The creation of the First Lady’s Food Lab began with the creativity and initiative of student minds, supported by UVA faculty and staff. This page demonstrates the vision and work of students and collaborators.
The Vision:
To create a sound infrastructure to support and accelerate food-related research, initiatives, and classes for the purposes of food justice, community engagement, and environmental sustainability, at UVA and in the Charlottesville community.
The structure now known as the First Lady’s Food Lab at Morven began as a storage facility. The Morven Kitchen Garden program was growing and becoming more central to Morven’s vision. MKG students and volunteers needed an indoor space for educational programming and and events, and Morven’s field trip program with the local community needed indoor interpretive education space proximate to the garden.
University students led by professors Phoebe Crisman, Tanya Denckla Cobb, Paul Freedman, UVA’s Sustainable Food Collaborative and UVA’s Office for Sustainability envisioned a space that would help bridge the University and the community through local food initiatives.
The Mission:
To create a physical and symbolic nexus for food and sustainability efforts at the University of Virginia by educating and engaging UVA students, UVA faculty and Charlottesville community members.
UVA students proposed the design for the space, inspired by collaboration with the former First Lady of Virginia Dorothy McAuliffe, University faculty, Morven Programs, and professional architecture firm SMBW. Students conducted benchmarking field trips, and interviewed faculty and community stakeholders, in the effort to create thought-provoking proposals for role and mission.
With the platform of the work of former First Lady Dorthy McAuliffe, the Food Lab came together as a way for Morven Programs to expand our commitment and capacity to food and sustainability education. Check out the UVA student proposals that built the design of the space and informed FLFL’s programming values:
Programs:
A multi-purpose building. A full functioning kitchen. An indoor and outdoor classroom. A social and meeting space.
The First Lady’s Food Lab is a physical structure on Morven Farm, but the values and programming of the Lab translates to the entirety of the farm, to our community and University partners, and now to our virtual network across the country and the world. Inaugural programming includes:
A field trip program for Charlottesville/Albemarle schools, developed by UVA’s Education School focused on health and nutrition through food and farming at the Morven Kitchen Garden and in-the-classroom.
An opportunity for community partners to apply for a Food Lab funded UVA student intern within their organization. The International Rescue Committee’s New Roots program is our partner organization.
A Forum for a Virginia Student Food Leaders Conference, currently being re-envisioned by UVA students in light of the Covid-19 pandemic
A mission-driven partnership with UVA’s Sustainable Food Collaborative
A home for Morven’s programming focused on food, farming, and nutrition locally and globally.
Interested in becoming a Food Lab Program Partner? Contact our team today!