Over 30 years ago, Octavia Butler pretty much predicted our present moment with her science-fiction opus, Parable of the Sower. The novel opens in California in 2024, and to many of today’s readers, Butler’s prescient depictions of a state ravaged by fires, extreme inequality, rising authoritarianism and corporate greed feel uncanny. It’s no wonder that countless activists and thinkers turn to Butler as a beacon as they figure out how to navigate this era of political upheaval and manmade environmental disasters.
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For People’s Kitchen Collective’s Jocelyn Jackson, Sita Kurato Bhaumik and Võ Hải, the story serves as a roadmap. Since its beginnings in Oakland in 2011, the collective’s omnivorous programming has used art and food to build solidarity among people struggling against oppressive systems — whether that’s serving free breakfast to anyone who’s hungry, or reclaiming ancestral recipes at the Museum of the African Diaspora, where Jackson was a chef-in-residence.
In 2023, following in Olamina’s footsteps in Parable of the Sower, People’s Kitchen Collective set out on a journey by foot and bike to visit intentional communities developing alternative social structures, from Los Angeles to Mendocino County. They broke bread with nearly a dozen different collectives of Black and brown artists, farmers, activists and chefs, and learned about how they care for one another and the people around them. Viewers can tag along in the new documentary directed by Fox Nakai, Earth Seed: A People’s Journey of Radical Hospitality, which will screen at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive on July 27.
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