Students saw the return of the Loyola Food Fair last week in a celebration of Concordia University’s many food initiatives.
The fair took place on Jan. 23 at the Loyola Student Centre near the Vanier Library and featured free food, a cooking workshop, and information about the on-campus food and nutrition resources.
“We’re really concerned and interested in fighting against food insecurity for students,” said Sheena Swirlz, communication and events coordinator for the Concordia Food Coalition (CFC). She said that the event aimed to increase the food access that students may struggle with.
In 2023, the Concordia University Food Insecurity Report found that 67 per cent of Concordia students said they experienced some degree of food insecurity, and 31 per cent said they ran out of food before they could afford to buy more.
According to Canada’s Food Price Report, the cost of food in Quebec increased by 1.8 per cent in 2024 and is predicted to increase by over 5 per cent across Canada in 2025.
Justin Krieger, one of the coordinators at the Hive Free Lunch, also expressed concern about the state of food insecurity among Concordia students.
“Our main mission and goal is to provide free or cheap food accessibility, especially for students. In today’s economic climate, it’s really difficult and expensive to just live,” said Krieger.
According to Mugs, a member of the Frigo Vert collective, many students using Frigo Vert’s services have reported that they forgo buying essentials due to the cost of food.
“A lot of people are really having to make choices about how they feed themselves, [and] that is really difficult,” said Mugs. “So they’ll go with things that are more affordable, more filling, but not necessarily very nutritious.”
In 2023, 54.5 per cent of Concordia students said they relied on unhealthy food to get by, according to the Concordia University Food Insecurity Report.
Mugs said they believe that Concordia would need to move away from a corporate food model in order to properly support students experiencing food insecurity.
Aramark, Concordia’s corporate food provider, has been a controversial presence on campus. This is due, in part, to the company’s ties with the prison-industrial complex and complaints of union-busting.
CFC, as well as student groups like FedUp Concordia, have advocated that Concordia replace Aramark with student-led food organizations.
“[The student-led groups] tend to be more oriented towards what students need and want the most — having more diversity of food, having more plant-based options, keeping the cost low so it’s more affordable, trying to employ student workers as much as possible,” said Swirlz.
Krieger said he is in favour of a student-led food ecosystem, and he noted that student groups face unique challenges regarding funding and organization.
“You want student-run organizations to be able to cater to the entirety of the campus. It’s very difficult because everyone’s at a separate entity, being able to talk effectively between those entities can sometimes be challenging […], and then you have organizations like Aramark that are able to cater to the number of students on campus,” said Krieger. “Whether or not you have biases against [Aramark’s] business models and things like that, they still provide a service to students that can be relied upon.”
In 2022, Concordia renewed Aramark’s contract until 2026.