“Back of the House” Considerations in Decolonizing Food Systems Education

While we might think of food systems education as being mainly a part of land grant universities’ work in rural regions with an agriculture-focused economy, food systems education is just as important in the Bronx, New York. This article analyzes some of the lesser-known barriers to meaningful decolonization of food systems education. In it, I reflect on issues related to the “back of the house” in higher education. Deploying a metaphor from the food service industry where “front of the house” is comprised of the public facing roles, such as servers, runners, and hosts, while “back of the house” includes cooks, prep, dishwashers, etc., I draw the analogy that in higher education, publishing, teaching, and alumni outreach are “front of the house,” (the visible, public-facing aspects of research and pedagogy), while financing, grant funding, staffing, procurement, and administration are “back of the house” components that often escape reflection or notice, but are absolutely crucial to the overall operation. I assert that the relatively invisible and bureaucratic realms of grant administration, purchasing, and space allocation are key and under-examined areas in need of decolonization, in the particular arena of food systems education specifically, but also in higher education generally.