Kelowna chef launches project to bring food stories to life

A Kelowna chef will be sharing the stories of people from around the world in what she calls an ‘edible storybook.’

Aman Dosanj, formerly from Poppadoms is currently on an eight-month, self-guided food adventure around the world and documenting food based topics and issues. Through her blog, The Paisley Notebook, Dosanj will debut Say it Like you Eat it, stories from real people in their own words.

Inspired by Humans of New York, Dosanj will share stories from around the world each week through social media. Based on the idea that everyone has to eat, the food memory project is an attempt to connect people through food.

“Food is a language that takes away age, colour, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and even the spoken word,” explained Dosanj. “It’s who we are and it’s part of our culture, our upbringing and our memories. That's why I decided to see the world and learn about different cultures by asking locals to share personal food memories with me. The beauty of this project is that there are no boundaries – someone from Cambodia may have a very similar experience to somebody in Canada, and you just don’t know what somebody is about to share with you. I’m particularly excited to share the cannibal story with you!”

Dosanj began her journey on March 1 and has collected over 60 edible stories spanning from the Southern Hemisphere to South East Aisa and Europe. She has heard from everyone including a Buddhist monk, backpackers, victims of natural disasters and an ex-sex trade worker.

One profile will be posted each week with topics and countries mixed to reflect the diversity of the project. Dosanj hopes to trigger the excitement surrounding food memory and inspire others to share a meal with family, friends or strangers to bring people together.