Food for Talk Seminar Series
 Image contributed by Lori Stahlbrand |
'Food for Talk' provided a place for conversations to take place between people who work with communities, government and universities to explore the emerging and challenging issues around food security, agricultural transformation, and local food alternatives/networks. This series was jointly sponsored by the Centre for Urban Health Initiatives, York University Faculty of Environmental Studies, the Ryerson Centre for Studies in Food Security, and the Toronto Food Policy Council. Unfortunately this series is currently inactive. For information about past seminars, contact Kim Crichton-Struthers at foodfortalk@ryerson.ca or Lauren Baker at lauren@yorku.ca. |
Previous Seminars
September 8, 2008, 1:30-3:30 pm
Location: 7th Floor of Heaslip House at Ryerson University, 297 Victoria Street, Toronto Ontario
Urban Agriculture in Sub Saharan Africa: Perspectives from the field
Professor Nancy Karanja, the Sub Saharan Africa co ordinator for Urban Harvest, a global initiative on urban agriculture convened by the International Potato Centre and Professor of Soil Science at the University of Nairobi will lead the panel who will provide perspectives related to environmental, livelihood, health and political aspects of the practice of urban agriculture in Sub Saharan Africa. Details of panelists will follow shortly. FFT is happy to welcome the International Development Research Centre as a financial supporter for this talk.
May 2, 2008, 2-4 pm
Location: Ryerson University, School of Architecture, 325 Church Street. Room TBA
What have designers and planners been doing about food?
Speakers: The May 2008 Food For Talk is the keynote address at "The role of food and agriculture in the design and planning of buildings and cities" Symposium being hosted by the School of Architecture at Ryerson University.
This session will feature two speakers with Joe Nasr acting as moderator.
Jerome Kaufman: Food in Planning: A Seven Year Odyssey From Off The Table To On The Table Among life's basic necessities—air, water, food, and shelter—only food was absent from the table of interests which planning practitioners and planning scholars pursued at the beginning of the 21st century.
Some explanations for this lack of attention will be offered and events that gradually pushed food issues onto the planner's table since then will be considered.
André Viljoen: Designing for urban agriculture: examples and issues This presentation will present a European perspective on designing for Urban Agriculture. Contemporary European approaches to designing cities and buildings for urban agriculture will be presented and the concept of the Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes will be introduced.
March 28, 2008, 2-4 pm
Location: York University, ROOM CHANGE: HNES 141
Elbert van Donkersgoed
Locally Grown Food & Near-urban Agriculture: Challenges & Opportunities
February 1, 2008, 2-4 pm
Location: Ryerson University, Heaslip House, 7th floor
297 Victoria Street
Jeanette Longfield, Executive Director, Sustain, London UK
Local food is an issue that continues to gain momentum in Southern Ontario in 2008. Sustain (UK) is an alliance of over 100 public interest organizations advocating for food and agriculture policies and practice that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. In our first Food for Talk of 2008, Jeanette Longfield, the Executive Director of Sustain, will share her experience leading an inclusive and cross-sectoral local food alliance and offer some reflections that might advance our work here in the GTA. Ms. Longfield's visit is part of the Ryerson City-Builder in Residence program funded by the Metcalf Foundation.
February 8, 2008, 2-4 pm
Location: University of Toronto, University College Room A101
Christie Young , the Director of Farmstart
FarmStart is a not-for-profit organization in Ontario that runs programs and services to support and encourage a new generation of farmers
While the consumer demand for local food is growing by leaps and bounds, with new market opportunities increasing for value-added, local, fresh, quality, and culturally-appropriate produce, production capacity in Ontario is not keeping up. The net number of farmers across the province continues to fall, local agri-food system infrastructure declines (or is completely absent), and policies and support services for new farmers are insufficient. Moreover, the perception that farming is a viable, sustainable and meaningful career path is missing. There simply are not the numbers ofnew farmers starting to successfully meet the current, much less future, demand.
When: December 7, 2:00-4:00 pm
Where: University College Room A101, University of Toronto, 15 King’s College Circle
Who: Jennifer Forkes
Topic: Foodsheds, Footprints and Foodmiles
See a copy of the presentation (PDF)
When: October 19, 2:00-4:00 pm
Where: Ryerson University, Heaslip House, 7th floor
297 Victoria St.
Who:
Topic: Women's Identities and Food: Practices of Settlement and Resistance in Immigrant Toronto
See a copy of the presentation.
When: Friday, April 20, 2:00-4:00
Where:Ryerson University, Architecture Building, 325 Church Street, ARC203
Who: June Komisar, Ryerson University, Department of Architectural Science; Joe Nasr, Ryerson University, Centre for Studies in Food Security and Students from Ryerson's Department of Architectural Science
Topic: Designing for Food and Agriculture: Recent Explorations
When: Friday, March 9, 2:30-4:30
Where: York University, HNES 140
Who: Lori Stahlbrand, Local Flavour Plus and Melissa Watkins, Ontario Farmland Trust
Topic: Sustainable Agriculture in the Greater Golden Horseshoe
See a copy of the presentation (PDF)
When: Friday, February 23, 10:00-4:00
Where:University of Toronto, University College Room 256
Topic: Student Colloquium
When: Friday, February 16, 2:30-4:30
Where: Ryerson University, 7th floor, Heaslip House
Who: Dr. Cyndy Baskin
Topic: Aboriginal Peoples and Food Security: Rural and Urban Difficulties, Developments and Research.
See a copy of the presentation (PDF)
Are you interested in food issues? Do you have research you?d like to present and discuss with others?
If so, Food for Talk is hosting a half-day student colloquium at the end of February. This session is meant to be a more formal avenue for students from York, U of T and Ryerson to network, share ideas and present research. To this end, presentations will be grouped in thematic panels of 3 or 4 where each panelist will give a short presentation followed by questions.
Further details remain to be finalized, but we would like to get an idea of who is interested in participating in the session and who wants to present their research as a panelist. If you are interested in presenting, please contact Emily Sinclair at esinc@yorku.ca with a title and short abstract of your presentation by February 2, 2007.
This information will be used to create the panels. If you are interested in attending the colloquium, please also contact Emily so that we can get an idea of the number of people interested in this event.
This is a great opportunity to gain experience in presenting research and to meet with other students working on food issues. Looking forward to hearing from you!
When: Thursday, January 25, 2:30-4:30
Where: University of Toronto, University College, Rm A101 (15 King's College Cir., 1st Floor West Wing)
Who: Jeffrey Smith, Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology
Topic: Don't put that in your mouth: The documented health risks of genetically engineered foods
A downloadable mp3 audio recording of the seminar can be found here:
http://www.ryerson.ca/~foodsec/fftjan07.mp3
A copy of the presentation can be found here:
http://www.ryerson.ca/~foodsec/fftjan07.pdf
When: Friday, December 8
Where: Ryerson University, Heaslip House (297 Victoria, 7th Floor)
Who: Wendy Mendes, Centre for Urban Health Initiatives; Doreen Ojala, Sudbury-Manitoulin Food Security Network; Janice Etter, Toronto Food Policy Council Friday
Topic: Food Policy Councils: Challenges and Successes
A downloadable mp3 audio recording of the seminar can be found here:
http://www.ryerson.ca/~foodsec/fftdec06.mp3
When: Friday, November 17, 2:00-4:00
Where: York University, HNES
Who: Harriet Friedmann (York University), Debbie Field (FoodShare), Ruth (Montforte Dairy), Colette Murphy (Urban Harvest) and others!
Topic: Slow Food: Local Ingredients, Global Diversity (A report-back from participants in the Terra Madre Slow Food meeting in Turin Italy, Oct 2006)
A downloadable mp3 audio recording of the seminar can be found here:
http://www.ryerson.ca/~foodsec/fftnov06.mp3
When: Friday October 20, 2:00-4:00
Where: University of Toronto, University College, UC144
Who: Dr. Patricia Allen, Associate Director for Sustainable Food Systems at the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California at Santa Cruz Security
Topic: Seeking Justice in the American Agrifood System: Power, Perspective, and Practice
PDF of the Dr. Patricia Allens's presentation
When: Friday, September 22, 2:00-4:00
Where: Toronto Christian Resource Centre, 40 Oak St. in Regent Park
Who: Diana Lee-Smith, Associate, Mazingira Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
Topic: Urban Agriculture in Kampala, Uganda: What are the Differences from Toronto?
A downloadable mp3 audio recording of the seminar can be found here : http://www.ryerson.ca/~foodsec/fftsep06.mp3
PDF version of Diana Lee-Smith's presentation
When: Friday, April 7, 2:00-4:00
Where: University of Toronto, University College Room 163
Who: Steven Cummins, MRC Fellow, Department of Geography, Queen Mary University of London; Visiting Scholar, School of Public Health, University of Michigan
Topic: Food Environments and Obesity - Neighbourhood or Nation?
PDF of Steven Cummins powerpoint presentation
When: Tuesday, March 14, 12:30 - 2:30
Where: York University, HNES 140
Who: Sarah J. Whatmore, Professor of Environment and Public Policy Director International Graduate School, Oxford University Centre for the Environment (OUCE)
Topic: Eating, Ethics and the Generative Spaces of Alternative Food Networks
PDF of Sarah J. Whatmore's powerpoint presentation
When: Friday, March 3, 11:00 - 1:00
Where: Toronto Public Health, 277 Victoria St.
Who: Geoff Tansey
Topic: Intellectual Property and Social Movements
View the document, "Better Food for London: the Mayor's Draft Food Strategy"
When: Friday, February 17, 2:00 - 4:00
Where: Ryerson University, Sally Horsfall Centre for Studies in Community Health (SHE Building) 99 Gerrard Street
Who: Ellen Desjardins, Nutritionist, Region of Waterloo Public Health
Topic: Realities and Lessons Learned: Making Food Policy Change from the Perspective of Public Health
PDF of Ellen Desjardins' powerpoint presentation
When: Friday, January 27, 12:30 - 2:30
Where: York University, Health, Nursing and Environmental Studies Building (HNES), Room 140
Who: Kami Pothukuchi, Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Wayne State University
Topic: Communities Planning for Healthy Food: A Food Policy and Planning Workshop
When: Friday, December 2, 12:30 - 2:30
Where: York University, HNES 140
Who: Expert panel (Donald Cole, University of Toronto; Karine Jarouch, FoodShare; Anan Lololi, Afri-Can FoodBasket; and others!)
Topic: From the Global South to the Global North: Growing Food in the City
PDF of Cecilia Rocha's presentation notes
When: Friday November 11, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Royal Winter Fair, Exhibition Place
Who: Fred Kirschenmann, Director, Leopold Centre; President, Kirschenmann Family Farms
Topic: Sustainable Agriculture
When: Friday, October 21, 2:30-4:30
Where: Toronto City Hall, Committee Rm. #4
Who: Will and Erica Allen, Executive Director, Growing Power
Topic: Growing Power - Highlights and Lessons Learned
When: Friday, October 7, 12:30-2:30
Where: York University, HNES 140
Who: Kathleen McAfee, Visiting Scholar in Geography at the University of California at Berkeley
Topic: Food Sovereignty, Food Trade, and the Socionature of Maize
When: Friday September 23rd, 2:30 - 4:30
Where: University College, University of Toronto (Room 163)
Who: Debbie Field, Executive Director of FoodShare Toronto
Topic: Popular Democracy and Food - Lessons from Brazil
Other Presentations
"Poor neighbourhoods, Poor Food?"
Dr Cate Burns
Vichealth Public Health Research Fellow
School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University
PDF version of Dr. Cate Burns' presentation