Voices from the Food Frontlines

Episode 28 | Empowering Communities to Build Resilience: Food Security & Sustainable Development in Toronto

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/. 
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Episode 27 | Growing Food, Soil, and Community: Urban Agriculture in Toronto

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/. 
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Episode 26 | A Journey to Organic Farming, From Hong Kong to London

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/. 

Episode 25 | A Solidarity Kitchen Connects Health, Hospitality, and Regenerative Farming as It Confronts a Crisis of Hunger

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/. 

Episode 24 | Supporting Public Markets Infrastructure in Toronto: From Research to Resiliency

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. 

Episode 23 | A Field Visit to the Forest Gardens of Oaxaca with ChocoSol

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/. 

Episode 22 | How Relationships Sustain Bean-to-Bar Chocolate, From Forest Gardens to Farmers’ Markets

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/. 
 
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Episode 21 | Cocina Poderosa: ¿Cómo lograr que alimentos agroecológicos alcancen a poblaciones urbanas marginalizadas?

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.] 
 
 

Episode 20 | Agroecological Food and Solidarity Kitchens in Lima, Peru

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.] 

Episode 19 | How Tamales y Bicicletas Grows Food and Community in Minnesota, Year-Round

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.]