Location: Spain
Profession: Professional Baker
Social Profiles
About
My name is Celeste and I am 25 years old. I consider myself a food activist and an advocate for fair, healthy, nutritious and happy food. I am a very easy going person, curious by nature and always willing to collaborate and bring people together.
My interest on sourdough baking dates back to when I was still in high school and my dad bravely started his own micro bakery. As the years went on, I slowly became more interested on the craft itself, the origins and quality of the grains, the milling process and the social and health dimensions of this ancient food.
I started to realise that I could use food as a lens through which to see the world around me. I could understand the way humans interact with nature, with each other, with our bodies, with our economies and even politics by understanding the way the food system works. Eating has become both a deeply political act as well as a daily intimate ritual.
Honestly the most fulfilling and wholesome way to eat bread for me is to share it with somebody else. I love baking different kinds of bread, cutting them in big peaces (like cheese triangles) and seeing the magic of bringing people together to enjoy them. One of my sweetest memories lately is one of my mum and myself on a winter night quietly breaking bread together. I always try to enjoy bread with some locally made goat cheese, some fresh organic and in-season products or some homemade toppings.
I bake to break bread with the ones I love, to raise awareness on the power of feeding ourselves, to learn about the magic of fermentation, to slow down and listen to nature's rhythms.
I bake bread to dignify the role of wheat and gluten and to learn about the mysterious microscopic magic that makes possible the food we love. I bake bread because in a deeply industrialised food system it has become rebellious to do things yourself... I bake for many reasons. But most importantIy I bake bread as an act of kindness and care towards one another because food is a universal love language. So I bake for anyone that appreciates the love and care put on a loaf of bread.
My Work
I am currently based on Gran Canaria, a tiny paradise in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. From an early age I developed a passion for baking bread but also the desire to advocate for fair, clean and healthy food. Together with my dad, my brother and a coworker we run an organic micro bakery.
However, I am more interested on the activism and research side of food production as well as educating and raising awareness on topics like fermentation, food justice, food sovereignty and how to connect that to our health, cultural identity, local economies and our mother earth.
Passionate about Baking as Lifestyle Medicine
Baking teaches us the importance of patience, the joy of being present with our hands and senses on a craft and the connection we can create with the people we share this food with. It is a deeply therapeutical and meditative activity.
As soon as I found Vanessa’s work I started to learn more about the nutritional implications of bread and why good quality bread mattered and what that really meant. I understood the crucial role that fermentation played in the proper digestibility of bread. Moreover for many years baking taught me the importance of slowing down and respecting the wisdom of natural cycles. No matter how much you rush fermentation, if you want to get the right results, give it the time it needs.
These are the reasons why I have found BALM so interesting and revolutionary. It looks at humans in a holistic way, understanding that what we eat affects our natural environment but also our mood, self-esteem, our (gut) health, our relation with one another, our economy etc.
My Community
I come from a place where the culture of good, artisanal and wholegrain bread is very scarce. People are oblivious to the processes required to make healthy loaves therefore bread has become a stranger we live with.
But while facing an exponential increase in food allergies, intolerances and gastrointestinal diseases, people have demonised bread, carbohydrates and gluten all together instead of questioning the implications of consuming nutrient-deficient industrially produced “food” and ultra processed products.
Our society needs to get re-educated on the importance of eating good quality food that has been obtained and transformed properly in order to be beneficial for our bodies and our environment. We can do that by getting our hands dirty and reconnecting again with preparing and transforming food. And there is no better way to do so than starting with the oldest processed food in history, bread. That is why I consider the BALM protocol such an interesting approach. I am very interested on deepening my knowledge in this relevant topics through the research and practice of Dr. Vanessa Kimbell.
We are in dire need of reconnecting with ourselves, slowing down and eating better quality food that can nurture our bodies and souls. Perhaps baking and the BALM protocol have many of the answers we are looking for.
How I use BALM Protocol
I am very invested on helping people become aware of the importance and the joy of eating healthy, nutritious and locally grown food. This applies specially to the new generations that are completely detached from the natural world, the origins and the flavours of food.
I would love to apply the knowledge I will gain on the Sourdough School to offer people alternative ways of living, eating and baking bread. My objective is to incorporate this knowledge on sourdough baking courses to not just teach regular people but also professional bakers that do not know about the importance of quality ingredients and fermentation. This will spread the awareness of baking quality wholegrain and long-fermented bread amongst professional bakers that have the power to at the same time educate daily consumers.
It is just a matter of spreading the word and plating the right seeds.
