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See you on Salt Spring?
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Circular Food
As the organizers might have expected, registration for this evening on the circular food economy mushroomed when it was known that food would be offered!Turns out there’s a lot happening in Victoria to rescue food from grocery outlets, then sort and redistribute it in various forms.
Chef Chris Hammer In keeping with the presentations, all the food on offer had been donated or rescued and then prepared for the participants. The buffet was vast and included vegetarian, vegan, omnivore and gluten free offerings. All the items were the same or similar to what would be provided to the recipients of some of the organizations represented. There was a predictable surge of interest in sampling some ice cream from 49 Below, and when we had eaten our fill, Mustard Seed’s chef Chris Hammer came out for a bow and a word on his creations.
Speakers represented a wide range of food waste and food security groups: Mustard Seed Food Bank and the Food Security Distribution Centre; Love Food Hate Waste, which targets food waste in the home; the Food Share Network which coordinates food security nonprofits; the South Island Farm Hub, which arose during the pandemic and continues to support local farmers with distribution; Reroot, which processes surplus food into meals for the Vancouver Downtown East Side; and Community Food Support, which provides a free fridge in Victoria’s Rock Bay neighbourhood.
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Word Vancouver 2023
I hadn’t been to Word Vancouver for several years. This year exhibitors were in the ice rink and readings and panels took place in the adjoining UBC classrooms and on the pavement level above.Here we see a typically Vancouver spin, with tai chi practice at the edge of the literary exhibitor area.
And on my way to the venue I’d passed an outdoor yoga class in the courtyard of the former Nordstrom’s department store.
But my main business at the event was overseeing the volunteers who had kindly offered to sit at the table and answer questions about the Writers Union of Canada, for which I am currently BC/Yukon representative.
We shared a table with Joy Kogawa House; good neighbours to have! And luckily for me, almost all the volunteers arrived on time, and I was able to catch a few of the readings and panels, including one featuring two Victoria writers, Lorna Crozier and Eve Joseph, who with Vancouver writer Tara McGuire were discussing Life After Loss, with Vancouver poet Rob Taylor presiding. At the end of the day, I managed to catch the very end of a panel I’d wanted to hear, featuring Hilary Peach and Kate Braid, with Heidi Greco, discussing their writings about working in trades as women.
Author Esmeralda Cabral works a shift at the TWUC table 
Life After Loss – Rob Taylor, Lorna Crozier, Eve Joseph, Tara McGuire 
Lorna Crozier speaks on loss 
Hilary Peach reads; Heidi Greco, Kate Braid. Vancouver poet laureate Fiona Tinwei Lam listens
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In her latest collection, Rhona McAdam navigates the dark places of human movement through the earth and the exquisite intricacies lingering in backyard gardens and farmlands populated by insects and pollinators, all the while returning to the body, to the tune of staccato beats and the newly discovered symmetries within the human heart.
“…A beautiful, filling collection, Larder is a set of poems to read at the change of the seasons, to appreciate alongside a good meal, and to remind yourself of the beauty in everything, even the things you may not appreciate before opening McAdam’s collection….”
Rhona McAdam is a writer, poet, editor, and Registered Holistic Nutritionist with a Master’s in Food Culture from Italy and a deep-rooted passion for ecology and urban agriculture. Her work spans corporate and technical writing to poetry and creative nonfiction, often exploring the vital links between what we eat and how we live. Based in Victoria, BC, and available via Zoom, Rhona is always open to new writing commissions, readings, or workshops on nutrition and the culinary arts.
