Voices from the Food Frontlines

What is the connection between food security and sustainable development in a global city like Toronto? In this episode, Dr. Jaclyn Rohel talks with Suman Roy of the Scarborough Food Security Initiative about tackling the root causes of hunger through capacity-building and economic empowerment. Suman’s pathway to working in hunger relief began first in food operations, where he worked as a chef in the hospitality, higher ed, and corporate sectors. Suman has since had a hand in shaping local food policy and in launching community-based programs: during the Covid-19 pandemic he created mobile markets and emergency food distribution sites, and most recently he launched the Zero Hunger Project, a global platform to enable sharing of knowledge and resources towards eradicating hunger by connecting grassroots stakeholders around the world. Reflecting on what resilience means to him, Suman emphasizes the importance of localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and shares what that looks like in Toronto. In addition to food access programs, such as the food truck it will soon launch in the coming weeks, the Scarborough Food Security Initiative runs entrepreneurship programs to promote economic opportunity through upskilling, resource support, and network-building. A market hall – developed in partnership with the City of Toronto and operated by the Scarborough Food Security Initiative – just launched its third incubation cohort, providing newcomers with training, food handling certification, and experience in running their own prepared food business. Looking back on getting FoodHallTO up and running, Suman discusses the opportunities, challenges, and practical advice he would offer other organizations looking to create a similar marketplace program. As the conversation winds up, Suman emphasizes the importance of connecting local efforts to a global movement towards Zero Hunger. This interview was recorded on July 28, 2025 and has been lightly edited for length and clarity.   In August 2025, the World Food Forum (WFF) Global Youth Action Initiative launched an Ontario chapter to engage youth in transforming food systems and localizing the sustainable development goals. The WFF is an initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Feeding City Lab research assistant Amber McNeil shares details about her work with this youth-led initiative at the end of the episode.  To access the Zero Hunger Project’s global platform, click here: https://www.zerohungerproject.com/  To learn more about the Scarborough Food Security Initiative and its impacts, visit: https://scarboroughfoodsecurityinitiative.com/our-impact  For more information on the Feeding City Lab’s collaboration with the Scarborough Food Security Initiative, access our past webinar on emergency food provisioning and a feature story (“Hunger Pains”) in the University of Toronto Magazine.    To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/.  [Sound effects sourced from https://www.zapsplat.com.] 

In conversation with Dr. Jaclyn Rohel and Dr. Jo Sharma of the Feeding City Lab, Rhonda Teitel-Payne shares her experience working to advance urban agriculture in Toronto to support people in growing food, regenerating the soil, and building community. A Co-Coordinator of Toronto Urban Growers (TUG), Rhonda discusses how the network brings together Toronto’s diverse community of gardeners who grow food in backyards, on balconies, in shared plots, on urban farms, and in school gardens to share knowledge and resources, how to work across sectors and draw in the wider community to give people a stake in urban agriculture, and what can be gained from building relationships with other cities around the world, such as Paris and Tokyo. Looking back on over 15 years with TUG, Rhonda points out that her favourite TUG projects have all been collaborations. She recalls working with a local utility provider, departments in the City of Toronto, and community organizations to conduct environmental assessments and establish lease agreements to open up urban hydro corridors for the creation of market gardens, “We now have two beautiful, thriving farms.” Looking ahead, Rhonda sees more potential for community composting, market gardens, and productive green rooftops to flourish in Toronto and is eager for greater integration of urban agriculture in local policies and practices: “I think we’re starting to see the importance of circular economies and shrinking the loop of food production, consumption, and dealing with food waste.” To support system-wide change and guide efforts, Rhonda says more training and research is needed. She describes how she brings urban agriculture education to her classes at local colleges and universities, where she’s worked with students in business administration, culinary arts, nutrition, public health, nursing, urban planning, and even engineering, and how her teaching of urban agriculture evolves to help people in different fields achieve their goals. As the episode winds up, Rhonda shares stories about what vegetables she’s growing, some of her top choices for container gardening, and how cultivating hot peppers and squash has sparked new connections with her neighbours. This episode was recorded on April 2, 2025 and has been edited for clarity and length. This year, Toronto Urban Agriculture Week runs from September 20-28, 2025. To learn more about TUG’s other initiatives - including a map of urban agriculture in the greater Toronto area as well as Grower2Grower stories and tips from community growers Shah, Shilpi, Kamal, and Isaac - visit https://torontourbangrowers.org/.  For more on urban farming, market gardens, and building Toronto into a market city, refer back to episodes Episode 1, Episode 3, and Episode 24 from the Voices from the Food Frontlines series. To learn more about this podcast and access all of the past episodes, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/food-frontline-voices/ and https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/.  [Sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.] 

In this episode, Feeding City Lab’s global research partner Dr. Ricci Yue talks with Mr. Wong (黃如榮), a sustainability educator, urban farmer, and allotment gardener in the southwest London suburb of New Malden. Mr. Wong shares his journey in ecological farming from Hong Kong to London, where he launched AuLaw Organic Farm CIC (歐羅有機農場).  He tells the story of how he first started organic farming in Hong Kong, why he chose to re-launch his farm in New Malden, and how he experiments and adapts his growing practices to a new environment that has colder weather, a longer off-season, and many more snails and slugs. By setting up his new initiative in the U.K. as a Community Interest Company (CIC), a form of social enterprise, Mr. Wong structured his business as a limited company that both creates revenue and provides community benefits. This means that as a farmer he can ensure his financial future by providing a range of services to customers, such as selling vegetable and fruit seedlings, teaching people essential gardening skills, and converting backyards into growing spaces. His CIC also provides benefits to the community that include support for community garden activities and farm-to-table events, efforts he has brought to different farmers’ markets across the UK where he has shared his deep knowledge and love of plant-growing and preservation through culinary sessions on how to prepare cauliflower leaf, how to dry bok choy, and how to preserve radish leaf, for example. At the heart of Mr. Wong’s initiative is a desire to produce local food for the broader community and to inspire people to take care of the environment and perhaps even grow their own vegetables too. This conversation was recorded at University College London on November 27, 2024. For more information on AuLaw Organic Farm CIC, visit https://www.aulawfarmuk-cic.com.  [This episode has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Sound effects sourced from https://www.zapsplat.com.]  To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/. 

From insight to action at a São Paulo solidarity kitchen. In this episode, Feeding City Lab's Dr. Jo Sharma talks with Dr. Adriana Salay about the crisis of hunger in São Paulo and the pivotal role that a restaurant came to play in providing relief – by building new connections between the worlds of community health, hospitality, and agroecological farming. A professor at the School of Public Health at the University of São Paulo, Adriana is both a scholar and a community-builder. The episode opens with discussion of how Adriana’s historical research on hunger led to her work in advocacy. Adriana explains how modern dietary transitions have shifted consumption away from a key staple – rice and beans – and towards ultra processed foods, less dietary variety, and a notable decline in consumption of different kinds of beans in Brazil. Access to fresh, healthful, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food was already strained for vulnerable communities, but the situation turned to an acute crisis with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Anticipating that people would go hungry, Adriana moved into action. With her husband, Chef Rodrigo, who helmed the kitchen of the acclaimed long-running family restaurant Mocotó, she launched Quebrada Alimentada, a meal program to feed community members in Mocotó’s own neighbourhood. Their efforts have since expanded to include: daily provisioning of delicious, hot meals, based on the model of the restaurant staff meal; monthly distributions of cooking staples such as rice, beans, oil, sugar, corn, flour, and organic local vegetables; and most recently, a new initiative that empowers women in an emerging favela, many of whom lost their homes during the pandemic, by teaching them how to scale up their recipes and build skills in professional cooking. Noting that they made the decision as a small business to invest in the people in their community, Adriana reflects on how they relied on industry peers to bolster resources, connected with food insecure neighbours, cultivated trust, and brought the restaurant’s agroecological farm into the fold. That farm sits on a 40-hectare plot, providing the restaurant with cassava, pumpkin, tomatoes, peppers, and a variety of beans, its soil enriched by compost that goes from the restaurant back to the farm. This conversation was recorded on November 19, 2024, with the assistance of Feeding City Lab’s São Paulo-based student researcher, Catarina Mançano.  [This episode has been lightly edited for clarity. Sound effects sourced from https://www.zapsplat.com.]  For more information on Brazil’s new solidarity kitchens program, which is supported by the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight Against Hunger, see: www.gov.br/mds/pt-br/acoes-e-programas/acesso-a-alimentos-e-a-agua/programa-cozinha-solidaria  For the legislation (July 20, 2023) that established the food access program and the solidarity kitchen program, see: https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2023-2026/2023/Lei/L14628.htm  For the decree (March 5, 2024) to implement the solidarity kitchen program, see: https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2023-2026/2024/decreto/d11937.htm    To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/. 

In this year-end interview, Dr. Jaclyn Rohel of the Feeding City Lab talks with Marina Queirolo, a longtime community collaborator of the Lab and founder of marketcityTO, about the most recent efforts to strengthen and sustain Toronto’s public markets. In November 2023, Toronto’s City Council approved a motion to develop a Public Markets Action Plan to strengthen Toronto’s public markets and mid-size food retail infrastructure. Over the past year the grassroots network marketcityTO has continued to bring together diverse types of public markets – from farmers’ markets and wholesale food markets to vintage markets – and the stakeholders that make them possible. In 2024, marketcityTO published an online interactive map of Toronto’s public markets, launched the ‘I Love Toronto Markets’ campaign and community-based market tours as part of the city’s second annual public markets week, and undertook a comprehensive stakeholder engagement project in collaboration with the City of Toronto to identify the strengths, challenges, and opportunities of this budding sector. Marina discusses some of the project’s findings and key insights. Amplifying vast community consultations in Toronto, she explains what a “public market” is and how its meaning is shaped by time and place, offers examples of how a public markets network builds connections within, across, and between neighbourhoods, regions, and communities, and reflects on the still untapped potential of a network approach in Toronto – and the need for more data and storytelling. The conversation concludes with discussion of building a climate resilient infrastructure in Toronto that can support thriving public markets, inclusive economies, and community well-being. This episode was recorded on December 18, 2024. As of February 10th, 2025, Marina has a one-year contract with the Economic Development and Culture division at the City of Toronto to advance and bring the Public Markets Action Plan to the City Council.    [Sound effects sourced from https://www.zapsplat.com.] To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/.  For Episode 3 of the Voices from the Food Frontlines podcast series, “Building Toronto into a Market City” (2023), click here. 

In this episode, the Feeding City Lab brings listeners to the forest gardens of Oaxaca to learn about cacao growing and grassroots actions towards regeneration and biodiversity. Culinaria Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Nino Bariola recounts his field site visit to the Indigenous Chinanteco community of San Felipe de León in March 2024 with ChocoSol’s Michael Sacco. During their visit, Nino met with community members and cacao growers, including two key contacts for ChocoSol Traders, Don Max and his daughter Miriam. Based on his interviews with Don Max and Miriam, Nino conveys how the cacao that goes into ChocoSol bars is grown, how it is harvested and processed, and why fermentation is important. From discussion of growing conditions to quality evaluation, the conversation takes listeners into the cultivation of cacao, showing how biodiversity is important to the flourishing of both cacao and community.   This bilingual episode includes an in-depth conversation with Nino, hosted by Dr. Jaclyn Rohel of the Feeding City Lab in English, as well as short segments from Nino’s original interviews, in Spanish, with Don Max and Miriam. Nino’s interviews with Don Max and Miriam took place in Oaxaca in March 2024. The environmental sound effects featured in this episode (i.e. of natural surroundings; and peeling and processing the cacao) come from Nino’s field visit to the forest gardens. [Additional sound effects sourced from https://www.zapsplat.com.] For more about bean-to-bar chocolate making with ChocoSol Traders Founder Michael Sacco, listen to Episode 22 | How Relationships Sustain Bean-to-Bar Chocolate, From Forest Gardens to Farmers’ Markets.  To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/. 

In this episode, the Feeding City Lab talks with Michael Sacco, Founder of ChocoSol Traders, about bean-to-bar chocolate making, from forest gardens to farmers’ markets. Michael recounts how ChocoSol first got its start at an organic farmers’ market in Oaxaca in 2004, powered by solar roasters and bicycle grinders. He shares how ChocoSol has since grown into a learning community and social enterprise through an actionist approach that focuses on relationships, rootedness, and regenerative agroecology. Michael introduces listeners to some of the people and relationships that make ChocoSol what it is. ChocoSol’s key ingredients – from Jaguar cacao to popped amaranth – are made possible through forest garden regeneration, friendship, and solidarity. The episode concludes with discussion of how Chocosol engages with seasonality and a view into its production facilities in and around Toronto where, as Michael says, “Like a butcher who uses the whole cow, we use the whole cacao.” Michael earned a PhD in Indigenous Studies from Trent University in 2022. Prior to grinding chocolate and leading ChocoSol, Michael worked as a stone mason.  This episode of Voices from the Food Frontlines: Sustainable Foodways is hosted by Dr. Jaclyn Rohel of the Feeding City Lab. The conversation was recorded on May 10, 2024 and lightly edited for clarity and length. To learn more about ChocoSol’s bean-to-bar chocolate making and to hear from cacao growers, stay tuned for our next episode of the series, which takes listeners to the forest gardens of Oaxaca.  To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/.    [Sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.]   

En este episodio, el doctor Nino Bariola, Investigador Postdoctoral del Culinaria Research Centre de la Universidad de Toronto, conversa con Karissa Becerra y Beatriz Llerena de La Revolución, una organización sin fines de lucro basada en Lima, Perú que se enfoca en temas de educación y comida para niños y familias, y justicia alimentaria. Una de las iniciativas más importantes de La Revolución es Cocina Poderosa, que articula a Agroferias Campesinas (un mercado de campesinos productores de frutas, verduras y otros productos agroecológicos) con Ollas Comunes o cocinas solidarias para ofrecer comida de la mejor calidad en zonas marginalizadas de la ciudad. Cocina Poderosa ofrece una receta de aprendizaje crucial para lograr que comidas agroecológicas estén al alcance de poblaciones vulnerables y con recursos limitados. La entrevista se realizó en junio del 2023.  This episode, available in Spanish, features Nino’s full interview with Karissa Becerra and Beatriz Llerena of La Revolución. Click here to access Episode 20, a bilingual podcast episode that spotlights the work of La Revolución in English and Spanish.  To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/.  [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.]     

How can we create food supply chains that expand distribution of agroecological foods while also facilitating access for those most in need? In this episode, Dr. Nino Bariola, Postdoctoral Fellow at UTSC’s Culinaria Research Centre, spotlights La Revolucion, a non-profit organization based in Lima. La Revolucion, led by Karissa Becerra and Beatriz Llerena, focuses on food education for children and families, food access, and equity. One of its most popular initiatives was developed out of the dire local circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic: Cocina Poderosa (“Empowering Kitchens”) seeks to put the best food in the hands of people with the least access to it by developing supply chains and communal networks in Peru that bring together farmers, markets, and soup kitchens. Cocina Poderosa developed a supply chain to connect Agroferias Campesinas (an agroecological food market) with solidarity kitchens known in Peru as Ollas Comunes, while also providing nutritional and financial support. The episode explores the relationship between social entrepreneurship, food access, and sustainability. It concludes with a brief discussion of the meanings of sustainability and the role of community-engaged research in Nino’s work as a sociologist.   This bilingual episode spotlights the work of La Revolucion in English and Spanish: it features an in-depth conversation with Nino, recorded in English in February 2024, and incorporates short segments from Nino’s original interview, in Spanish, with Karissa and Beatriz. Nino’s interview with Karissa and Beatriz took place in Lima, Peru in June 2023.   The next episode in this series, available in Spanish, features Nino’s full interview with Karissa and Beatriz of La Revolucion.  To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/.  [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.] 

Dr. Jo Sharma visits Minnesota and talks with Jose Luis of Tamales y Bicicletas about food sovereignty, climate action, and how urban agriculture can empower communities. Jose Luis explains how his family's own migration story and experience in the Bracero program inspired him to start Tamales y Bicicletas, an environmental justice organization that empowers Latinx and BIPOC families to grow food, reclaim relationships with the land, and rebuild cultural traditions. Working with the University of Minnesota, Tamales y Bicicletas recently completed a deep winter greenhouse build. The new infrastructure provides the space and growing conditions for culturally important foods and tropical plants - such as jalapeños, chile de árbol, hibiscus, and ginger, and papalo - that thrive because of the long growing season and warm conditions. Jose Luis shares some of the successes and challenges of operating a deep winter greenhouse, from managing temperature fluctuations over the course of a season, to long term planning for zoning and land access, to developing a sustainable, self-funded non-profit model by selling food and forging broader community partnerships. Jose Luis elaborates on what’s grown there, how community members decide what to plant, and how the harvested food is shared. “We always say, ‘The community eats first, and then the growers and folks connected to Tamales y Bicicletas eat last.’” This interview with the Feeding City Lab was recorded on April 5, 2024. Dr. Tracey Deutsch of the University of Minnesota collaborated with the Feeding City Lab and facilitated the connection to Tamales y Bicicletas for this episode.  To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/. [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.]

The Ghana Food Movement (GFM) is a network of diverse food actors working across Ghana’s food system, bringing farmers, market vendors, bloggers, and chefs together to build a more sovereign food system in Ghana and West Africa. In this episode, Chef Abiro and Chef Fia-Foli discuss the GFM’s work in promoting local ingredients that are indigenous to the environment and connecting forgotten foods and climate resilient crops to the marketplace. Through initiatives that serve to express and craft indigenous foods on the plate - from events such as the Dine and Dance to culinary skills trainings at the GFM Kitchen – the Ghana Food Movement helps to bring dishes such as fonio and wasawasa to audiences beyond tourists and expats and engage local Ghanaians who are losing touch with their roots and customs. This interview took place in July 2023; it was facilitated by Feeding City Collaborator Dr. Siera Vercillo, who has been conducting participatory action research for food sovereignty with communities and partner organizations in Ghana for over a decade.    To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/. [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.]

Development approaches in Ghana need to incorporate indigenous knowledge and worldviews. This is what the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development (CIKOD) does in its work with communities across Ghana, in sectors such as agriculture, health, education, and natural resources management. In this episode, Willie Laate, CIKOD’s Deputy Director, explains how the organization develops localized tools, frameworks, and programs for understanding and supporting diverse, local knowledge and governance systems. Willie describes the problem with the erosion of cultural systems in Ghana and its impacts on food, traditional culinary knowledge, and indigenous seeds. He offers some examples of cooperative systems and practices that empower communities with diverse food systems, from communal cooking, to community seed sharing and seed fairs, to the cultural festivals that help generate development agendas that are more inclusive and not based on predetermined questions and responses. This interview took place in July 2023; it was facilitated by Feeding City Collaborator Dr. Siera Vercillo, who has been conducting participatory action research for food sovereignty with communities and partner organizations in Ghana for over a decade.  To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/. [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.]

In this episode, Edwin Baffour shares how the civil society organization Food Sovereignty Ghana (FSG) advocates for environmental, social, and food justice. Edwin describes the politics around food and seed in Ghana, the infrastructural challenges that farmers face in accessing indigenous seeds, growing food, and getting it to the market, and the pathways towards agroecological farming. Food Sovereignty Ghana has advocated against GMOs and resisted the Plant Breeders Bill and the Plant Variety Protection Bill through litigation cases across courts in Ghana, bringing attention to the genetic modification of staple foods, such as the cowpea. Through education and stakeholder engagement with traditional authorities, farmers, market vendors and the general public, Food Sovereignty Ghana aims to build “people power” towards food system change. Highlighting that agroecology can empower farmers, Edwin says, “If a farmer can use the neem trees on his farm to tackle pests, he doesn’t need to buy an agrochemical from a company. If a farmer can use garlic and pepper to tackle pests on his farm, then he keeps more money to use for his children’s education and their health.” This interview took place in July 2023; it was facilitated by Feeding City Collaborator Dr. Siera Vercillo, who has been conducting participatory action research for food sovereignty with communities and partner organizations in Ghana for over a decade.   *Update (June 2024) -- Since the time of the interview, cases have moved through the courts. Edwin has shared with Feeding City Lab the following updates on the status of the proceedings: "Last year in 2023 the Supreme Court of Ghana unanimously dismissed a case presented by FSG which sought to challenge the constitutionality of the Plant Variety Protection Act which was passed into law in 2021. FSG will be appealing this decision. In May of 2024 the Human Rights High Court also dismissed a case that FSG commenced in 2017 to halt the commercialization of a genetically modified cowpea. Though this decision will also be appealed, the court ruled that all GMO food and feed must be labelled in Ghana."    To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/. [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.]

In this episode, Bismark Owusu Nortey, Head of Programs and Advocacy at the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), discusses the Association’s work and how it first got its start in 2005, following the liberalization of farming systems in Ghana. When state subsidies for agri-inputs were removed and the importation of cheap industrial foods flooded local markets making it difficult for Ghana’s smallholder farmers to survive and thrive, PFAG responded. The Association provides a voice in policy advocacy for peasant farmers, builds their farming capacities, connects them with new opportunities and services, and facilitates market access to improve their livelihoods. The episode concludes with a discussion of agroecology and some of the challenges that farmers encounter when transitioning from industrial farming to sustainable farming. This interview took place in July 2023; it was facilitated by Feeding City collaborator Dr. Siera Vercillo, who has been conducting participatory action research for food sovereignty with communities and partner organizations in Ghana for over a decade. To learn more about the Voices from the Food Frontlines, Sustainable Foodways podcast series, visit the Feeding City Lab at https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/sustainable-foodways/. [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.]

With climate change and increased rural-urban migration, how can communities become self-reliant to ensure nutritious food security? In this episode, Feeding City Lab graduate intern Geetha Sukumaran brings listeners along on the Lab team’s recent research trip to South India. They met with local cooks, food retailers, farmers, and farmer collectives to learn about the challenges they face, the solutions they are implementing, and the changes that they advocate in order to create more resilient foodways. The episode spotlights Sheelu, President of the Tamil Nadu Women’s Collective, a grassroots organization that brings together more than 100 000 women from across the local food system, including farmers and agricultural labourers, fishers, salt pan workers, cooks, and food processors. Sheelu describes how the Women’s Collective has evolved over the past three decades to focus on the effects of climate change and on finding ways to support farmers.* Heirloom crops – such as the traditional millets that reliably grow even when the rains fail – play a key role. Listeners will learn how women farmers are working together through “seed democracy” to revive heirloom foods - by conserving and exchanging seeds, by promoting access to land, grain processing facilities, and farming tools, by supporting the preparation and distribution of value-added products, and by sharing knowledge from field to kitchen. This episode features an interview with Geetha Sukumaran (recorded in January 2024) and field quotations from Sheelu of the Women’s Collective (recorded in October 2023).  [* In March 2024, The Women's Collective was recognized at the The Hindu World of Women Awards, receiving The Hindu Excellence in Agriculture & Rural Development Award.] 

How can grassroots efforts in environmental conservation go beyond their local context to help bring about lasting global impact? In this episode on climate-smart food and farming futures, Dr. Jayeeta Sharma of the Feeding City Lab spotlights the Lab’s collaboration with Thanal in South India. Listeners will learn how the Thanal Trust got its start in 1986 as a collective dedicated to the conservation of rivers and biodiversity to then become a leader in community-based “demand-led research,” opening up pathways of agroecological production for small farmers throughout Kerala. The episode highlights Thanal’s current efforts to recover climate resilient ways of cultivating traditional rice and heirloom millet, linking biodiversity to economy to support sustainable foodways and rural livelihoods. This episode features an interview with Dr. Jayeeta Sharma (recorded in January 2024) and field quotations from Jayakumar of Thanal (recorded in October 2023).  [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.] 

The Feeding City Lab introduces its new podcast sub-series, Voices from the Food Frontlines: Sustainable Foodways. Episodes focus on social and ecological resiliency, sharing stories from the field, highlighting grassroots actions, and bringing listeners new research on sustainable foodways and what's needed to make them possible. With insights from the Feeding City Lab’s local and global partners, Voices from the Food Frontlines: Sustainable Foodways offers a view into community collaborations and creative and cutting edge innovations from across the world — from the cultivation of heritage foods and ethnocultural crops to the food work and small enterprises that enable farm-to-table connections. Stay tuned for episodes, starting in Spring 2024! To learn more, visit the Feeding City Lab's website at: https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/projects/feedingcity/

What is the past, present, and future of farmers’ markets in Scarborough? Toronto’s easternmost neighbourhoods have notoriously lacked sufficient access to vital social infrastructure such as public transit, health care, and fresh, healthy, affordable food. In this episode, Feeding City’s Jasleen Sohal talks with Jennifer Forde about food access and farmers’ markets in Scarborough. Jennifer tells her story of growing up in Scarborough’s Malvern neighbourhood and shares what fueled her to lead the way for farmers’ markets in Scarborough. As a seasoned market manager – Jennifer has overseen several farmers’ markets across the Greater Toronto Area – she first helped bring farmers’ markets to Scarborough five years ago, working with small family farms, women-led enterprises, newcomers, and BIPOC communities to make affordable, nutritious, local produce and culturally diverse artisanal products broadly accessible. She reflects on the operational impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, shedding light on the work of keeping the markets connected to the community and on how the innovations and relationships forged during that time continue to shape Scarborough’s farmers’ markets even today. The episode concludes with a peek into the Scarborough Neighbourhood Fresh Food Pilot, which used marketbucks and a model of the 15-minute city to increase access to farmers’ markets. Listeners can learn more about Jennifer’s markets by visiting https://www.scarboroughfarmersmarket.ca/ and https://www.courtyardfarmersmkt.ca/. This Feeding City conversation was recorded on August 18, 2023 and lightly edited for clarity and length.  [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.]   

Feeding City Lab’s Jaclyn Rohel hosts Thiago Gomide Nasser in a conversation on pop-up market infrastructure and community-building amongst food makers, vendors, and eaters. Thiago shares the story of how he came to co-found Junta Local, a Rio de Janeiro-based collective that promotes and distributes good, local, and fair food. As a researcher and an activist, Thiago explains how he bridged his academic interests in political science with grassroots advocacy to support small producers and help facilitate short food supply chains in Brazil. Junta Local first originated as a small market of only 14 vendors set up on beer crates and wooden planks, yet over the past decade it has grown into a resilient network of food producers and markets. Listeners will get a view into Junta Local’s unique participatory structure through its modelo ajuntativo, gain insight into how Junta Local helped support the human links within Rio de Janeiro’s food systems during the Covid-19 pandemic, and learn about how digital platforms can complement on-the-ground marketsplaces. This interview was recorded live at the University of Toronto on June 12, 2023.   [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.] 

In this episode from Voices from the Food Frontlines, the Feeding City Lab takes listeners on a tour of food and urban growing programs offered by the Toronto-based Centre for Immigrant and Community Services (CICS). In conversation with Serena Yuan, Brian Joyce, Director of Community Services, Facilities and Operations at CICS, discusses the organization’s experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. Brian explains how its programs and facilities evolved in response so that it could continue assisting newcomers and refugees. Through food banks, cooking workshops, a new greenhouse, a community collective of raised garden beds, a seed library, and a meal delivery service in partnership with a local cafe, CICS has helped facilitate community food initiatives in the service of well-being, social health, and connection. CICS’ kitchen and garden-based programs continue to grow. It is on track to grow more than 2500lbs of food this year alone, with a range of organic produce and culturally specific vegetables – from gai lan to bitter melon and fig trees – going towards their other programs, including their food bank. The episode concludes with a peek into the organization’s plans for the future and its continued efforts to work towards developing a sustainable model that could be shared with and adapted by other communities. This episode was recorded on June 16, 2023. [Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com.]