About

Dollar Lunch Club is a community at UC San Diego that cooks and eats together in pursuit of food justice through mutual aid and sustainable practices, both financial and environmental. Our project started in 2022 during the University of California academic workers strike, where we began cooking hundreds of meals a day on the picket line for our peers. We continue cook and provide meals on campus and elsewhere since, with the project expanding to include multiple kitchens on campus and a branch of the project focused on humanitarian relief at the US/Mexico border. We are inspired, in part, by Food Not Bombs and the Black Panther Party‘s People’s Free Food Program.

Our model supports itself–we cook and serve meals in bulk, with a suggested donation of $1 for those who eat. Together with donations of raw materials from various peer groups in San Diego, these $1 contributions result in zero additional expenses for the meals we serve. Together we are able to dispel the myth of food scarcity and emphasize that in San Diego and other American cities, food insecurity is often a question of cost and access. Dollar Lunch Club aims to bridge the gap between food production and distribution by providing that access at minimal or zero cost wherever we can.

We are composed of graduate and undergraduate students from many departments and backgrounds, and are proud to work alongside dozens of other groups across California, other border states, Mexico, and the Middle East focused on food justice, tenants rights, urban farming, and border aid. We invite faculty, staff, and any other members of the San Diego community who’d like to join us.

Reach out to us on instagram @dollar_lunch_club, or at foodjusticesd@gmail.com!