Hampshire County
Community Story Archive
Sharing Stories, Creating Change
Mii
Mii has a passion for cooking and considers food as medicine. She has years of personal and professional experience cooking, including most recently, working with local youth. Early in the pandemic, Mii experienced food insecurity while living in a shelter in eastern Massachusetts. She faced many challenges trying to access the food she needed to support her health. She moved to permanent housing in Hampshire County in 2021 and has experienced healing through community care and access to resources.
“Sometimes I couldn't believe it was me that this was happening to because I didn't grow up food insecure at all. It kind of happened after kids and job changes.”
Check out some interview excerpts below:
"I think we need to invest more in our community for our food. That's what I hope and to start at a younger age, letting them be part of the preparation process, seeing it in its raw state and making something out of it…. it builds their confidence to be able to prepare good-tasting food that has value and it's made them want to learn more, eat better …My hope is to connect them back to the food sources to see where is it coming from. That is the most beautiful thing out here is you actually get to be around the food and it comes back into the community. ”
"It’s important to me that we understand [that] we are more than ourselves. How can I be happy eating if I'm looking at other people that aren't? The awareness that good food should be a God-given right, and it ..it shouldn't be a class thing…When people eat food that’s consciously prepared and has vital nutrition, they respond and I've noticed that over and over again, people respond."
“It's a communal thing…anything where you come together and make something those are the things I like the best that are communally prepared.”