Seeds of solidarity: On connection, resistance and preserving Palestinian foodways

Dignity and Joy

This conversation between Dignity and Joy’s host Sheldomar Elliott and guest Vivien Sansour — Palestinian artist, storyteller, researcher and conservationist — will break listeners’ hearts and put them back together again. In the face of the ongoing violence and occupation in her home country, Vivien, founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, generously takes the time to share the lessons she has learned through her fight to retain and sustain culturally significant food relics. As Vivien and Sheldomar discuss the ways our climate, and society (for better or worse), continue to change, Vivien stresses the importance of taking action now; not waiting to create the change we wish to see. Inspiring us with an Arabic saying “البطن بستان” or “albatn bustan” meaning “the belly is a garden”, she reminds us that we are all connected and that our own existence need not negate the existence of another.

Full episode transcripts available at ⁠foodshare.net/podcast