DR. TAMMARA SOMA IS ON A JOURNEY TO FIND THE HEALING POWER OF FOOD IN THE NEW DOCUMENTARY FOOD IS MY TEACHER.

canadians can stream the new documentary Food is my Teacher for free here on CBC GEM.

For those outside of Canada you can rent or buy it here on Vimeo on Demand.

Overview

Originally from the tropical archipelago of Indonesia, Dr. Tammara Soma, mom of three and professor of food system planning at Simon Fraser University has dedicated her life and heart to developing a more equitable and sustainable food system in Canada and beyond.

In Tammara’s first documentary, Food is My Teacher, she delves into the pains of the past, including her own harrowing experience dealing with an eating disorder, to showcase how food can heal communities, body and spirit.

Food is my Teacher starts streaming on CBC Gem on Friday August 25th, and premieres on CBC TV in Alberta and BC, on Saturday August 26th, at 7 pm local time.

Click here for press release.

This is Tammara's first experience in creating a documentary. She co-wrote and co-directed Food is My Teacher with award-winning filmmaker Brandy Yanchyk, who also produced the film. They travelled across Alberta and British Columbia on a quest to learn how food is healing within different communities.

In British Columbia, Tammara met and learned from Indigenous ethnobotanists T’uy‘t’tanat-Cease Wyss and Senaqwila Wyss; Gillian Der and Christina Lee of the hua foundation; and visited a Sikh gurdwara where she participated in a Langar community kitchen. In Alberta, Dr. Soma visited the Baitun Nur Mosque in Calgary where she explored how her Muslim identity has helped her heal her own relationship with food; and travelled to the Bow Valley where she met up with volunteers of the Bow Valley Food Alliance and the Filipino Organization in the Rocky Mountains.

Characters

Dr. Tammara Soma

Dr. Tammara Soma MCIP RPP is an Assistant Professor at the School of Resource and Environmental Management (Planning program) at Simon Fraser University and Research Director of the Food Systems Lab. Originally hailing from Indonesia, she conducts research on issues pertaining to food loss and waste (FLW), institutional food procurement, food system planning, food access, and the circular food economy.

T’uy‘t’tanat-Cease Wyss and Senaqwila Wyss

In British Columbia, Dr. Tammara Soma invites Indigenous ethnobotanists T’uy‘t’tanat-Cease Wyss and Senaqwila Wyss to share their Skwxwú7mesh cultural teachings with her students at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby. T’uy‘t’tanat-Cease Wyss and Senaqwila Wyss are a mother and daughter team. They own Raven and hummingbird tea.

Tammara also visits T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss at the community garden she helps coordinate called “Harmony Garden” in Humulch’sen (Capilano Reserve). The Harmony Garden is designed to help their Indigenous community to heal from the intergenerational harm of residential schools and to promote biodiversity and traditional medicines.

hua foundation members Gillian Der and Christina Lee

In Vancouver, Tammara meets with Hua Foundation members Christina Lee and Gillian Der to buy traditional ingredients at a Chinese dry goods store. As they cook a Chinese soup together they discuss how youth are reconnecting with their Asian identity through food.

The hua foundation’s mission is to strengthen capacity among Asian diasporic youth, in solidarity with other communities, to challenge, change, and create systems for a more equitable and just future.

https://huafoundation.org/about/

Imam Hanan Khmer Sobhi

In Calgary, Alberta Tammara visits the Baitun Nur Mosque Calgary and meets with Hanan Khmer Sobhi, an imam and a missionary, with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Imam Hanan and Tammara discuss the Islamic spiritual connection to food and what Quranic teachings say food is healing.

Tammara also discusses her previous eating disorder with the imam and explores how her Muslim faith and wearing a hijab has helped her overcome her fraught relationship with food and her body.

Sikh Food Leader Manjit Thandi

Tammara learns how food brings people together through her experience with Sikh food leader Manjit Thandi in Vancouver.

Together they visit a Gurdwara called Khalsa Diwan Society Sikh Temple to participate in a Langar (community kitchen). At the temple Tammara and Manjit talk to Head Granthi, Gyani Harminder Pal Singh, about the importance of food equity.

Dr. Lauren Kepkiewicz

In the Bow Valley in Alberta Dr. Tammara Soma meets with Dr. Lauren Kepkiewicz. Lauren is the Director of the Board of the Bow Valley Food Alliance and a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Manitoba.

Tammara makes pierogies with Lauren and learns about her Polish culture and how food is connected to her identity. Lauren discusses the work she is doing to help with food insecurity in the Canadian Rockies which includes working alongside the Filipino Organization in the Rocky Mountains (FORM).

The Filipino Organization in the Rocky Mountains (FORM)

The Filipino Organization in the Rocky Mountains (FORM) creates culturally appropriate food hampers for Filipinos living in Banff and Canmore. FORM teaches Tammara the importance of “Ayuda” (assistance) by creating food relief hampers with her for their community members who are front line workers and have been affected by job losses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

team

Food is My Teacher is a new documentary by filmmaker Brandy Yanchyk and Dr. Tammara Soma.

Brandy Yanchyk and Dr. Tammara Soma co-directed and co-wrote the documentary. Food is My Teacher is produced by Brandy Yanchyk and the Director of Photography is Mitch Fraser, with additional filming by Thomas Dudley in British Columbia. Sarah Taylor is the Editor. Rory Lee is the Art Director, Post Production Sound by Johnny at Blerot Sound and Colour Correction by Michael McIntosh.

The Executive Producer is Sheila Peacock at CBC.