What is food? Why should one spend a year of their life to unpack and explore their personal relation with the complex system of food? Why does everyone eat? What is the meaning of having a fresh ________________ (insert your favorite fruit or vegetable here) at the center of your table, even before being cooked? Where does it come from? Who grew it? Among how many other vegetables did it share soil and roots? Where did the seed come from? Who saved this seed? Does this seed represent something for the community that keeps it?
How many rains did it feel? How many times was it artificially watered? How long did it take to grow? What was the temperature of the day when it bloomed for the first time? How many bees came to nourish their bodies from the nectar and spread the pollen to allow it to become a fruit? What are you doing with this fruit? Are you cooking it? Or would you rather have it raw? With whom are you sharing it? How much did you pay for it? Or did you grow it yourself? It is a revolutionary act to grow your own food, it is revolutionary because it brings you back to your center of appreciation, and only from there you can share the power and privilege of food.

With the urge to unpack a year+ of creativity, resilience and presence, my appreciation for food became more structured and open, more question-driven rather than answer-seeking. I arrived in Pollenzo with a clear goal: this year would be invested in gaining tools to change how honey is perceived in Mexico (you can read more about my honey journey here). Spoiler alert, it happened, but in a broader sense than I initially expected.

From long days of lectures and more references that one can digest, to embodied knowledge and digital learning –and all the possible shades in between– this year at UNISG opened space and time in my life.