For the Love of Food – Dr. Don Buckingham and Mrs. Julia Sáez

December 3, 2024

“For the Love of Food: Pondering Christmas, Abundance and Scarcity” with Dr. Don Buckingham and Mrs. Julia Sáez

We find life and meaning in what, when, where and how we eat. And we love eating – it literally makes us who we are. But in many homes across Canada and in communities around the world, finding enough food to eat, let alone at a desired frequency and with loved ones, will be a challenge this Christmas. 

Join father/daughter duo, Don and Julia, for a journey into their worlds of food, agriculture, human rights and international development that stretch from Canadian wheat fields to sorghum plots of Rwanda and rice paddies of Cambodia, stopping along the way in halls of power in Ottawa, Nairobi, Geneva and New York. 

At each of these stops (and many others along the way), food experiences have driven their personal and professional reflections in seeking answers to the questions: 

• “Why is there food insecurity in our world of abundance?”
• “What steps can we take to eradicate it?”  

Deep down, they are convinced that part of the answer comes from Christ’s teaching to care for our neighbour—every day and especially now as we approach the remembrance of His birth at Christmas.

Additional resources made available by Dr. Buckingham and Mrs. Sáez

Dr. Don Buckingham

Inductee, Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame

Don Buckingham is a life-long learner, professor, gardener, chef and expert on food and agriculture law. His farming roots are deep, having been raised on a beef and crop farm in northwestern Saskatchewan, and he still owns two cows. His professional pursuits have led to undergraduate degrees in arts and in law (Saskatchewan), a certificate in Culinary Skills (Algonquin) and graduate degrees in International Development Studies (Liège), International Agriculture Trade (Cambridge) and Food Labelling Law (Ottawa and Montpellier). For his pioneering work synthesizing, applying and teaching Canadian agricultural law, he was inducted in the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2021. He currently lives with his wife Janet in Switzerland, where many new food adventures abound. Read more

Mrs. Julia Sáez

Senior Policy Advisor, Canadian Foodgrains Bank

Julia Sáez (née Buckingham) is Senior Policy Advisor on Agriculture and Food Systems at Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-based agencies working together to end global hunger. She holds a master’s degree in Sustainable Food Systems from the American University of Rome and prior to her current role, advanced sustainability initiatives in Canada’s agriculture sector with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and Dairy Farmers of Canada. Besides English, Julia also speaks French, Spanish and Italian and lives in Ottawa with her Venezuelan husband, with whom she loves to cook and eat.

The opinions expressed by the speakers and commentators at our events and posted on our website are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Christian Embassy.