“The stories we tell literally make the world. If you want to change the world, you need to change your story. This truth applies both to individuals and institutions.” –Michael Margolis
What’s your story?
In this new post series, we want to feature the people and the stories behind the food sovereignty movement in our region: from those who come to SOCS and FAC’s meetings and work behind the scenes strategizing, planning, approving, promoting, supporting to those in the fields and the communities, tending the soil, growing the food, sharing it with others, engaging community gardeners, kitchens and peoples of all backgrounds and ages…
If you have a great story around food, we want to hear it and we want to encourage you to share it with our readers…those who tell the stories rule the world and create change: we create resilient communities when we allow all to speak and share what’s important for them…
This week, we’ll feature Silvia Di Blasio (yes, that’s me! I thought to be the first to walk the talk and invite you in…) and how is that I came involved with this project and many smaller community projects around food.
Tell us a bit how you became involved in SOCS and/or the FAC:
I joined FAC in May 2013. I was part of Village Surrey (Transition Town Initiative) at that time and heard the call for community members to be involved in a coalition for food security in our region. I had just registered to attend BC Food Systems Network’s gathering and a permaculture course that would change the way I see the world. There were 40+ people from all ages in that meeting and I felt really alive!
I am also the founder of “Mainstream Permaculture“, from where I offer information and workshops on food sovereignty and other related topics…I work with local agencies and grassroots groups to increase community resilience and food sovereignty and I support FAC and SOCS by blogging and coordinating their social media.
Tell us a bit more about you:
I wear many hats: I work as career & life coach, settlement worker and social media & communications “wizard”. I facilitate workshops on food sovereignty at UBC-Farm and the South Surrey Food Bank and occasionally, the Food Skills for Families training for both families and facilitators. I am currently working on a project to facilitate the transition to regenerative and ethical livelihoods through Gaia Education for Sustainability and proud member of the Work that Reconnects Network.
I have lived in Surrey since 2004, was born in Argentina and lived in Venezuela for many years. I grow a portion of the herbs, edible flowers and microgreens my family eats and I make my own vinegar, cheese, bread, sprouts, kombucha, yogurt and many other things from scratch!
Why are you interested in food sovereignty/security?
I believe food is at the center of both our challenges and potential solutions (for things from climate change to social justice and all in between, including people’s and ecosystems’ well-being). I think food systems need to be holistic and can be used to address unemployment, isolation, crime, health issues and much more and that there is a lot of potential for people coming together around the kitchen table as well as around a community garden plot…if only we put ourselves into it and allow compassion and fun to take place!
What do you think are our biggest challenges (in the Surrey-Delta-Langley bioregion) around food sovereignty?
I think we are too focused on mono-cultures and not allowing the landscape to speak about its possibilities for growing food. We don’t have enough community gardens and urban food production in a city like Surrey, or Langley or Delta, where there are so many open spaces and homes with huge yards and roofs. I also think that those who need it most are still left behind (because of language, mobility, health or other challenges) and community gardens are full of great people who may not be experiencing food insecurity themselves…there is a great potential to bring cultures together through mentoring and sharing, as well as changing obsolete by-laws that don’t allow or promote people to harvest rain water, have chickens or grow food in their homes.
From my perspective, this has to be a solidarity movement that comes from both up-down (authorities and policy makers, advocacy agencies, etc.) and ground-up (from the actual people experiencing the challenges and those with more privilege who may have the means, time, energy and land to share with others.
What is your best comfort food?
I have many, but home-made cheese and bread are the top ones!
Do you have meals you like to cook from scratch?
Tons of them! I cook almost anything from scratch. Cooking (and gardening) are my meditation, soul-medicine that connects me with what’s true for me.
If you had a magic wand, what single change would you implement to make communities more food secure?
I would create hubs all over the city for people to come and share their stories and skills around food, grow food together and celebrate with weekly community kitchens open to all.
What would be a question you would ask your local representatives in relation to food security?
This was stolen from the great “Municipal Election Toolkit for Food Security Advocates” (August 2018): “How would you support community-based food security programs, such as community food centres, community kitchens and community gardens?”
If you can give advice about food security to our readers, what would that be?
Know what is in the food you eat, grow at least some of it and reduce its waste…but most of all, enjoy each meal, be grateful to the peoples and ecosystems involved and give back to the soil!