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.]