S’ALIMENTER EST UN GESTE DE RELATION
EATING IS AN ACT OF RELATIONSHIP
Since moving to Quebec, I've explored what it means to live and eat here. In food nonprofit work, this raises questions about equitable access to healthy food with dignity for everyone, regardless of background, race, language, or citizenship.
Eating here also means connecting with the seasons and the local bounty from our rivers, forests, fields, and lakes. Like wine's terroir reflects its origins, our food carries the imprint of both place and people. Eating is fundamentally an act of relationship, linking us to others and the natural world.
This photography installation traces food's journey from soil to table across Quebec. The long, continuous banners mirror the interconnected nature of our food systems. Their wave-like structure echoes Quebec's landscape - the St. Lawrence, mountains, and hills - while connecting us through time to the Indigenous communities and ancestors who have been here before us, and future generations.
Rachel Cheng (2025) at the Forum SAT conference, Ste-Hyacinthe.
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Sowing
Which seeds are we saving?
What are we sowing?
Where are our resources going?
How do we measure abundance?
On what are we fixing our gaze?
Taking root
Who gets access to land?
Who can’t get a loan?
Who gets the profit?
Who has to work 14h a day?
Where are the ancestors among our experts?
How do we root deeply in justice and wellbeing?
Sharing
What do we put on our plate?
Who gets to define what is healthy?
What do we think of when we think of food from Québec?
Why do we think of only those ingredients?
What does our food say about our vision for a possible future?
What does our food reveal about our relationships to one another and to the natural world?
