials, and employees of state-based aid organizations and agencies. Interviews encompass stories of involvement with initiative development and operational strategies. The insights offered by these individuals may be beneficial for future similar projects that rely on community partnerships and coalition building.

Group 2 individuals are community members living with food insecurity, who self-identify as marginalized members of their local food environment, and/or who qualify for, and have used, food assistance through government or community programs. Interviews were conducted prior to the FRC’s opening and comprise stories of barriers to food access and experiences using a variety of pantries and assistance programs as a primary food source. This interview set provides valuable insight on the ways that food insecurity impacts daily life experiences and individuals’ overall relationships with food, and offers suggestions for best practices in assistance programs.

Group 3 individuals are community members living with food insecurity who have used the new FRC to access food. Interviews were conducted after the FRC became fully operational, and focus on exploring the operational strategies and practices of the new initiative. Interviews consider how the FRC’s existence has altered food access in the community for individuals using the program, and allow FRC guests an opportunity to compare their experiences with those in other assistance programs.

View the Collection

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Contact Us

Oklahoma Oral History Research Program
207 Edmon Low Library
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078
Phone: 405-744-7685
liboh@okstate.edu

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