Season Jars Food Preservation Project
“The jars can say it all” was Season Jar’s installation at the 4th Space, a ludic and interactive expression to answer the question: What is Food?
We presented an experimental research-creation project aimed at mobilizing food literacy and food preservation knowledge.
We built a physical structure composed of shelves loaded with more than 50 Mason jars of different sizes. Walking in and around this space, viewers encountered various themes: Seasons, People, Processes, Sciences, Tools, Outcomes, Evolution and the Role of food in our lives. The aim was to create food narratives and to bring viewers to explore and decipher stories about food and change. Several recipes were displayed on leaflets that visitors could bring home.
Images
Season Jars
Words
Season Jars
Geneviève Sicotte
Videos
Kaleb Wyse
Season Jars
Season Jars is a student-led Concordia Food Coalition working group that aims to promote year-round consumption of local, organic and seasonal produce through public education and collective food preservation. We offer three workshops that are experiential and multidisciplinary collective learning experience. Each session lasts a season (summer, fall or winter). Our series covers the history and cultural heritage of food preservation, the health benefits of different preservation techniques, the biochemistry of food preservation, as well as the socio-economic, environmental and food security implications of preserving local seasonal food. Each workshop includes a collective kitchen, where participants collaboratively apply their theoretical knowledge to transform local, organic and seasonal produce into delicious recipes to take home.
Interested in Canning?
Has canning piqued your interest after reading about Season Jars amazing work? Well, the process of canning is actually quite simple once you get the hang of it, and the possibilities of produce that can be canned is extensive! From blueberries jams, to pickled veggies, to meat!
Here are some helpful tutorials to get you started on this fun and fruitful journey!
This video by Kaleb Wyse is super helpful because he lists all the necessary equipment and gives an overview of the canning process.
Now that you know the basics, you can get a ton of inspo from Kaleb's channel for recipes! Check them out here!
Monica Dantas is an interdisciplinary researcher and PhD candidate in the Individualized Program at Concordia University. She studies the political and socio-economic footprints of global food systems, social and solidarity economy, community development, sustainable agriculture, especially in the global south and Brazil. She has worked as a part-time professor teaching Food and sustainability at Concordia University and is the founder Season Jars, a food preservation working group dedicated to community-based learning.
Nadra Ragueb has a Bachelor's degree in food science and a Master's degree in sustainable food supply chain management. Her experience in the food system and her passion for social entrepreneurship pushed her to co-found Season Jars, where she develops and facilitates food preservation workshops that bridge theory with practice. Nadra also managed Concordia University's Sustainability Action Fund, where she coached students in developing sustainable business models and drafting funding proposals. She now works as a social economy consultant at PME MTL Centre-Est.
Sherif Goubran is an architect with a Master’s degree in Building Engineering. He is a Vanier Scholar whose research is focused on understanding the intersection between sustainable building design practices and the Sustainable Development Goals. He represents graduate students through elected positions and on university committees and he also co-leads a food preservation project on campus.