bonny’s vego feast

A friend and I dined at Bonnys last night – a Montreal hot spot for vegetarian and organic cuisine. We shared a plate of indonesian satay noodles, green salad and quinoa taboleh. Desert included a vegan chocolate mousse and a chocolate brownie (with soy icecream). The food was delicious, especially the brownie… and the service friendly… If you’re in town, check it out!

travelling, privilege and homelessness

In the past, much of my travelling has revolved around – though not exclusively – outdoor adventures, hiking through the Himalayas in Nepal or India for example, or climbing in Thailand. I’ve often volunteered with various places along the way (eg. English teaching and mural painting in India), but these were never the focus of the trip. The flavour of my time spent in Canada is different. While it started out with a bike tour in B.C., it has evolved into a trip where I’m spending a fair amount of time volunteering and learning heaps about social issues from new and intense perspectives.

I started volunteering with the Inter-tribal Youth Drop-in Centre at the Native Friendship Centre last week. It’s a youth centre for first nations people. Friday nights are their music jam night. We organised – and plan to do this weekly – a big vegetarian feast for the youth. Essentially the centre serves to create a safe, non-judgmental environment for all indigenous youth aged 13-29 years old. They have all the usual resources you generally find in a youth drop-in centre: pool table, computers, music equipment, couches, books, video games, and a supportive atmosphere.

I also recently attended the festival for the homeless, which you can read all about a good friend’s perspective here. Basically, ATSA creates an annual urban village in downtown Montreal to provide an eclectic space for the street folk of Montreal to receive support through food, clothing, warm shelter, music, and arts program. A few friends and I spent the week sourcing and cooking food to give to the 24-hour kitchen held onsite.

I’m not sure why, but the theme of homelessness and food seems to be a running theme through my activities lately…

Volunteering with Food Not Bombs, for example, has been a huge learning experience. Each Saturday we organise food donations from local vendors or dumpster dive their bins. We then cook up a huge feast of vegan goodness to serve to street folk at Metro Berri UQAM in downtown Montreal. It’s intense at times, yet I’ve come to realise just how important these kinds of services are for some people.

Finding access to healthy vegetarian food if you live on the streets is not easy, a lady – now a regular – told me recently. Most food banks and soup kitchens serve meat in their main course. Now in her eighties, she proudly introduced herself as a vegetarian for the last 35 odd years.

I like the atmosphere that Food Not Bombs creates during meal times. The food is available to anyone who walks past. The food prep people eat as well. It’s more like a picnic shared amongst friends, the boundary between “us” and “them” broken down and shattered.

Yet despite the fact that food not bombs is easily accessible, popular (we’ve served up to about 60 people on one occasion), and in-demand, it seems there are people intent on putting a stop to it.

The police kicked us out of the metro a few weeks back. Their attitude was something along the lines of: “If we let you serve here it sets a precedent for others. And just imagine if everyone started doing this sort of thing”

Yeah. Sure. Just imagine the kind of world we’d be in if everyone started sharing food, love and kindness to the less fortunate amongst us. Gosh, I shudder to think what would become of our society!

It’s been a humbling experience for me sharing food and conversation with people that I have been conditioned to ignore when they attempt to stop me on the streets to ask for help. Looking into their eyes as I exchange small talk with them, I see someone just like me; someone who deserves love, honor and respect; someone who has just as much right to the basic necessities of life.
It’s also put a lot of perspective on my personal politics. My attitude towards ‘consumerist activism’ is shifting. Yes, we can make a difference by eating less meat, buying local organic food, buying less crap, riding our bikes etc…

I agree with all that…

but…

My work with the homeless has taught me that the ‘we’ in consumerist activism simply doesn’t equate to everyone. Many people just can’t afford to buy local, organic food, for example. Many people are simply fighting for their own survival, often a result of exploitation and abuse by others. Basically, I’m learning about privilege. It is a privilege to have choices when (and if) we shop. Consumerist activism is a concept for the privileged (ie. White, middle-class)…

Don’t get me wrong; it’s important to talk to this societal group about their choices. But I now better understand that this flavour of activism talks specifically to this privileged few. And furthermore, I’m beginning to realise just how crucial it is to include concepts of white privilege alongside these theories in order to provide the full picture… otherwise we’re just perpetuating the neo-liberal attitude of individualism offered to us by our ‘oh-so-wonderful’ leaders…

We don’t all have the same choices. We don’t all have access to the same food, shelter, water, resources and love. We don’t all necessarily have the power to change the world. We don’t all necessarily have the privilege to make a difference.

Rant over.

food security…

The food crisis is still rampant. Almost 1 billion people throughout the world don’t have access to sufficient food… The impacts of the recent financial crisis on food security in developing countries are huge.

Find out more about these issues at McGill University’s  Conference on Global Food Security this week (5-7 October 2009)…

Participants from various countries where food shortages are severe will present their unique perspectives on the current situation. International aid agencies will also review ongoing food security problems and the effect of the economic crisis on their ability to respond both in the short and long term…

The program also includes speakers from national, regional, and international research organizations, finance institutions and farm organizations.

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http://www.mcgill.ca/globalfoodsecurity/

food not bombs montreal

Last week, a group of friends and I decided to revive Montreal’s Food Not bomb collective. Our first event was last Saturday where we sourced, prepared and shared a vegan meal with over 50 people at Place St Emilie Gamelin in downtown Montreal.

As a political statement against war, this volunteer community-based project advocates peace by providing free food to anyone who wants it. Food Not Bombs is not a charity. The meals that we share are free to anyone in the community.

We hope to move beyond the usual community kitchen concept of serving food to the homeless by aiming for a more inclusive model that not only provides free food, but also helps to build community. It’s a move away from the “us” and “them” mentality. We want to share food rather than simply serving it. We encourage any community member to come to the dinner table as an equal regardless of their background, identity and financial situation.

And while food is the focal point for our gatherings, we hope they become a meeting point for diverse community members to share stories, music, art, experiences and build valuable friendships and networks.

A primary goal of Food Not Bombs is to also work against the enormous amounts of waste generated by our current food industry. Up to 27% of the food in North America is wasted every year. This amount of food could feed 49 million people across the world!

We specialize in the recovery of fruits, vegetables, bread and other food products that do not contain meat or dairy. Through agreements with farmers and store owners we set up a network of donations all consisting of items that would normally be thrown out by the owners as surplus.

The recovered items are then cooked and prepared and shared every Saturday from 5pm at our new location: Parc Compagnons de St. Laurent (cnr rue Mont Royal et rue Cartier). We also serve food at several local events such as the “Festival des Arts de la Rue”, “Etat d’Urgence (ATSA)”, and many other environmental and political events throughout the year.

We are a grassroots organization, striving to use the most environmentally friendly procedures in our projects. We do most of our food transportation with bicycles and bike trailers. We compost all of our organic waste. We recycle everything we use to prepare and serve our meals.

We hope that by setting an example of ecologically conscious food consumption and preparation, we can help promote a more healthy and collaborative community based lifestyle. We also hope to create awareness about the dangers stemming from the currently established system of over consumption .

Everyone is welcome to help source food, prepare meals and eat at our gatherings…

For more information please see our website: http://fnbmontreal.carrster.com (which will be updated shortly!)

montreal is addictive…

Montreal is one of those places that seeps rapidly into your veins intoxicating you with its quirky character, creative buzz and general chaos. I’m addicted already. Every day the city reveals a new facet of itself, sharing with me another secret… and being summer, festivals are popping around me so quickly I barely know which way to turn…

My three weeks in this city have involved soooo many fun things… some memories to keep so far:

• Dancing to a giant drumming circle at the base of Mont Royal (happens every Sunday in summer!)
• Spontaneous bike rides exploring various neighbourhoods
• Iced-coffee sipping at artsy cafes on Le Plateau
• Discovering a big housing co-op that has 13 people living there, community dinners, bulk food buying, creative/music events, community garden etc… so much interesting stuff happening here. It’s a hub of activist/artist activity
• Vegan community dinners with members of a sustainability organisation
• The sexy singing voices of the bike folk on critical mass last month
• Fromage!!!
• Icecream!!!
• Blueberries!!!
• Rasberries!!!
• …OK so the food in general is amazing
• Living with Nic and Guy and hanging out in their backyard under the giant zucchini plants
• Subletting DeAnne and Sarah’s house and exploring the delights of the Plateau
• Picnik Electrik – a weekly electronic party in Park Drapenau!! Dancing til the sun sets
• Hanging out at the farmer’s markets
• Sunday night Improv – Montreal has a wicked theatre scene. Lots of improv to see or participate in

I could go on and on. But I won’t…

So…um… I’m finally up-to-date! Woo hoo… hopefully, now my entries will resemble something a little more exciting than random lists of “fun things ladydan has done”! We’ll see…