I first met Tainá for coffee in 2010 at a Berlin café while she was bouncing a big, beautiful baby in her lap. She had an idea about bread, probably more like a vision that I didn’t see until later. It was one of those Berlin type connections where creative energy was palpable. Her German, better than mine, she organized day trips together to visit local bread producers. Some months later she told me she was partnering with the organic bread company Märkishes Landbrot to make a book about bread waste. This was her first book, and a window for me into her amazing ability to envision a project and fearlessly push it forward. 

 

Tainá embodies the idea of a global citizen and carries many identities. Born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, she is the child of a Japanese mother and Lebanese father. Before I’d met her, she’d been trained as a cook and spent time in Japan honing her skills. She arrived in Berlin, working in various kitchens. As a vegetarian, Tainá has always brought a deep relationship with ecology and social justice in her cooking. But when I met her, there was something more to be discovered- a creative spirit that I saw begin to bloom, where the idea of food started to become permeable with the world of art, where food is an artistic material and the intention to make the world a better place. 

 

In the years since I’ve known Tainá I’ve seen her wield this creative momentum toward a wide range of topics like food waste, organic farming, water, public health, biodiversity, mindfulness, labor, and children’s education, using food and consumption as the medium. She launched the cultural kitchen gallery space, Entretempo and started the accoladed international non-profit Food and Art week (2015-2020) which brought a community of artists together to share their work. She received the German Dm-UNESCO Prize for Engagement for "Musical Garden" at the public school in Berlin, Papageno Grundschule and has spoken at TedX Berlin, and the Brazilian Senate. She often partners with Berlin City Government on public engagement projects and has published two previous books all the while maintaining her own international food and art practice. 

 

Admirably, Tainá is one of those people who just gets things done. I have learned a lot from her brave, colorful approach to life. Not only is she a talented chef and creative soul but she is also a master of visual culture. She is skilled at using herself as subject in media to promote her messages. She says, “I use my own image in my work – in doing so, I am making a statement that human being is responsible for many of the problems we are facing. I am not excluded from that; I am part of the whole.”

 

And that is what you get with Tainá, a person who starts with herself and playfully radiates her ideas and energy outwards, impacting the world around her and inspiring people to change the world through food and art. 

 

Lynn Peemoeller (July 2025)