Tipping The Scale

How can we create a more equal food system? Parabere Forum opened the floor to leading women to find out.

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Maria Canabal is one of the most influential women in gastronomy. The award-winning journalist and author founded Parabere Forum in 2014, a not-for-profit aimed at addressing the gender imbalance in food by giving women’s voices a global platform.

“We need women’s voices to be heard and women’s talents to be deployed, so that we can construct a vision of the future based on the values of sustainability and equal opportunity,” says Canabal.

Now in its fifth year, the organisation has launched its first book, Cooking up a Better Food Future: A Women’s Vision, which Canabal describes as a manifesto of hope for the future of food. The work, which is the first in a planned series called Parabere Essays, features 100 short essays by women from Parabere’s global network, many of whom also happen to be food royalty: chefs Christina Tosi, Dominique Crenn and Elena Arzak; educators and activists Stephanie Alexander and Alice Waters; writers Joanna Savill, Licia Granello and Laura Esquivel; and women in the highest places of policy such as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Dr Hilal Elver.

Canabal tasked contributors with answering the question: “How can women change the future of food?” In their responses these women share their insights, experiences and revelations with a great sense of urgency and passion.

Chido Govera, a farmer and entrepreneur based in Zimbabwe, promotes mushroom cultivation as a means for food security and financial independence for women living in poverty in her own country and beyond. Govera believes women being part of the food value chain and responsible for production, and not just the cultural or domestic side of food, is essential.