This highly participative event with around 100 participants was held on September 11 from 12 noon to 2pm. It was organised by Afri, Feasta, Irish Seed Savers and Maynooth University. You can watch a video of the event below, edited by Afri’s Roger Whelan.
In this online discussion we explored the relationship between our emotional and cultural response to COVID-19, the present and historical phenomenon of enforced absence brought about by environmental degradation, colonialism and racism, and our universal need for basic sustenance, in particular food.
Dr Clare O’Grady Walshe was interviewed by Afri host Ruairí McKiernan and spoke about food sovereignty with particular emphasis on the absolute importance of seeds. There was also a discussion led by Feasta’s Mark Garavan and a contribution from Fergal Anderson, farmer and founder member of Talamh Beo. Jennifer McConnell of Irish Seed Savers also contributed some thoughts. Live music was provided by Tommy Hayes and Matthew Noone.
The event was highly participative in the tradition of our previous ‘physical’ Food for Thought/Lon Intinne events in 2018 and 2019. Indeed, we feel were were able – to some extent – to get beyond the standard two-dimensional structure of online discussions. In this spirit, we asked participants to send an image or short piece of text in advance which was incorporated into a short video by Roger Whelan, and discussed with the help of Feasta hosts Seán O’Conlaín and Caroline Whyte.
