COMMUNITY COOKING
Organization to offer communal dining, cooking initiatives, collective gardens
Jamaican food was on the menu for a recent class led by howard johnson at the ndg food depot. from its roots as a food bank, the depot has evolved into a thriving community organization with a new name and mandate, susan schwartz reports.
The rhubarb being sold at the weekly market run by the NDG Food Depot at the Walkley Centre was grown barely 1.5 kilometres away at the depot’s urban farm in Confederation Park.
How’s that for local?
The market, which opened for the season in early June, sells affordably priced, high-quality produce, much of it organically grown. As the growing season takes hold, more and more of it will be from the farm.
Twenty-five per cent of the population of Notre-Dame-de- Grâce lives below the poverty line, including one in three children. In providing better access to fresh fruits and vegetables in low-income neighbourhoods, markets like the one at the Walkley Centre are among the myriad ways the depot is working to fulfil its mission of using food to build health, skills, and community.
From its roots as a food bank opened in 1986, the depot has evolved into a thriving community organization. Its $1.98 million budget in 2017 was more than 10 times its 2005 budget.
Emergency food baskets remain its core service, but the 20 or so programs now offered include communal dining and cooking initiatives; after-school kitchen skills workshops; a healthy snack program; collective gardens; the Good Food markets — the one at the Walkley Centre, a Thursday market on Upper Lachine Rd. and a third to start in the Benny Farm area in July as a pilot project — and the urban farm.
To reflect its expanded role, the organization’s name will change from the NDG Food Depot to the Depot Community Food Centre as it partners with a national organization, Community Food Centres Canada (CFC), to become the first CFC in Quebec and the ninth in Canada. Its new branding and website will be introduced Wednesday at the depot’s annual general meeting.
The new partnership is “a big deal, a recognition of the work being done and an opportunity for us to bring in broader community food network best practices,” said depot executive director Daniel Rotman. “It also increases our visibility to potential funders and donors.”
The depot will continue to expand its programming, said CFC president and CEO Nick Saul. “And we can learn from each other.”
Last fall, the depot moved from the basement of an N.D.G. church to a bright and airy former restaurant space on Somerled Ave. As the search for a permanent home continues, “we are very conscious of our roots in N.D.G. and intend to stay here,” Rotman said. “But we are bigger than N.D.G., which represents only about 40 per cent of our territory,” he added.
In 2017, the depot distributed 16,316 emergency food baskets — a 12.5 per cent increase over 2016. There’s a community lunch on basket-distribution day, prepared by depot community chef James Barrington and a team of volunteers.
“The food is good,” observed one participant as he shared a table and conversation with two fellow diners over a plate of rice and bean pilaf and garden salad one Friday this month. “But the social aspect is as important as the food.”
Jamaican food was on the menu when community worker Howard Johnson led a cooking class on a recent Wednesday: jerk chicken, rice and peas, and steamed spinach and cabbage.
The mood was upbeat as participants chopped, stirred and chatted. Collective Creations, as the class is known, is one of several community cooking programs at the depot. It’s an opportunity to socialize and to learn to replicate the nutritious meals in their own kitchens. Fully 60 per cent of clients say they have learned new ways of preparing food at the depot.
“I enjoy cooking and trying food from different cultures and meeting people and having fun,” said participant Eleonora Zawislak.
She also belongs to one of the depot’s six collective gardens and volunteered last summer at one of its markets.
Like her, more than half of depot clients participate in more than one program; 86 per cent say the depot has made a difference in their lives, and 91 per cent say that they feel part of a community at the depot.
The Montreal Gazette caught up with Zawislak at the depot’s Westhaven collective garden, where garden facilitator Nadège Zaghdoudi pointed out produce including garlic, berries, corn, greens and herbs. Two groups gather each week in the St-Jacques St. garden
The NDG Food Depot’s 2017 annual general meeting is Wednesday at 6450 Somerled Ave., starting at 7 p.m. At 5 p.m. the depot partnership with Community Food Centres Canada will be unveiled, including new branding and website. A meal will be served at 6 p.m. free of charge.
to share in the planning, planting and work and, when it’s ready, the harvest. Often they bring snacks to share as they work.
If food bank fare at the depot used to include tired produce and mislabelled food industry castoffs, it no longer does. Today’s food baskets are standardized and contain such staples as fresh produce, eggs, milk, whole grains, legumes, pasta, tomato sauce and canned fish. Baskets for families include healthy snacks for children.
“We’re trying to change people’s ideas of what food banks distribute, to shift their perspective,” said Jennifer Brennan, community kitchens co-ordinator at the depot and the one who developed its healthy food policy.
Historically, much of what food banks distributed was donated. But Rotman explained financial donations go much further.
Factors like broader purchasing power and relationships with suppliers mean that with a $10 donation the depot can buy $30 worth of food. In 2017, the depot spent $200,000 on food.
“We have distributors who let us know if there is overflow they can get at good prices,” he said. “We buy in season and we bulk buy. We are giving out an enormous quantity of food, not just in baskets but also in our kitchens.”
Nathalie Tremblay of Marché Côte-des-Neiges, a longtime produce supplier to the depot, said she provides the best prices possible and passes along savings on large quantities when she gets them. Tremblay volunteered at the depot last fall on a day when food baskets were being distributed.
“What an experience,” she said. “Afterward I said to Daniel, ‘I get it.’ ”