2026 CAFS Award Winners

Lifetime Achievement Awards

Elaine Power

It is with great pleasure that we announce this year’s 2026 Canadian Association for Food Studies Lifetime Achievement Award.

This person has made extraordinary contributions to food studies in Canada and beyond. Her scholarship has shaped critical conversations on food insecurity, food justice, gender, health, and social policy, while her commitment to public engagement has helped bridge academic research, policy development, and community action. Through her research, teaching, advocacy, and leadership, she helped establish food studies as a vibrant and influential field of inquiry in Canada.

This person was one of the founding members of CAFS and played an instrumental role in building the association and fostering the interdisciplinary community that continues to thrive today. Her longstanding service to CAFS—as a leader, editor, mentor, and collaborator—has helped shape both the organization and the broader intellectual landscape of Canadian food studies.

This year’s nomination is Elaine Power. Many people have come forward this year to attest to her impressive scholarly accomplishments, her generosity, compassion, and unwavering commitment to supporting others. Elaine is described as a pioneering scholar whose work has advanced knowledge across food studies, health, gender studies, and social justice, while students and collaborators have benefited immensely from your mentorship, encouragement, and care. Her influence can be seen not only in her publications and public scholarship, but also in the many scholars, practitioners, and advocates whose work has been shaped by her guidance and example.

On behalf of the Canadian Association for Food Studies, we are honoured to recognize Elaine’s exceptional career, her enduring contributions to scholarship, teaching, mentorship, public engagement, and institution-building. Her work has strengthened our field, enriched our community, and inspired generations of food scholars.

Elaine Power is a professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Studies at Queen’s University, where she has taught courses in the social determinants of health, health policy, food systems, sociology of health, fat studies, and qualitative research methods. Her research sits at the intersection of food studies and health studies. Elaine is currently analyzing a treasure trove of transcripts about experiences of living on the Ontario Basic Income Pilot and working with the Hungry Stories team to develop arts-based knowledge translation projects on food insecurity. She taught her last classes in winter 2026, and is excited to have more time for research, writing, and basic income advocacy in so-called “retirement.”

Graduate Student Paper Award

Sarah Oresnik

This year’s CAFS Graduate Student Paper Award committee recognizes Sarah’s paper, “What is a Free School Meal?” for its thoughtful and timely contribution to food studies scholarship. Through a critical examination of free school meal programs, the paper explores how school food initiatives are defined, understood, and implemented, highlighting the social, political, and institutional assumptions that shape them. By engaging with questions of food access, equity, care, and public responsibility, the paper offers important insights into the role of school food programs in advancing social well-being and food justice. The committee was particularly impressed by the paper’s strong analysis, clear writing, and contribution to ongoing discussions about the future of school food policy.

Sarah Oresnik is a PhD candidate at McMaster University in the Department of Anthropology. Their research focuses on school food programs, food justice, and the governance of public food initiatives. Through their scholarship, they examine how adolescents in Southampton, UK, navigate their food environments, with a particular focus on their experiences with food insecurity. Congratulations, Sarah.

Distinguished Paper Award

Stephanie Eccles

As the runner-up for this year’s Graduate Student Paper Award, we are pleased to recognize Stephanie Eccles with the Distinguished Paper Award for her paper, “Factory Farm Gas: Rendering Industrial Animal Waste as Renewable Energy on North Carolina Pig Farms.” The paper critically examines Factory Farm Gas (FFG), a contested renewable energy source generated from industrial animal waste in North Carolina’s hog sector. Through a careful analysis of this corporate-led, government-subsidized sustainability initiative, Stephanie demonstrates how efforts to address methane emissions can ultimately reinforce and expand industrial animal agriculture. By unpacking these complex dynamics and agri-energy networks, the paper highlights the importance of interdisciplinary research and coalition-building across environmental justice, energy, and food justice movements to challenge the entrenchment of industrial animal production within renewable energy transitions.

Stephanie is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research focuses on agricultural just transitions and labour environmentalism, with projects examining farmed animals in climate-related disasters, factory farm gas, and novel alternative protein production. She is also an incoming member of the CAF’s Board. Congratulations, Stephanie, on this well-deserved recognition.