Rat Routes to Berried Treasure: Recipes as Alternate Narratives of Urban Agriculture

• Author / Creator

  DeLano, Sarah

• This thesis considers the constitution of urban places, futures and belonging through foraging, urban
  gardening and recipe creation. Adopting a community-based research approach, the research embraces
  values of inclusion and is an active attempt to diversify the ways in which urban greenspaces are
  planned and imagined. At the heart of this research is the co-creation of a recipe book by a group of
  culinarily-inclined English language learners and a Métis instructor from Edmonton who is the author of
  this thesis. This thesis considered how participation in a community urban agricultural and recipe project
  could increase belonging as well as aid in building more inclusive futures for its participants and for the
  City of Edmonton. The recipe book created in this project is the culmination of a year of urban gardening
  and foraging within the City of Edmonton, Alberta; of experiencing and reflecting upon the ways in
  which we relate to the land, and our imaginations for our future.
  Our recipes-as-stories offer a window into who and where we are, and specifically on green and wild city
  spaces where planning, policies and histories do not always include our voices as women, mothers,
  immigrants, and Indigenous people. As urban food spaces continue to rise in prominence in cities such
  as Edmonton, how these spaces are defined, managed, who has access to them, and whose voices and
  experiences are underrepresented in the planning and use of such spaces are essential questions.
  Through the narratives, experiences, and reflections that we gathered as we created place-based
  recipes, we carved out spaces of belonging and agency for ourselves and presented our own imaginary
  of urban agriculture. This imaginary draws from the magic of the everyday to visualize an inclusive and
  sustainable future in our City. Our vision and our recipes-as-practice reach beyond the generally
  understood boundaries of urban agriculture and include not only current and local gardens, but also
  global places, urban forests and intergenerational connections.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • urban agriculture
  • diversity
  • recipes
  • community based participatory research
  • Foraging

• Graduation date

  Fall 2021

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-d8rs-tf72

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.