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.]