"If food sites became places — places people actually wanted to be — then more people would connect to local food systems, sustainability, and community."
Ryan Smolar
Hopeless to Hotspot
with Sandra Poelman

How can food help shape more joyful, authentic, and connected cities? In this episode of the Hopeless to Hotspot Podcast, Sandra speaks with Ryan about Food Placemaking, the relationship between food and creativity, and how communities can celebrate local culture through meaningful food experiences. Drawing from a three-year journey across the U.S., he shares inspiring examples of how local food systems can strengthen identity, belonging, and public life.

Featuring

Ryan Smolar

I work to reconnect people with each other and the living systems that sustain them. Drawing from years of collaboration with communities across the U.S. and abroad, I create food experiences and cultural programming that connect people to their terroir, their neighbors, and the traditions that make a place worth living in.

My projects weave together local economies, regenerative land practices,

About the author

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24th — 27th

September, 2024

Creating better
cities together

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