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Sweet Hands Pantry is a developing initiative that explores food cultures, memory, and ecological responsibility through storytelling, creative practice, and communal exchange. Inspired by the term 'sweet hands'—used in Trinidad & Tobago to describe someone who transforms humble ingredients into something deeply memorable—the project celebrates food as a site of resistance, solidarity, and self-nourishment.

At its core, Sweet Hands Pantry is grounded in the belief that feminism must be intersectional in its approach to food justice. Gendered experiences of hunger, care work, and nourishment are shaped by class, race, migration, and other intersecting forms of marginalisation—factors that must be centred in any serious effort toward equitable food futures. Those most affected by food insecurity are often disabled, elderly and working-class people, women, people of colour, and children—yet their voices remain underrepresented in mainstream discourse.

In this context, the project asks:

How can artists and designers contribute to making food justice more visible, relatable, and actionable?

How do we shift the focus from scarcity toward building shared food resilience?

What local skills, knowledge, and resources can we tap into for collective nourishment?

We aim to develop this work through a series of interconnected components, and we're open to ideas as it continues to take shape. These may include:

Storytelling campaign centring lived experiences of food insecurity and resilience

Workshops/community meals focused on exchange, feminist solidarity, and local knowledge

A digital resource hub featuring tools, educational materials, and creative responses

Collaborative publication/exhibition capturing recipes, memories, and acts of resistance

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food justice at the intersections of feminism, sovereignty & resilience

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A term from Trinidad & Tobago for someone who can transform the simplest of ingredients into something that is divinely gastronomic, evoking pleasure and memories of good food.

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from the Arabic saying, el batin bustan

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subsidy: a benefit given to an individual, business, or institution, usually by the government e.g. subsidize soybean farmers / public transportation / energy etc.

Question: If (beef) wasn't subsidized, how much would it cost me per kilogram?

Historically, the vast majority of subsidies in the United States have gone toward four industries: agriculture, financial institutions, oil companies, and utility companies.

In the US, the meat and dairy industry receives 63% of total agriculture subsidies, while fruits and vegetables receive only 0.04%.

Agricultural subsidies:

artificially drive down the cost for the consumer by cutting the costs for producers via government intervention (financial aid) e.g. to support the production of meat/animal-based foods

Subsidies' effects:

positive

subsidies can help consumers access cheaper products and commodities

negative

subsidies can also lead to overproduction and depressed prices, which can hurt foreign producers and developing countries

some also argue that subsidies can corrupt the political process and create an unholy alliance between big business and the state

negative consequences for the environment and human health

Fossil fuel subsidies can cause air pollution, climate change, and other environmental issues. They can also distort the market value of fossil fuels and lead to inefficient resource allocation.

Energy subsidies can impact biodiversity, leading to oil spills and affecting migratory birds.

Agricultural subsidies can lead to land degradation, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity. They can also distort the choices of producers about what and how much to grow.

Transport sector subsidies can cause forest and habitat fragmentation, noise pollution, and harm to animals and habitats.

Shipping subsidies can cause excess underwater noise, pollution, and harm to animals and habitats.

Links:

Subsidies: Definition, How They Work, Pros and Cons

Government subsidies and the environment

The Cost of Subsidising Agriculture

The Disastrous Impact of Fossil Fuel Subsidies

How Meat and Dairy Subsidies Are Driving Climate Change

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Food sovereignty is the idea that people should have the right to define their own food systems and policies, and to have access to healthy food that is culturally appropriate. It's a political movement that aims to transform the food system to prioritize the needs of people over the demands of corporations and markets.

Food sovereignty includes:

Prioritizing local agricultural production

Access to land, water, seeds, and credit for peasants and landless people

The right of consumers to decide what they consume

Countries' right to protect themselves from low-priced agricultural imports

Promoting agroecology (sustainable farming that works with nature)

Fighting the agribusiness model and neoliberal trade and investment policies

Links:

Seed Sovereignty

Glasgow Seed Library | Glasgow Community Food Network

Resources - FoodFutures

The Palestine Heirloom Seed Library

Slow Food Glasgow

Gyüttment Fesztivál

We dream of an environmentally conscious, ecology-focused new Life (annual gathering of pioneers, representatives, and guerrillas of eco-conscious existence)

Propagate Scotland Re Thinking Local Food

Growing a Local Food Ecosystem

Struggles for Sovereignty (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

sakiya

Sakiya is a progressive academy for experimental knowledge production and sharing, grafting local agrarian traditions of self-sufficiency with contemporary art and ecological practices.

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16th October World Food Day

Raising awareness of food security and strengthening solidarity in the struggle against hunger.

booklet

community meal

podcast episode

participatory workshop

webinar

storytelling

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I moved to the Caribbean when I was young and was immersed in this really diverse food culture. Celebration and connection and community comes with food. Whether we're grieving someone, celebrating their lives, or celebrating someone going on a journey, coming back from a journey… Food is central to everything. So what I do right now, I teach people to cook, in a way that sparks joy and that curiosity to experience flavour and texture and smell and taste.

feminism needs to be intersectional in food justice

food is used as a weapon - when we talk about food apartheid, it is a militaristic strategy to deny people food

55.9% of food bank users are women, and a disproportionate number of those are Black & Asian women

the people most impacted by food insecurity - disabled, elderly and working-class people, women, people of colour, children

Granville Community Kitchen is a centre for resistance, resilience and repair

Being in the kitchen - that is powerful. Understanding food, being able to cook - that's transformative. Knowing how to grow food - that is knowledge.

We need to truly listen and to have the courage to do the often painful work in our communities. To not only tear down the edifices of oppression, but do the healing work and build alternatives that are just and equitable. To find common ground is to honour our human dignity and to centre everything in love.

Sweet hands: a term from Trinidad & Tobago for someone who can transform the simplest of ingredients into something that is divinely gastronomic, evoking pleasure and memories of good food.

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Dee Woods Interview : Women’s Empowerment and Food Justice — The A Team Foundation

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In honour of International Women’s Day, Josina Calliste (co-founder of Land in Our Names - LION ) interviewed Dee Woods to get her thoughts on women’s empowerment and food justice. Dee Woods is a food & farming actionist, Landworkers Alliance coordinating group

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Scottish Eco Cook Book | Glasgow Women’s Library Collections

Good Food From Glasgow, A Collaborative Community Cookbook

Planted in this Land - reading suggestions

Planted in this Land (Shared Folder) Resources

GSL Reading Room Catalogue (CCA)

JASLEEN KAUR — Be Like Teflon

sharing food as listening, acts of solidarity and self-nourishment

Empire and Environment: Ecological Ruin in the Transpacific on JSTOR

Free weekly teaching resources on global news stories | Topical Talk

Global Food Challenge › Reboot Education

Rebooting Food and Farming › Reboot Education

THE NEW SCOTS COOKBOOK by Fan Zhao (Yvonne)

Writing – Struggles for Sovereignty

Resources — Land In Our Names

A Woman is a School by Céline Semaan

Feminist Food Justice: Crafting a New Vision

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Challenge Poverty Week

CPW24-Policy-Briefing-4-A-Scotland-where-we-live-without-hunger.pdf (povertyalliance.org)

Food Poverty to Community Resilience

little room for dignity and empowerment

increasing fear of being in need, disgust at such vulnerability, and anxiety about the impacts of such social need on society

How can we make food affordable for everyone?’

There is no place where the consumer story fails more than when people can’t afford good food, i.e. nutritious, sustainable and culturally appropriate food

Food citizenship is rooted in an increasingly shared belief that people want to and can shape the food system for the better, given the right conditions. It builds on three key ingredients: reframe, empower, and connect. When these are nurtured within a community, food citizens emerge. It also gives us a framework to shift our thinking on issues, including household food insecurity.

Food citizenship encourages us to reframe poverty as a question of disempowerment and isolation.

Food citizenship also encourages us to reframe what citizens are capable of when they come together.

resilience – the ability of individuals and communities to sustain shocks

Farmerama 'Who Feeds Us?' podcast

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Kin Kitchen

Cooking Classes, Community Meals, Community Events, Workshops, Resource sharing...

Glasgow Supper Club

A vegan dining experience in a Southside apartment. Each supper features a different ingredient or theme.

Glasgow Community Food Network

Connecting and supporting the people and organisations of Glasgow who grow, produce & eat food.

Propagate

Works on a huge range of projects across Scotland that co-create better food systems.

The A Team Foundation

Supports food and land projects that are ecologically, economically and socially conscious.

Land In Our Names

Based in London and works to reconnect Black and People of Colour to land, both in the city and in the countryside. They address the inequalities in access to land and food, and reimagine land stewardship towards climate and racial justice.

Slow Food - Good, Clean and Fair Food for All

Slow Food Glasgow

Empowering people to make more sustainable food choices and create a food system we all deserve.

Food Citizenship

We believe that we all have the power to make a positive change in our food systems, and that we should all have access to affordable, nourishing and sustainable food.

Glasgow Women's Library

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References:

Farmerama Radio – The voices of regenerative farming

Changing Currents | Episode 4: Be the Soil – Arts Catalyst

Podcast – Struggles for Sovereignty

Cultivating Justice Podcast — Land In Our Names

Resources — Land In Our Names

Stream Farmerama Radio

Community Interview #1: Sekolah Pagesangan – Struggles for Sovereignty

Working from the needs and context of the local community, Sekolah Pagesangan develops a platform for sharing skills and knowledge between generations, preserving local food systems and developing alternative community economies with the community of Wintaos village.

Transforming Food Systems (slowfactory.earth)

Open Education (slowfactory.earth)

Farmerama 'Who Feeds Us?' podcast

Our Podcasts – Food Citizenship

Taste of the Land

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Farmerama Radio is an award-winning podcast sharing the voices behind regenerative farming. 

We are committed to positive ecological futures for the earth and its people, and we believe that farmers of the world will determine this.

Each month, we share the experiences of grass roots farmers instigating radical change for the future of our food, our health, and the planet. Tune in to hear how these producers are discovering a more ecological farming future and to learn how their decisions can have a positive impact on us all. This is regenerative farming in action.

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Resources – Food Citizenship

Map Your Meal - Food Explorers Toolkit

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Banu Subramanian - scholar, writer of Botany of Empire.

Alaya Ang - artist, who seeks to unravel the multiple material and symbolic fractures produced by colonialism and capitalism, bringing in their connection to Singapore, Scotland and something deep within the sea.

Dr Rowan Lear - artist, writer, landworker, seed librarian at GSL

Joss Allen - PhD student, Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick, researcher at GSL

Thai @toesgrow - Food-related art and workshops

Simone Stewart - Arts & Heritage Manager at Govanhill Baths

Fernando García-Dory - engages with the relationship between culture and nature, as manifested in multiple contexts, from landscape and the rural, to desires and expectations concerned with identity, crisis, utopia and the potential for social change. Founder of INLAND.

Josina Calliste - health professional, landworker, activist and community organiser. She co-founded LAND IN OUR NAMES (LION) to uproot & disrupt systemic issues of land as they pertain to people of colour in Britain.

(Deirdre) Dee Woods - a food & farming actionist, Landworkers Alliance coordinating group member, and co-founder of Granville Community Kitchen in NW London. @Didara

JASLEEN KAUR - Glasgow-based artist, writer of Be Like Teflon

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The network is a collaboration between five organisations: Arts Catalyst (Sheffield, UK); RIWAQ (al Bireh, Palestine); Sakiya – Art/Science/Agriculture (Ein Qiniya, Palestine); Struggles for Sovereignty (Yogyakarta, Indonesia); and Vessel Art Project (Puglia, Italy).

Soil Futures traverses the practices of five organisations whose work happens in collaboration with communities within their local contexts: from combining agrarian traditions with contemporary ecological practices, to organising across art, food, land rights, indigenous and ecological activism; from monitoring pollution to connecting with wetlands through sound and different ways of sensing.

More About The School of Soil Futures – Arts Catalyst

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Care and Health in Ecological Activism

What forms of care do we need to practise when struggling for ecological justice, in order to support and maintain our human and non-human communities?

Writer and curator Syafiatudina facilitated this session, in which artist duo Breakwater also shared some of the healing justice tools and methods they have developed as part of their practice. Youngsook and Taey invited participants to imagine the soil of their community, and asked: Who are in your soil and nourishment circle? What are the socio-political conditions that affect the health of the soil?

Syafiatudina then introduced the idea of a Balikbayan as a nourishment package, and participants were invited to think about the ingredients of their own recipes for imaginative nutritions: What would you put in your Balikbayan to nourish yourself and your community?

Storytelling

Facilitated by artist and researcher Molemo Moiloa. This session included stories by artist Alexandra Karyn, and writer, artist and educator Cresantia Frances Koya Vaka’uta, as well as an informal conversation about the potential of storytelling in the fight for social and ecological justice.

Alexandra Karyn initiated the session with a storytelling exercise based on typing on a shared document rather than speaking. Participants were invited to type at any time, telling a story of their own or responding to each other’s text. In the beginning, we all acknowledged the number of languages in the virtual room – such an abundance of mother tongues and possibilities for the group to communicate with each other.

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Ajzen & Fishbein’s (2011) “Theory of Planned Behavior”

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Cultural Probe by Sebastian Chaloner

The industrious overuse of soil on our planet is putting it under significant pressure, threatening its future. This is not a science problem, a farming problem or an environmental problem - it’s a human problem, as every person on this planet is responsible for its condition. This research project seeks to use arts-based research methods as a means to better understand the current public connection to soil, as a way to develop design strategies which might mobilise large numbers of the general public to engage in soil conservation. This research was conducted using the “Citizen Soil Studio (CSS)” - an interactive mobile art space.

Citizen Soil Project - scportfolio2020 (sebchaloner.com)

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recipes for protest, recipes for resilience...