June 11, 2014
Toronto Residents Work to Counter Food Waste Culture
and Mentality
By Olivia Ash
TORONTO -- A quick flight from New York on the morning of Tuesday, June 10 delivered the Waste Not team to Toronto, Canada, our North American neighbor.
The fourth most-populated city in North America, Toronto is bustling with energy and life, as well as an active community of citizens focused on reducing food waste.
On the evening of June 10, the Waste Not team spent time with three such passionate citizens, all connected to the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council (TYFPC).
The purpose of the Council is to address various matters regarding food, one of which is the ever-important issue of food waste. The Council is linked to the Toronto Food Policy Council, which acts as an umbrella organization. The work of the TYFPC, however, centers around engaging young adults.
We met with Martina Marsic and Jessica Reeve, two TYFPC current council members, as well as past member Heather Lee, who now works as a local consultant on food issues.
"Food is a gift," commented Reeve. "We can build a community around [food] education. It builds dialogue."
The TYFPC has certainly built a community around food in Toronto. The group engages the community through events that educate the public about food.
Marsic told us that changing mindsets about food would mean for global citizens to "get back to that sense of understanding how food is made, how it is consumed and where it ends up."
In the end, the Council members related to us the importance of individuals taking action.
"People have control over what they are wasting at the house," said Lee. "People are also in control over policy."
The next day, the team sat down with Michelle Coyne, a Ph.D. who wrote her doctoral dissertation on food waste. Coyne also works at Second Harvest, a service organization that annually redistributes millions of pounds of food to those who need it.
For Coyne, the link between food waste and hunger is direct, if not obvious.
"Food insecurity and wasted food are two sides of the same coin," she said.
Coyne also argued against a commonly held notion that the North American food system is sustainable.
"We can't call our food system sustainable if we produce so much that will be thrown away," Coyne said.
All of the Torontonians with whom we met agreed that excess food produced only to end up in dumpsters just doesn't make sense, for both environmental and social reasons. These are among the factors that motivated the women to dedicate themselves to work against food waste.
"In the food movement," said Lee, "it's always about champions."
Toronto Residents Work to Counter Food Waste Culture
and Mentality
By Olivia Ash
TORONTO -- A quick flight from New York on the morning of Tuesday, June 10 delivered the Waste Not team to Toronto, Canada, our North American neighbor.
The fourth most-populated city in North America, Toronto is bustling with energy and life, as well as an active community of citizens focused on reducing food waste.
On the evening of June 10, the Waste Not team spent time with three such passionate citizens, all connected to the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council (TYFPC).
The purpose of the Council is to address various matters regarding food, one of which is the ever-important issue of food waste. The Council is linked to the Toronto Food Policy Council, which acts as an umbrella organization. The work of the TYFPC, however, centers around engaging young adults.
We met with Martina Marsic and Jessica Reeve, two TYFPC current council members, as well as past member Heather Lee, who now works as a local consultant on food issues.
"Food is a gift," commented Reeve. "We can build a community around [food] education. It builds dialogue."
The TYFPC has certainly built a community around food in Toronto. The group engages the community through events that educate the public about food.
Marsic told us that changing mindsets about food would mean for global citizens to "get back to that sense of understanding how food is made, how it is consumed and where it ends up."
In the end, the Council members related to us the importance of individuals taking action.
"People have control over what they are wasting at the house," said Lee. "People are also in control over policy."
The next day, the team sat down with Michelle Coyne, a Ph.D. who wrote her doctoral dissertation on food waste. Coyne also works at Second Harvest, a service organization that annually redistributes millions of pounds of food to those who need it.
For Coyne, the link between food waste and hunger is direct, if not obvious.
"Food insecurity and wasted food are two sides of the same coin," she said.
Coyne also argued against a commonly held notion that the North American food system is sustainable.
"We can't call our food system sustainable if we produce so much that will be thrown away," Coyne said.
All of the Torontonians with whom we met agreed that excess food produced only to end up in dumpsters just doesn't make sense, for both environmental and social reasons. These are among the factors that motivated the women to dedicate themselves to work against food waste.
"In the food movement," said Lee, "it's always about champions."
