52: Terroir - Building Community through Food and Place with Arlene Stein

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There are certain people in this world that I could just listen to forever, they’re an absolute wealth of knowledge and experiences and my first guest of season 4, Arlene Stein, is one of those people.

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Arlene is the founder and executive director of the Terroir Symposium, a catalyst for creative collaboration and social and environmental responsibility in the hospitality industry. Since 2006, Terroir has convened international and Canadian industry leaders annually at a two-day symposium in Toronto – and since 2014 at off-shoot events across Europe and North America, for education, networking, and inspiration. From her current home base in Berlin, Arlene travels globally to research responsible food systems and gastronomic innovations. 

Arlene has that magical ability to build community and knowledge around food and root it to place, to land, to context in a way that is truly inspiring. But what makes her even more incredible is the ease that she brought to this conversation. At the core of what Arlene does is foster a sense of community for local and international networks that relate around food: she breaks down the silos for restauranteurs, chefs, artisans, producers, academics, and so many more through Terroir events and workshops to foster conversations and collaborations.

In today’s episode we explore what exactly the word terroir means and how the role that gastrodiplomacy can play into food systems and futures. Listen to the full interview in the player above, or download on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher!

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