About Our Presenting Sponsor: Price Chopper/Market 32
STEAM - Cooking Up Hunger Awareness Through Design
Ellie Wilson, MS, RDN, CDN
Canstruction.org started in 1992 by the late Cheri Melillo from the Society for Design Administration (SDA), is a unique, creative annual event that unites architects, students, design, engineering, and the construction industry in a themed display and international contest. Over the years, these programs have engaged communities with familiar images via can sculpture, and then deliver a support benefit to local food and nutrition security programs by donating their building materials – in every shape and size, the humble, adaptable, portable, and storable can.
The 2024 Capital District CANstruction event is being held this year in Crossgates Mall on Tuesday, May 7th through Monday, May 20th, and will benefit The Food Pantries of the Capital District. Since its inception in 2011, Capital Region CANstruction, with generous support from Price Chopper/Market 32, has donated over 900,000 pounds of food and nearly $400,000 to The Food Pantries for the Capital District.
As a registered dietitian-nutritionist, I see additional elements of STEAM in this work. Farming, harvest, and packing of food is scientifically designed to preserve their nutrients, flavors, and textures at the peak of freshness. Cans deliver prepared, nourishing foods with a long shelf life to communities that may not be able to grow or offer access to these items in a tasty, safe, and economical way. Cut produce, seafood, and more culturally diverse items in cans may help stretch budgets and be a recipe solution to help busy families create healthier meals or solve preparation issues for those who cannot easily cut and prepare fresh produce.
Most importantly, science informs how foods contribute to well being, studies show that children who eat canned produce eat 22% more vegetables and 14% more fruit than those who don’t. The data is almost the same for adults – 19% more fruit and 17% more vegetables brings key nutrients to the plate ₁, with no limits from geography or seasonality.
STEAM elements are also illustrated by the labels themselves – nutrition facts and other information are all based on food and nutrition science, including nutrition informatics, math, graphic design, communications, food safety, and the logistics of collaborating with the CANstruction teams to deliver their specific “building material” orders via system and packaging programs by the Price Chopper/Market 32 warehouse teammates that run them. There is STEAM in every step!
Every community has members that struggle with food and nutrition security. CANstruction is a compelling and engaging way to support those individuals and understand that science serves us all, and the hope that STEAM can inform and lift all our communities up as it reduces these food and nutrition issues.
