How I Became a Nourishment Doula and Why Food Justice Matters
by Bree Hope
Every body has a food story. Food is a connection to our roots, to our past, present and future.
Food is the great connector that binds us to our communities. In my opinion and from my experience, food sovereignty is simply allowing food to be in control of itself. In this chapter of reimagining food justice and relationship, we reclaim our connections to food access in seeing the bigger possibilities and in seeing the intention in our investments. This is my perspective as a Black queer woman raised in the midwest, with roots in the deep south and as a descendant of enslaved people. This is an ongoing conversation and I invite you to join, to share and to think about the ways the global food systems impact you and the people you come from.
What is so vivid and true for me in this movement is the ways our food systems have and continue to cause harm to the people. Whether we’re talking about climate change, the medical industrial system, food justice, incarceration, migration, every single one of these issues comes back to a physical experience. There is so much harm in the industrial food system that impacts us constantly.
For me it feels like the food sovereignty movement is a healing movement, and I can see that with more clarity now. I come from a legacy of Black Survivors and Food Growers. In thinking about the food systems, I encourage you to think about the ways we honor the survivors of the food systems.
My Food Journey
So much of the work I’m doing as a Nourishment Doula includes nourishing people throughout their reproductive journeys. A few big questions I’ve been asking myself and centering with clients is “how are you creating sacred space and ritual around nourishment? How have you experienced food today? What is your body and spirit asking of me today?”
There’s truly an alchemy to how we connect our relationships to self and community to our connections to food.
What brings me to this work as a Nourishment Doula is the knowing and understanding of how pivotal access to quality food is in reproductive care and beyond. I’m from Southwest Ohio where there are many neighborhoods navigating the harshness of food deserts. Many of us have witnessed the surges of fast foods being available on every corner and within walking distance. But we don’t have access to nourishing and sustainable foods in these neighborhoods– not within walking distance and sometimes not even within easy driving or bus route distance. We see this across the country and across the world. This is no accident; it’s a tool of white supremacy.
My Journey as a Doula
I’ve been sharing food in community for a while now as a Chef and a Doula. This includes supporting families through grief, postpartum, conception, abortion, and beyond with food, fellowship, and recreating food stories. It’s been the biggest connection to my ancestors, those I know, those I don't know, and those I never got to meet. And in many ways this brings me back to the work with a different lens. Our lineage and our connections to our ancestors have always held the tools for our healing and having access to food and deep nourishment is our birthright and liberatory.
My mother, Victoria, who many folks lovingly call Vicky or Lou Lou whether knowingly or unknowingly taught us the pathway to freedom was through fellowship and deep nourishment. One of the ways she centered both was by giving so much honor to the process of the food, from the ground to its place in the presentation before us. Before a meal, we would honor the people and resources that had touched that process in some way.
“Just as we know that children cannot learn well on empty stomachs, we must also understand that movements cannot flourish without the nourishment of those who dedicate their time and energy to our collective liberation.That labor should be appreciated, valued, and treated as core to the movement. Let us all extend appreciation to the cooks, chefs, and cocinerxs, who make sure folks marching, driving, and moving for miles at protests are well fed. Let us all show grace to those who take care to consider various dietary needs and work to meet them with as much passion as they do for people who can eat everything. Let us all take the time to build movements focused on creating the best conditions for the people who plant and cultivate the food that crosses our individual palates-especially those who are un/underpaid and those working in unsafe conditions. There is no Black liberation without meeting basic human needs for care and nourishment.
But our work can and must go beyond survival--we must do the work so that we can all thrive. Now is the time for us to embrace the history and future of care as essential work. In doing so, not only will we deliver well-deserved recognition but we will fortify our path toward collective liberation.”
-Charlene Carruthers (Black Food by Bryant Terry) chapter “Nourishing ourselves, and each other, is not an indulgence”
Questions to Consider Around Food Justice
These are some of the questions I am asking. These questions and my evolving answers inform the ways I show up with and for clients. I invite you to explore these questions too:
What does it mean to be all of our full selves and access deep nourishment in a country where injustice is the norm?
How does food connections show up for you and your folks? How has colonization impacted your relationships and connections to food?
What does it mean for you and your people to craft and mold liberation through food and fellowship?
What does it mean to support one another and to view people as our central resource?
What is the history are you acknowledging?
Some of My Favorite Nourishment Related Resources:
Folks I Love to Follow:
Podcasts I’m Enjoying:
Finding Our Way Podcast with Prentis Hemphill + Rowan White
We Do This Work Together
Remember we are creators and growers and givers of life. Remember we are healing ourselves in the soil everytime we feel, and touch and connect with what we’ve planted.
Remember we are the seeds that give way and pathways for our collective growth and with intention, all that we harvest will continue to expand where we are planted.
Let’s stay in touch! Follow me and my work over at Sowing Seeds in Omi Doula Services on the socials.
Bree is a Black + Queer Repro Justice Advocate who is both a Doula and a Chef and the owner of Sowing Seeds in Omi Doula Services. Sowing Seeds is a collaboration of reproductive care and nourishment for individuals and families in the Greater Cincinnati area. She was born and currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with familial roots in the deep south. As a Chef and a Foodie, Bree loves the variety that both food and life have to offer. As a wellness enthusiast, Bree is passionate about creating cultural, affirming and expansive conversations around our collective approach to nourishment. Bree is excited about deepening their work in the community as a Full Spectrum Midwife in the future. https://linktr.ee/breehope_bewell