Jon Steinman
JON STEINMAN is the author of Grocery Story: The Promise of Food Co-ops in the Age of Grocery Giants (New Society Publishers). Following the book’s release, Jon completed a 130-stop tour across the US and Canada and was hosted by established food co-ops and 23 in their development stages. In 2021, he published THIS COULD BE OURS – a PHOTO ALBUM to inspire your food co-op dream. Jon was the writer and host of the radio show, podcast and television series Deconstructing Dinner, and was a board director at the Kootenay Co-op (2006-2016) – the largest community-owned grocery store in Canada specializing in natural foods – serving as Board President in his final two years. Jon lives on the traditional territory of the Sinixt, Ktunaxa and Syilx.
Jon is also known for his work as a sonic alchemist at festivals, ecstatic dances, and dancefloors of all kinds through his presence as Apukuna.
Scheduled Workshops
Who Owns Your Grocery Store? You can!
Most of the stores we access food, nutrition and medicines from are privately-owned — leaving the values and future of these stores in the hands of single individuals or companies – not by the people most dependent upon them. Enter the cooperative. For 200+ years, cooperatives have democratized economies by placing the stewardship of businesses and services into the hands of people. Jon Steinman believes grocery stores are the most influential institutions shaping the future of food and that through communities coming together to assume ownership of them, we can begin to author a different story than the one we’ve inherited. Today, more than any time in recent history, marginalized communities have begun using the model to rewrite their own stories and to use community-ownership of grocery stores to heal, nourish and empower.
