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Nourish your mind with food, arts and culture at Vancouver’s Sustenance Festival

If you’ve been thinking about fermenting foods, learning how to reduce your kitchen waste or exploring a new cuisine, then you might want to check out the long list of events at the Sustenance Festival.
sustenance festival
The 10th annual Vancouver Park Board event, which brings together community groups, artists and advocates who use food and art to cultivate discussions, celebrate traditions and push for social change. Photo iStock

If you’ve been thinking about fermenting foods, learning how to reduce your kitchen waste or exploring a new cuisine, then you might want to check out the long list of events at the Sustenance Festival.

There’s plenty to learn, eat and see at the 10th annual Vancouver Park Board event, which brings together community groups, artists and advocates who use food and art to cultivate discussions, celebrate traditions and push for social change.

Stuart Mackinnon, park board chair, said the festival encouraged people to think about how and why we eat the way we do, in a fun and creative way.

“What is so different about this festival is the way we engage with a range of diverse, underrepresented communities,” he said.

“Food is core to many cultural identities and ideas like reducing waste or conserving water are embedded in many cultural practices outside of a Western environmental paradigm.”

The festival runs throughout September until Oct. 19 offering a vast array of free or low-cost family-friendly events and workshops led by community centres and non-profit community groups.

You could learn how to grow micro-greens (to stay super healthy this winter), make delicious mason jar salads, take a Korean cooking class or find out everything you need to know about canning food.

There are also workshops on exploring dried goods and their cultural role in the Chinese Canadian community and a panel discussion exploring cultural perspectives on food waste.

The festival was created by the park board’s arts, culture and engagement Team in 2009 to highlight diverse cultures, art, and histories, as well as celebrate and foster community practices and stories connected to food.

Check out the full event calendar and program details at sustenancefestival.ca.

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