Thank you to everyone who joined us for Storyslam 2021: Recipes for Resilience on March 25th. Video clips and the stories from the event will be made available on our platforms in the coming weeks.
Real Food Real Stories is proud to present our fourth annual Storyslam, taking place in living rooms across the country. A digital gathering and fundraiser, go beyond the headlines to hear the personal stories of food leaders, served straight up.
It’s been a trying year for our friends in food. This year, 100% of all proceeds from Storyslam will be donated to our Resilience Fund, directly supporting members of our food community impacted by the pandemic and California wildfires.
Emceed by Jocelyn Jackson, listen to the moving, personal stories of visionary food leaders Chef Sarah Kirnon of Miss Ollie’s, organizer Vinny Eng of SF New Deal, third generation farmer and farmworker advocate Rudy Gimenez, Nomtipom Wintu medical herbalist Sage LaPena, and volunteer firefighter and shepherd Ruthie King.
We hope you’ll join us for what is sure to be a powerful evening of story, celebration and community as we come together to question what resilience means in this moment.
Featuring Stories From
Vinny Eng is a community organizer. Most recently, he joined the efforts of SF New Deal – a rapid relief effort formed in response to COVID-19. The organization provides financial support for local small businesses who provide meals to San Francisco residents facing food insecurity. To date, SF New Deal efforts have delivered over 1.5 million meals and disbursed over $15 million.
Vinny is also an award winning wine director and general manager and was named a Food and Wine Magazine Sommelier of the Year in 2019. He has presented at the Greenlining Institute, the Museum of Food and Drink, the Smithsonian Institute, and the California Department of Justice. Propelled by the loss of a loved one due to police violence, he is part of a number of coalitions working to repair harm, heal trauma, and restore communities. Vinny believes in a future where love prevails, where every one can live as whole beings and all are treated with care and dignity.
VINNY ENG
Organizer & Sommelier
SF New Deal
Sage LaPena, a Certified Clinical Herbalist and teacher specializing in both traditional Native American and Western herbal traditions, has worked with local medicine people from her tribe, California’s Northern Wintu, and neighboring tribes (Maidu, Miwok, Pomo and Karuk) since childhood. Lead herbalist at Mountain Thistle Botanicals and Consultation, Sage is also a consultant to several central California tribes and Native museums concerning TEK, ethnobotany, regalia making and holistic healthcare. Sage is currently seeing patients as part of the Healing Ways Program at Sacramento Native American Health Center, leading Plant Walks on Urban Herbalism and teaching classes on Traditional Native American and Western Herbalism.
Sage LaPena
Ethnobotanist & Medical Herbalist
Mountain Thistle Botanicals & Consultation
Sarah Kirnon is a West Indian chef. After years honing her craft in kitchens on both sides of the pond, Sarah opened Miss Ollie's in 2012, a farm-to-table Afro Caribbean restaurant in Oakland, CA. Miss Ollie's was named a 'Top 100 Restaurant' and garnered regional and worldwide accolades in countless newspaper reviews, magazine profiles, television shows, and films.
In 2020 the COVID pandemic devastated the hospitality industry and Miss Ollie's was not spared the consequences of forced closures and social distancing guidelines. In 2021 Miss Ollie's will transition to Sanctuary, a non-profit incubator for Black chefs, artists, musicians, and other creators
SARAH KIRNON
Chef & Community Advocate
Miss Ollie’s & Sanctuary
Rudy Jimenez is a third generation organic farmer and artist. Growing up in the Salinas Valley, Rudy was inspired by his parents, who had worked on conventional farms for 30 years. Rudy paired this wealth of experience with his entrepreneurship skills to found Green Thumb Organics Farms in 2015. A graduate of the Agriculture Land Base Association (ALBA), he now grows five acres of certified organic produce in San Juan Bautista. Green Thumb Organics currently serves farmers markets in San Francisco and Berkeley.
In addition to farming, Rudy offers wellness and health educational workshops via Urban Arts Collaborative. Together, they serve local families and youth, including the formerly incarcerated and migrant community, to promote healthy eating habits, lift up food production and preparation as a form of artistic expression, develop entrepreneurial skills, and advocate for the community
RUDY JIMENEZ
Farmer & Community Leader
Green Thumbs Organics
Ruthie King is a shepherd and firefighter based out of Mendocino County. Headwaters, her grazing operation, consists of 80 sheep and two donkeys who produce meat, wool, and hides. The flock is more than just for production, they graze land throughout Mendocino for fire fuel reduction and soil fertility. Ruthie's operation is a part of a farming collective at Ridgewood Ranch called the New Agrarian Collective which she helped found, and is closely associated with the training program she helped to start in 2013, the School of Adaptive Agriculture.
Ruthie works seasonally, shearing sheep for flocks around Northern California, harvesting her own animals for meat, working the lambing barns at UC Hopland, and fighting fires during the fire season.
RUTHIE KING
Shepherd & Volunteer Firefighter
New Agrarian Collective
PAST STORYTELLERS
“I started cooking because it was my way of being honest with my self and who I am. I started cooking because I found truth in food.”
Chef Tu David Phu,
2019 Storyslam Storyteller
“I was a chubby little girl with thick ponytails who loved food, loved watching the strong women in my family cooking, and absolutely loved my dad firing up his pit, filling the neighborhood with smoke.”
Fernay McPherson, Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, 2018 Storyslam Storyteller
