BASc, ’21
Hola! My name is Jen (she/her) and I am a first generation Canadian-Palestinian. My parents immigrated from the city of Ramallah and my sister and I were later born in a city just north of Toronto. I started this account as a fun outlet to post photos of my food and now I’ve been part of such an inspiring and connected nutrition community! I’m going into my final year of the Nutrition and Food program at Ryerson (woohoo!) and I hope to become a Registered Dietitian. I’m interested in a number of areas in the field which gets me really excited about the future but who really knows where the wind will take me!
From a young age I’ve always been interested in learning about different cultures from the foods they ate, the language they spoke along with their cultural values and traditions. We are all so uniquely different and I find that so fascinating! We are not all one, we are all so different and we need to learn to recognize and embrace our differences. I used to dream about a job that would allow me to travel or learn about the cultures of others and I’ve learned that I get to do that as a future RD.
Now more than ever have I realized the importance of cultural competence in the field of dietetics and other health professional fields. I’m guilty of a past where I have tried to assimilate into Western culture but as I got older I have become so proud of my differences and where I come from. Cultural competence is so vital in order to connect with and help others and I hope as the next generation of RD’s we can work collaboratively to continue to create sustainable systemic changes in the field, in our communities and in our homes.
Nutrition Diversified 