Food Memories: Connecting Through Stories

For Immediate Release Please

Release Date: October 8, 2022

Program Contact: Nina Zeldin, nina@healthyacadia.org 

Media Contact: Tracey Carlson, tracey@healthyacadia.org or (207) 667-7171 Ext. 112 

Food memories: Connecting through Stories

Community members are invited to join Healthy Acadia on Thursday, November 3, 2022, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., via Zoom for “Food memories: Connecting through Stories,” with special guest Emily Shanahan. The free online event is the latest installment in Healthy Acadia’s Monthly Mindfulness series.

The human brain is hardwired for storytelling. It's one of the oldest and most universal forms of communication, with examples found from cultures across the globe from every millennia, including Navajo, Greek, Sumerian, and many more oral traditions we don’t know about.

The act of storytelling creates a shared group experience that’s both relatable and memorable. We empathize with characters and their experiences and remember facts better if in a narrative format. Storytelling is empowering on an individual level, providing  the storyteller autonomy over their story: to challenge assumptions, give voice to their experience, and to build a new shared experience to build community among listeners.

Food, in addition to life-giving sustenance and nutrition, is an important vehicle for storytelling. Food is an intimate and powerful connector: to our families, our friends, to our romantic partners, to our cultures, to where we live, to a specific place or experience, and more. We all have foods we feel connected to for a myriad of reasons. 

Studies show that our brains connect food memories with the experience more than the actual taste of the food. Telling the stories of the foods we love, why we love them, and the connections and memories we make through them, helps us to connect to others.

In this workshop, we will use simple visualization techniques and writing prompts to explore our own food memories, with opportunities for sharing.

Pre-registration is required for this free event. The one-hour session will be offered virtually via Zoom. To register and receive the Zoom link, go to bit.ly/mindful-1122. 

Emily Shanahan serves as Healthy Acadia’s AmeriCorps/Hunger Free America VISTA Food Security Coordinator in Hancock County. They work to improve access to healthy food for people experiencing food insecurity in Hancock County by building partnerships between local farms and food pantries; increasing participation in community gardens and nutrition benefit programs at farmers markets and farm stands; organizing county-wide food drives and fundraising events; and recruiting volunteers.

Emily holds a Bachelor of Science degree in International Business Management, Minors in Sustainability, Energy, and the Environment, and Human Rights Studies from University of Dayton, and worked with the Food & Growing team at the Hanley Sustainability Institute. They served a previous AmeriCorps term as Nutrition and Food Access VISTA at Together, Inc., in Omaha, Nebraska, before moving to Bar Harbor to assist Healthy Acadia’s food security team in Hancock County.

For additional information about this and future mindfulness events in the series or additional programs focused on building skills that promote mindful living, contact Nina Zeldin at nina@healthyacadia.org. 

Healthy Acadia is a 501(C)(3) community health organization building vibrant communities and making it easier for all people to lead healthy lives throughout Washington and Hancock counties. For more information about Healthy Acadia’s health and wellness programs and services, visit healthyacadia.org.

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