Food for Thought: A Youth Zine Project

Share your food story, food experiences, or dreams for your local food system through zine-making!

What is a zine?

A zine is a self-published booklet or magazine, often created by hand or digital tools. It typically focuses on niche interests or personal expression.

About the project

From April to June 2025, Nourish Nova Scotia and Feed Nova Scotia collaborated on a zine initiative aimed at gathering and amplifying youth perspectives on food-related topics. To support the zine-making process, in-person workshops were held across the province, giving youth the opportunity to learn about zine creation, access supplies, and engage in meaningful discussions about food. As always, sharing good food together was part of the fun!

Workshops were held at some amazing community spaces such as Ross Creek Art Centre Annex (Kings County), Our House Youth Wellness Centre (Shelburn), The Youth Project (Cape Breton), YMCA of Southwest Nova Scotia (Bridgewater), MacPhee Centre for Creative Learning (Dartmouth), and Wonder’neath Art Studio (Halifax). The project showcased youth’s creativity and enthusiasm as they shared their food stories in imaginative and meaningful ways.

Youth Zine Library

Storytelling through zines is one of several methods we are exploring to meaningfully engage youth in conversations about food and food systems change. Keep an eye out for future opportunities – and in the meantime, take a look at the collection of zines created by youth! Click on the zine cover to view the full zine.

The Bakery

by Sela, Age 16. This zine is about life in the bakery where I work. I wanted to depict the every day goings on of my new workplace and express how maybe I wish things were different, but at the end of the day, it’s really not all that bad.

The Orange

by anonymous, age 16. It’s the orange by Wendy Cope because it’s food related (which was the prompt) and it’s my favourite poem of all time.

Apples

by Ashe, age 12. My zine is about apples, because they're one of my favorite fruits.

Bugs that Make the Garden Grow

by Ariella, age 17. It is about different kinds of bugs that you can find in your garden.

Food I Love (That Doesn't Love Me Back)

by Kenzie, Age 25. This zine is all about the pains of discovering an allergy later-in-life.

Safe Food Showdown

by Cherry, Age 25. All about the rating and comparing of different 'safe foods'!