By RON FANFAIR
Longtime sustainable food systems developer Anan Lololi has been recognized with a George Brown University’s honorary Bachelor of Commerce (Culinary Management) degree.
Lololi is the past executive director of the Afri-Can FoodBasket that he founded in 1995 to promote community food security, food sovereignty and food justice in Canada, North America and the Caribbean.
“In recommending you for this honour, we recognize your incredible contributions to the City of Toronto and your integral work and efforts for food security, equity and social justice,” George Brown’s President, Dr. Gervan Fearon, told Lololi.
After graduating from College in 1994 with a Business Management diploma, Lololi intended to establish a vegan restaurant that aligned with his Rastafari culture.
“That took a different turn when I was presented with an opportunity in the non-profit sector,” he said in his convocation address last month. “This unexpected shift led to the founding of the Afri-Can FoodBasket, the first African Canadian Sustainable Food Systems organization in Canada. It is a journey that taught me the importance of embracing change and having confidence in uncertain times.
“My work in the non-profit sector led me on a different path. There were no pots and pans and traditional culinary menus, but the politics of food, culture, diversity, equity and inclusion. My work focused on the diversity of the food culture in Toronto, the most multicultural city in the world.
“My menu items for the past 29 years were community food security, food justice and food sovereignty. My work focused on the right of all people to always have access to healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate food by addressing underlying structural inequities within the food system.”
In addition to being a Food Sovereignty Community Consultant with the City of Toronto’s Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit, Lololi is the interim Executive Director of the Black Food Sovereignty Alliance set up to empower Black communities to define their own food and agriculture system and to have access to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods.
