Episode #74 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Alex Zubia (XeF) out of Fresno, California.
Alex Zubia, who goes by “Xef” is a Chef by trade. Born and raised in Fresno, CA (yokuts Land). Alex attended The California Culinary Academy in San Francisco (Ramaytush Ohlone land) in 2007. His passion for cooking came with his passion for eating. From 2008-2015 he worked at Community Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Room as a Patient Liaison. During that time he witnessed people from his community dying from diet related issues. That realization led him to opening his food truck, which focused on healthier, farm to fork versions of familiar foods. In 2015, Alex moved to Santa Barbara (Chumash Land) to further his skills as a chef. There, he discovered that so much of the beautiful produce he was cooking with came from Fresno. He wondered why he never saw all this produce available in Fresno. Alex moved back to his hometown in 2021 to fight for food justice as a Food Sovereignty Director at Fresno Barrios Unidos. Alex’s goal is to bring his community back to eating and cooking their indigenous foods which are so plentiful in the Central Valley.
“Fresno Barrios Unidos emerged out of a [local] community response to recognize the leadership of young people impacted by gangs in developing more positive solutions for their lives and the community. Since then, everything [they] do is because of [their] love and belief in the young people of Fresno.”
From their website:
Our neighborhood has been historically and systemically marginalized creating conditions that lead to food deserts, generational poverty, over-policing, and our schools don’t feel safe or inclusive to many students. But the young people who live here are resilient, resourceful and filled with passion. Our work is rooted in inclusivity, respect and appreciation for them as we’ve followed their lead for more than two decades taking on campaigns ranging from access to comprehensive sex education to student voice on city and county issues.
Fresno Barrios Unidos is a powerful, community-driven force for change in our city, region and state. Since our founding in 1994 we:
Led a movement for reproductive freedom in the Central Valley leading to a decline in unintended teen pregnancies and comprehensive sex education in California
Worked with Fresno City Council to make local schools sanctuary sites
Provide 12,000 middle and high school students with peer-led sex education each year
Uplift 90 young families a year with mentorship, parent education, case management, and healing opportunities
Preserved the local Indigent Medical Care program for homeless and undocumented residents and families.
Organized community to engage in the selection of our city’s Police Chief to ensure youth voice and experience with law enforcement was centered.
Linked hundreds of Fresno boys and men of color to supportive networks that foster healing and healthy identity development
In addition to Fresno Barrios Unidos, Alex works with Transition US.
“The mission of Transition US is to catalyze, coordinate, and support a national network of grassroots groups who are actively cultivating just, resilient, and regenerative communities.
[Transition US] envision[s] a just world where humanity lives in harmony with nature and cultivates regenerative systems for all aspects of living. [Transition US] envisions communities (everywhere) who are co creating healthy, healing, and connected ways of thriving on (the) Earth.”
Alex and I got connected by our mutual friend Marissa Mommaerts who also works for Transition US. After attendings some meetings together in western Colorado on regenerative land projects in the region, she nudged me to interview Alex. We found the time in January to have a conversation via ZOOM.
In this conversation with Alex, we talk about:
food apartheid (or ‘food deserts’) in Fresno, California, which is in the Central Valley of California, a place where so much food is grown yet not a lot of local food is available for the folks who live there
food is medicine, culturally and physically
Alex’s journey doing work with food, cooking in Santa Barbara and Fresno
the corporate industrial food complex as it intersects capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy
Alex’s work as a patient liaison at the Community Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Room and how it changed their perspective and what they observed as harmful aspects of the hospital industrial complex
The importance of love, community, and good food for good health
Navigating the nonprofit world when trying to do food justice work
some raving on TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) Chico and Ali Meders-Knight’s model of land tending in California
regenerative agriculture stems from indigenous practices
The four R’s and more on Transition US (Resist, Repair, Reimagine, Regenerate)
