Allison Day: Blogger, food stylist, photographer, and cookbook author

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By Susan Bubak

Beets are an often overlooked vegetable, but Allison Day, BA ’10 (University of Guelph) is trying to change that with her Yummy Beet food blog. Aside from beets, you’ll find almost every type of produce presented in a rainbow of colours along with “vegetable forward” recipes to prepare them yourself.

Now living in Hamilton, Ontario,  Day studied Sociology at the University of Guelph  and then completed a postgraduate program to become a registered holistic nutritionist, specializing in natural foods. “That inspired me to get in the kitchen and start experimenting,” she says. “I grew up in the country surrounded by farms and tons of produce, and that really inspired me to learn more about where my food came from and pay more attention to what I was eating.” She admits that beets aren’t her favourite vegetable, but decided to name her blog after them as a pun on a news beat.

When her younger sister was diagnosed with celiac disease and lactose intolerance, Day began experimenting with recipes that were gluten- and dairy-free. “It helped me understand there are people who can’t eat certain foods, and they still want to have foods that they enjoy and love,” she says. “It shows people with food allergies or intolerance that they can still eat really tasty food, and it doesn’t need to be expensive or from a box.”

Aside from her blog, Day has published two cookbooks: Whole Bowls features gluten-free and vegetarian recipes; and Purely Pumpkin features recipes using the gourd in everything from pies to pizza. She is also a regular contributor to Food Network Canada and has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Prevention and SHAPE.

Preparation can make or break a vegetable dish, she says. Despite her background as a nutritionist, “it took me a long time to learn how to prepare things properly.” Roasting vegetables, she adds, brings out their flavour more than boiling or steaming them.

Seasonings, especially salt, are key ingredients in her recipes. “I use more salt than normal,” says Day. “I think salt is a good thing. It really brings out the natural sweetness and savouriness of vegetables.” She also uses acidic ingredients such as lemon, lime and vinegar to make flavours pop.

Miso noodle bowls created and photographed by Allison Day.

When she isn’t working on her own cookbooks, Day spends most of her time on her blog. She does her own food styling and photography, making each meal look like a work of art. She also works on sponsored content for various brands, which involves testing recipes, taking photos and promoting them on social media.

She says photographing inanimate objects like food can be challenging. “Setting the ‘scene’ for a shoot can take longer than the actual photography process,” says Day, who also photographed all the images in her cookbooks. “Styling dishes makes a mess. From start to finish, a photo shoot for one dish can take two hours before post-production.”

Presentation can make even the blandest foods look mouth-watering. People eat with their eyes first, she says, so she tries to make each photo “inviting and warm, so someone wants to reach into their screen or into the book and grab it.”

This story, reprinted with permission, originally appeared in The University of Guelph’s Portico Magazine. 

Helping spark a 'Soul Fusion'

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by David Scott

Victoria Falana, BA’12 (Kinesiology, Western University) embraces uncomfortable situations. Raised by Nigerian “non-musical” parents in Brampton, Ontario, Falana searched for her voice as a youth, listening to the sounds of Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé, as well as traditional radio pop. Then names like Lauryn Hill, Nina Simone and Etta James started ringing true.

In order to hone her skills, she performed in competitions in the Greater Toronto Area, like CNE’s Rising Star Talent Competition. And then she arrived at Western in 2008.

Her first steps, however, weren’t exactly full of Purple Pride and parties. An avid soccer player, she had a torn ACL repaired just months before arriving on campus.

“I started my first year on crutches and a wheelchair,” she said. “Frosh Week was horrible. My first few months at Western were pretty sad. I couldn’t hang out; I couldn’t take part in any activities.”

Despite the rough start, later that year, she won the Western Idol competition. The prize, a trip to Europe, opened the door to a future she always wanted, but never expected. With the international bug planted, she reached third year without a clear path. Stagnated personally, she applied for a summer exchange to Denmark.

“It was not something highly premeditated,” she said. “And that’s how life is sometimes. But I wrote a lot of music in Denmark. I’d explore and meet people. I spent a lot of time on my own. It took me a while to get used to Denmark. It was really different.”

Soon afterward, she joined Kinesiology professor Darwin Semotiuk’s Physical Activity in Cuba course, which included a class trip to Cuba. She travelled there in February 2012 during Reading Week.

Although she loved music as a child, her singing and playing various instruments was all self-taught. Speaking with Cuban musicians and experiencing a music that was “very raw” sparked a passion to take action. It inspired a leap of faith. “I’m the kind of person when I say I’m going to do something I do it,” she said. “I’m going to go to Cuba.” And so, following convocation, Falana moved to Cuba.

“(Cuba is) a place where people really honour musicianship and art, and the roles music and art play in that context versus somewhere in Canada, where we tend to put more emphasis on sciences, with science being something that’s ‘respectable,’” she said.

“Intuitively, I’m very percussive. I started studying more rhythms. Being in Cuba was really great for that. That’s very much part of my identity. The rhythms I’ve picked up in different contexts tend to overlap a lot – Cuban rhythms have a lot of African influences.” Aside from learning more music, she was also studying Spanish and sociology (in Spanish) at the University of Havana. “The first week, I just cried every day. I thought, ‘This is impossible. Why did I do this to myself?’ Eventually, it got easier – well, not easier – but it wasn’t as painful.”

She stayed just over a year, and spent that time performing, developing and, eventually, recording her debut five-song EP Things Fall Together with the help of local Cuban musicians.

She wrote four of the five songs. The only song she didn’t write was a cover of Angelitos Negros, written by Antonio Machin, and performed, perhaps most famously, by Roberta Flack. Western Sociology professor Anton Allahar introduced her to the song.

In Cuba, she honed a sound she calls “soul fusion,” her own blend of jazz, soul, afrobeat and R&B.

“I’m doing what I want to do, on a smaller scale,” she said. “I know those things build on themselves. In music, everyone thinks it happens overnight, but nothing happens overnight.”

 

This article appeared in the Fall 2015 edition of Western University’s Alumni Gazette. Reprinted with permission. 

A Clinical Counsellor’s Perspective: Lanie’s Story

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By Emma Kushnir, WorkStory Ambassador

Lanie Schachter-Snipper’s adventure in life and academics has been vast and amazing. After finishing her undergraduate degree from McGill University in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, she took a huge break doing various jobs ranging from teaching first grade in Honduras to running a cultural art tour business in Cuba. She then went back to school at the City University of Seattle for a Master’s degree in Clinical Counselling and Psychology, and finally to Yale School of Medicine to complete a fellowship in the Forensic Drug Diversion Program.

Now settled with a family in Toronto, Lanie is working as a full time clinical counselor for Shepell.fgi providing assessment and crisis intervention for employee assistance.  But her real baby is a non-profit organization Upfront Counselling and Management that she and a criminal defense lawyer founded in 2014. The organization provides psychological support for court-involved individuals who are charged with crimes involving aggression, with a primary focus on domestic abuse and substance abuse.  Offenders are referred by their lawyer, and partake in individual or group counseling that is therapeutic in nature, which is different than other organizations that exist in Toronto.

When asked why she got into the profession of psychology especially after so much different work, she answered that “from a young age I was always interested in deviance, people who broke the law, and crime in general.” As for the making the decision to do a masters program in psychology, she divulged that she applied to many different types of masters and international programs because she knew she needed to do something and was interested in a lot. She explains “in my case it really worked out and my work is really rewarding. I can’t imagine doing anything else, but it is very challenging and draining, and can be overwhelming.”

 Speaking about the many challenges that comes with the job, she explained that boundaries are hard, “I am fairly good at having a challenging work day and not spending a ton of time thinking about it, so having good self care and maintaining healthy boundaries is very important.” She also clarified that you must set realistic clinical expectations “you have to be realistic of what you can accomplish with people such as those who are living in poverty. One of the hardest things is knowing there are limits to which you can help people.”

Though with the challenging, comes the rewarding. She explained that “everyday I work, I get some feedback that the time I have spent talking to a client has been positive in some way. Whether there is an opportunity to vent or validating feelings, on a daily basis, even if it is subtle, I see the work I’m doing is meaningful to someone. There are moments today at the very least, this person isn’t going to kill themselves. Plus there is always new stuff coming up like new protocols and approaches, which makes it not the very least boring.”

As for people who are interested in this line of work her advice is: “you have to understand how complex people are, no matter how much learning you will do, every single person is unique and needs special attention. In this field you need a certain amount of stamina, energy, and a lot of compassion.” For others seeking out what to do, Lanie offered the advice: “Don’t rush. It can be easy to hurry into things because careers are appealing, but the importance of the in-between gets lost, and it’s an important time. I took so long to figure out what I wanted to do. Meet people travelling, work in different places and environments. Explore and be curious, and learn as much as you can about the wider world and your community. The more experiences you have, the better you will be in any job.”