Food Solidarity Podcast

¡Nuestro primer episodio en español está aquí! Hablamos con Alejandra Villalobos y David Orozco sobre Arroz Pa Todos, una iniciativa que nació para ayudar a familias que no tienen asegurada su alimentación en Bogotá, Colombia uniendo los esfuerzos y recursos de la industria gastronómica para preparar y distribuir platos a base de arroz. *Este episodio fue grabado en Febrero 2021

The Social Gastronomy Movement's Food Solidarity Podcast is back with fresh episodes! Episode 9 features Adriane Mack from Harlem, NYC, the CEO and founder of Miss Mack Enterprises. Her business development firm is focused on hospitality training for what she refers to as “RBLC: restaurants, bars, lounges, and cafes.” From training owners how to care holistically for their employees to workforce reintegration for returning citizens, Adriane puts social gastronomy into practice with every project. Adriane was one of the three speakers at our event series Putting Hope on the Menu, which took place earlier this year. Along with Christopher Moore from the Clink Charity, Nicolas Lusardi from Cookmaster, Mikey Cole from Mikey likes it Icecream, and Diandra Sital from Don bites. In our conversation, which was recorded earlier this year, we dove deep into the history of hospitality and why, despite its undeniable challenges, it is an industry that provides immense opportunity for people to build a life that is fulfilling and dignified. “When you understand that the common man is the one who created hospitality, you know, I believe that that’s why it carries a spirit of inclusion. It is an industry of family, it is an industry of one being to express their passions and gifts, and it's an industry that’s forgiving.” Listen to the full episode to hear Adriane’s story, learn more about her work with workforce reintegration, and get to know the NYC restaurant scene through the lens of social gastronomy.

Rafael Rincon from Fundación Gastronomia Social

In the seventh episode of this podcast series, we speak with Sara Abdel-Rahim and Sam Sgroi, co-founders of Tables Without Borders. This organization, one of 10 recipients of the Food Solidarity Fund, is based in Washington DC started as a dinner series to support emerging refugee chefs.    TWB has been able to restructure their internship program during the pandemic, benefiting local struggling restaurants. Through this effort, they have been employing their chefs to prepare more than 8,000 meals for homeless shelters, workers on furlough, and immigrant communities.

In episode 6 of the Food Solidarity Podcast, we speak with Nora Fitzgerald, founder of Amal Center.  Amal is located in Marrakesh, Morrocco, and is both a restaurant and a culinary training program that empowers women to work within the food industry.   Amal is about empowering these women to work within the fast-paced and intricate world of gastronomy. As Nora puts it, "it's not about parachuting a model of empowerment, but it's about what really works in the community. It's coming from the community."  Like many organizations and restaurants this year, COVID has disrupted Amal's practices and forced Nora and her team to respond in a way that is driven by creativity and service.

According to the UN World Food Programme, one out of three Venezuelans are living in a state of food insecurity. Alimenta la Solidaridad is a network of 214 community kitchens throughout the country, which supports 14,112 children a day and engages over 900 volunteer mothers.  In this episode we hear from Roberto Patiño, director of the organization. Roberto tells us about how an initiative focused on violence reduction was transformed into a food security program that has served over seven million meals in just 4 years.

Women, and more particularly, mothers, serve as the inspiration for the best chefs in the world, yet they are left out of the line-of-vision when we think of gastronomy. Some of the best cooks in the world are mothers, and in many cases, migrant mothers. How is it that we can engage that tradition, passion, and skill and use it as a tool to build bridges between communities and cultures? This is the goal of Donia Souad Amamra and her team.    Donia is the co-founder of Meet my Mama, a social start-up that serves a community of migrant women that are entrepreneurs in the catering industry in Paris. The goal of the project is to empower these women to engage their culinary gift to bridge communities and to share the beauty of their different cultures through food.   Tune into Episode #4 of the Food Solidarity Podcast to hear Donia and stories of inspiration, innovation, and mama power. Link in our bio.

SHOW LESSCherrie Atilano has known she wanted to shake up agribusiness since she was just 11 years old. Today, she is the Philippine Ambassadress on Food Security as well as an ambassador for the UN Scaling Up Nutrition Movement (SUN). She is also the founding farmer and CEO of AGREA, one of the 10 global organizations selected to receive the first found of Food Solidarity funding from SGM.   In Episode 3 of the Food Solidarity Podcast, we hear about the inspiration behind AGREA, Cherrie’s connection to farmers, and the Move Food Initiative, which has been preventing loss of income and food waste brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. We also welcome Sef Caradang, gender specialist at FAO and the UNDP Philippines, for a conversation about the role of women in agriculture, the importance of engaging youth in farming, and sustainable models for the future.

In Mayan K’iche, ‘Wa’ik’ means "to eat"', and the interpretation is “to eat a healthy and nutritious meal. For our guest today, this has been a running theme throughout her life and her career. In Episode 2 of the Food Solidarity Podcast, we have a conversation with Bibi la Luz Gonzalez, political economist and founder of Eat Better Wa'ik, an organization in Guatemala that is dedicated to spreading nutrition awareness, preventing food loss, and building healthy communities.   To learn more about Eat Better Wa'ik and the Food Solidarity Fund, visit www.socialgastronomy.org

Our very first guest, Paola Pollmeier talks with us about the importance of connecting global and acting local, in a time where food insecurity and is on the rise. Paola is the founder of Platos sin Fronteras, an organization based in Medellin, Colombia, is working with vulnerable communities to combat malnutrition, food waste, and inequality. Here the inspiration behind the work, the unique local challenges presented, and what Paola's dream is for the future of the food system.