The Oakland Bloom Kitchen: Nurturing Seeds of Memory and Resistance through Food and Culture

Registration required

This event is hosted by the Integration and Belonging Hub at Clark University as part of the Belonging Talks Series, and is co-sponsored by the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice, the Sustainable Food Systems Program, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Sociology Department, and the Political Science Department, with the generous support of the Chester Bland Fund.

Speakers: Claudia Luz Suarez (Oakland Bloom staff and co-owner of Café con Cariño) and Chef Nicole Garcia (Member of the Chef’s Collective and owner of ASÚKAR, a Palestinian Cuban Fusion restaurant in Oakland, CA)

For the Fall ‘24 semester, the Belonging Talks Series will explore the theme of “Food, Migration, and Belonging: Sustainable Practices for Integrated Communities.” Our speakers will present on the role of food and cooking in mobile homemaking and as contributing to sustainable and inclusive societies.

This talk highlights the resilience of communities who use food to reclaim their identities and preserve their stories. For their Belonging Talk, Claudia and Chef Nikki will be discussing the power of food as a vessel for memory and resistance within the context of their Palestinian and Salvadoran cultures. As operators of Oakland Bloom’s shared restaurant space, Open Test Kitchen (OTK), Claudia and Nikki are co-stewarding a community space along with other BIPOC chefs, where food reclamation and cultural survival is at the center. Attend their talk to learn more about Oakland Bloom’s business training and incubator program and its transformative potential for the community of Oakland, CA.

Moderator: Jude Fernando, Associate Professor of Sustainability and Social Justice, Clark University

Questions? Email the Integration and Belonging Hub (IBH@clarku.edu) or Anita Fábos (afabos@clarku.edu)

For information on future talks in this series, please join the IBH Mailing List.