Duncan Ebata
Food and Story Facilitator | Community Builder
Current Projects
Front Street Community Oven
In 2019 we built a wood-fired community oven in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, as a space for collective healing, happiness, social connection, radical empathy, and accessible and joyful food literacy. Through the power cooking together, eating together, being together, and sharing stories in a public park, we transform ourselves, the community, and our world into the more beautiful world we know is possible. Since 2019 we’ve hosted thousands of people at more than 100 gatherings at the oven. Learn more
Future of Food Scenario Planning
How We Thrive, in partnership with WeavEast, is embarking on a Future of Food scenario exercise with a group of 20-30 people actively working towards sustainable, equitable food systems. This group will come together to craft compelling, plausible scenarios about the future of food in our region. We will identify key global and regional trends, share knowledge about what is and isn’t working, and apply a scenario method that generates “alternative futures.” Learn more
The Narrative Project
The stories we tell are the stories we believe. The Narrative Project brings 453 people together to strengthen the narratives and stories we want to live by in Atlantic Canada.
Learn more
Blog
Content Marketing Template – from Google Sheets to Airtable
Here's why I switched from Google Sheets to Airtable for organizing marketing content. What do you think? Are you going to give Airtable [Affiliate] a try or are you already using it? What do you use it for? Our content...
3 Time Saving Tips Instagram
These are three things that are working for me to grow my Instagram @debata account and save time. I've gained 50 new followers in January when I was actively doing the things mentioned below. Recently I've slowed down on Instagram because I'm working on keeping up...
Why Telling People What to Do Doesn’t Work
Telling your community or customers what to do doesn't work. I've seen people try this over and over again in community and business. Traditional conferences are the worst for this, where some sort of expert spews a bunch of facts and tells the audience what to do....
Why Your Website Might Be Leaving Money on the Table
As a followup to "How to Build Trust and Grow Sales in 2017," here's a helpful infographic that Bluewire Media created, based on consumer research, that explains various ways to help customers get to know your enterprise, trust it, and buy from it in 2017. As you can...
Protected: Sandor Katz’s People’s Republic of Fermentation
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How to build trust and grow sales in 2017
People who like you will listen to you, people who trust you will buy from you. - Zig Zigler People buy from who they know, like, and trust. From working with over 50 growing food businesses in the past 5 years, I know that the fastest growing enterprises invest more...
About Me
Food and community are at the heart of what I do. I’m passionate about creating community models which work for both humans and our planet.
I’m driven by the urge to understand how we might renew our connections to the earth and to each other, and how we might re-author the narratives that describe and support such relationships.
I look to the power of food. In its growth, harvest, preparation, and consumption we can engage with the wisdoms of the hand, heart, and head, coming to deep understandings of the relationships we share. We bond over food, we share it, we learn, we get to know ourselves with it, we come to know each other and the land from which it grows.
Throughout history, food has provided the roots for peace and stability, sewn the seeds of change and progress, and nourished cooperation and innovation all across our planet. Food supports all. Cooking together helps us see the gifts in our differences. As we transform food, it transforms us.
In the first decade of my career, I was privileged to be a part of the growth of a new food system in Canada, one which places a high value on farmers and food producers. I was able to use my background in marketing to help develop food based social enterprises all across the country.
Fast forward to 2020; after helping to establish Wolfville’s Front Street Community Oven in 2019, I’ve shifted my attention to begin understanding the role narrative plays in shaping Atlantic Canadian communities. I’ve been working with the Narrative Project and coaching clients to re-author the collective and individual narratives that shape our view of the world and our actions. We’ve been exploring our preferred identities, mindsets, and the community narratives we want to live by; we are taking back the pen that writes the stories of our lives and communities.
In my downtime you can find me in the lovely town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia, beside my life-partner, Anne. I live an active lifestyle by walking, cycling, swimming, gardening, and playing basketball, and I love to be creative, play music, and spend time with friends and family; and of course, I love to cook and share great food, too.
For free resources and inspirations, or for more information about what I am up to, please journey over to my blog or sign up to be a part of my email community here.
And of course, don’t hesitate to drop me a line below! I’d love to start a conversation.
Cheers!
Duncan
Guiding values: generosity, inclusion, diversity, respect, and kindness. Nurturing lifelong learning and supportive, collaborative relationships is important to me.
Let’s Start a Conversation
Duncan Ebata
902-692-9421





