Join us for an interactive discussion on how Vancouver can tackle the food surplus paradox
Can we as a society achieve food security that is independent of the creation of food surplus? This three-part panel dialogue event examines the ways in which our food system diverts surplus food to address food insecurity and propose longer-term solutions that support a just circular economy of food.
The panelists are leading actors in the regional food system and represent diverse perspectives in/on the food chain. They will discuss what enables the current system that relies on overproduction of food; their experiences caring for the needs of community and industry; and ultimately how we as a society might transition together to an equitable circular economy of food. The big question: Is it possible to eliminate food insecurity by embracing a circular economy of food?
Dialogue topics will include:
- Navigating Indigenous food sovereignty in today’s land use practices
- Tackling the food surplus paradox
- Discussing roles institutions and companies can play in resolving the food surplus paradox
Panelists
Audrey Tung
PhD candidate
University of Victoria,
Department of Geography
Carla Pellegrini
Executive Director,
Food Stash
Erin Nichols
Senior Project Manager,
City of Vancouver,
Solid Waste Strategic Services
Julie Dickson-Olmstead
Managing Director,
Public Affairs and CSR,
Pattison Food Group
Leona Brown
Independent Indigenous
Cultural Facilitator
Dr. Tammara Soma
Assistant Professor, SFU
Research Director, Food Systems Lab
Agenda
- 10:30AM | Doors Open
- 11:00AM | Welcome/Panel topic #1
- 11:30AM | Complimentary Lunch provided by Ono Vancouver
- 12:15PM | Panel topics #2 and #3
- 1:00PM | Respondent/Audience Q&A
- 1:45PM | Networking
- 2:00PM | Event Ends
About the Event
During this interactive conversation happening on November 23, panelists will question whether it’s possible to eliminate food insecurity by embracing a circular economy of food. Related topics include: our society’s reliance on overproduction of food; experiences caring for the needs of community and industry; and ways to collectively navigate the transition to an equitable circular economy of food.
Get your ticket
As this is a catered in-person event and there are limited seats, we respectfully request that you RSVP as soon as possible to reserve your place.
Can’t make the in-person event? Join us for the livestream! A zoom link will be provided closer to the date.
Lunch will be provided by Ono Vancouver, who rescues surplus food from verified providers with which to cook and distribute meals. In addition to restaurant consultancy, chef-on-demand services, and catering, through multiple community programs, Ono contributes more than 1,200 meals weekly to community members experiencing food insecurity.
About the Speakers
Audrey Tung
PhD candidate, University of Victoria, Department of Geography
Audrey’s career has equipped her with expertise on household food insecurity, equity-oriented health care and harm reduction programs, homelessness, and working with diverse marginalized populations. She has spoken at national conferences and penned articles and chapters in peer-reviewed publications on many of these topics. As part of the Global Solidarity Alliance for the Right to Food, Health, and Social Justice, she has developed and hosted podcast episodes that interview experts in the field on the right-to-food framework, anti-racist approaches, inequities experienced by migrant farm workers, barriers faced by low-income caregivers, and more. She has diverse research experiences, including at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and the UBC School of Nursing, and in her current role as a research associate on a community-based project about older women’s experiences of homelessness and housing insecurity. She holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Victoria.
Carla Pellegrini
Executive Director, Food Stash
Carla is the Executive Director of Food Stash Foundation, a Vancouver-based charity that prevents good food from going to waste and provides dignified food access. Carla has nearly 15 years of experience in community development, social finance and operations management. Prior to joining Food Stash in 2021, she worked for five years to help establish and grow New Market Funds, a B Corp-certified impact investing firm in Vancouver, and before that she launched the Vancouver office for Sonder, a global hospitality tech start-up. Before moving to Canada in 2015, she worked abroad with One Acre Fund in Kenya, WorldFish in Zambia and the US Peace Corps in Nicaragua. In her free time, she volunteers on the Board of Directors for BC Pets and Friends and Oikocredit Canada. She holds an MPA from Columbia University and a BA from Boston College.
Erin Nichols
Senior Project Manager with Solid Waste Strategic Services at the City of Vancouver
For over 25 years Erin Nichols has worked in the small business and non-profit sectors to optimize the local food system. She’s a founder of the Vancouver Farmers Markets, was the Promotions Supervisor at spud!, and the Food Quality and Sustainability Manager at a food bank. Now, at the City of Vancouver, she is the Senior Project Manager with Solid Waste Strategic Services, where her work to address wasted food is guided by the City’s Zero Waste 2040 strategy. Rather than piling solutions onto an already too complex food system she is interested in getting to root causes.
Julie Dickson-Olmstead
Managing Director, Public Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility, Pattison Food Group
In her capacity as part of the senior leadership team at Save-On-Foods LP, Julie’s role as a decision-maker, strategist, brand ambassador, senior advisor and tactician is interesting and unique. With over 30 years of senior-level experience in communications, public relations, and marketing, Julie has led teams, created strategy, enhanced brands, and produced tangible results for a variety of retail and non-profits organizations in British Columbia. She is passionate about food and was instrumental in the development of BCAITC’s BC School Fruit & Vegetable Nutritional Program. A member of Canada’s National Food Policy Advisory Council and a member of the Boards of Directors of BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity, Julie is dedicated to spreading BC’s incredible food and agriculture story to those in the local community.
Leona Brown
Indigenous Independent Cultural Facilitator
Leona is a Gitxsan and Nisga’a mother of three children of the Fireweed House and Killerwhale Clan. She experiences her work as part of her healing journey, and she shares both grassroots teachings and Indigenous knowledge with her children. She has undergone training in Land and Lives around Indigenous Culture via the Resurfacing History Program Coordinated by Jolene Andrew. As a Gitxsan Refugee in the unceded territories of Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-waututh, she has been taking on land-based work in the city, thriving as an ambassador to the work that Resurfacing History has taught her around Indigenous food and resources that we harvest in the city. An advocate at every opportunity, including schoolboards, the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Parks Board and School Boards, she campaigns for opportunities for Indigenous People to relearn their culture on the lands and waterways they live on, and to advance reconciliation.
Dr. Tammara Soma MCIP RPP
Assistant Professor at the School of Resource and Environmental Management (Planning program), Simon Fraser University; Research Director of the Food Systems Lab
Originally hailing from Indonesia, she conducts research on issues pertaining to food loss and waste (FLW), food system planning, food access, and the circular food economy. Dr. Soma is a Co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Food Waste, and co-founder of the International Food Loss and Food Waste Studies group, a global network of food loss and waste researchers and practitioners. Dr. Soma was selected as a committee member of the US National Academies of Sciences and co-authored the consensus study A National Strategy to Reduce Consumer Food Waste. She is routinely featured in international and local media. In 2021, the Food Systems Lab was recognized as one out of the four women-run projects that are redefining agriculture by the Canadian Organic Grower. She was also named in Chatelaine magazine as one of the 10 inspiring Canadian women saving the environment and a Style Canada 30 Changemakers. She is a registered professional planner and a proud mother of three.
