Aileen Suzara is a land-based educator, eco-advocate, and cook. She was born in Washington, raised mostly on the Big Island of Hawai’i, and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her family spans the Philippines and North America, and these places define her. While she has spent years working towards building healthier communities, sustainable foods, and environmental justice, she also carries a torch for storytelling and its ability to inspire, move, and transform. Currently, she recently completed a Masters in public health at the University of California, Berkeley’s graduate school of public health and nutrition, and she is also in La Cocina’s kitchen incubator program, where she is starting a food business called Sariwa. She is exploring the potential to lift up traditional Filipino-inspired foodways as one solution towards chronic disease that will also boost ecological health and the livelihood of small farmers. In this interview, Aileen talks with Chelsea about decolonizing food traditions, and the power of food and food stories to heal.