Concordia’s food coalition promoted their missions and year-round events at a general annual Food Fair meeting.
Concordia University’s sustainable food organizations are giving out free meals and hosting events year-round to promote community engagement and raise awareness about food justice and system education.
Many food groups, including the Concordia Food Coalition (CFC), CultivAction, and the Hive Free Lunch (HFL), gathered for their annual general food fair meeting on the second floor of the SC building at the Loyola campus on Jan. 25.
Around thirty students and local community members attended the meeting to learn about each organization’s initiatives, receive updates, and ask questions. Roxanna Chadwick, a third-year Concordia student, enjoyed the experience of getting involved with student activities on campus and learning more about agriculture.
“It was interesting to see the different initiatives on campus that are related to food and are trying to make it more accessible for the community,” Chadwick said.
The CFC announced an event series called “Organizing Food Sovereignty,” with the aim of introducing students to food politics at Concordia. Each month, the coalition will collaborate with other food groups to provide students with a variety of activities to engage with others, learn about food systems, and give out free meals to students.
“One of those events are called Dinner and Docs, and it’s a series where we partner up with a food group on campus, and we choose a documentary for dinner, and we eat together, and make food together, and watch a documentary on the themes of food sustainability and community, so those are exciting,” said Maggie Morrison, a food system educator for the CFC.
During the meeting, Improove—a food waste organization— gave away plenty of fresh produce for free, which would otherwise have ended up in the garbage. Their goal is to get rid of all food waste caused by large industries. Bruno Zara, a speaker for Improove, said, “We collect this fruit before it is thrown away to make baskets that we sell on site.” They are now selling $15 boxes full of fresh produce to students every Thursday at the SC building.
CultivAction, the campus community farm, gave away free plants and microgreens. “A big piece of news for us is that we’ve just secured a fee levy at Concordia, which means that we have stable funding and are going to be making our food freely available to Concordia students,” said Caleb Woolcott, a speaker for the organization. He also explained that they are planning to host a variety of workshops and educational opportunities for students. Some of these events will include how to grow your own food in the winter.
In addition to their weekly free lunch program, the HFL promoted their free breakfast program, which launched in September 2023. “We aim to help solve food insecurity for students; I know it’s a big thing, and also help raise awareness about the food scene at Concordia,” said Tony Nguyena, a HFL worker revealed that at the end of this year, the HFL will be publishing a cookbook full of student-favourite recipes to raise awareness and help students facing food insecurity.
These initiatives and activities will be available to students for the remainder of the semester and are intended to promote student engagement and awareness.
