Our society’s food system, from the means of production to the system of distribution, is flawed. There are great environmental costs involved with the dominant agricultural methods as well as the long-distance distribution of many food products, and while there is certainly enough food produced to feed every person on earth, hunger is a serious problem in many parts of the world, including in our own country.

Many Montrealers are aware of the environmental costs of imported and industrially produced foods, and even that Montreal has Canada’s highest rates of poverty and hunger, but these problems are not often correlated with an individual’s food habits. Encouraged by the city’s food landscape, Montrealers (like residents of most north-american cities) have grown a disconnect with the mode of production of their food. We have developed unusual standards of quality for products, from over-cautious expiry dates for processed foods to eerily blemish-free fruits and vegetables, and are used to having access to products and produce from around the world, in or out of season.

These behavioural factors encourage serious wastefulness on the part of businesses who cannot sell sub-par products. This results in a terribly ironic situation regarding food security: 30% of Canadian food banks are under-supplied, though the dumpsters behind supermarkets are always filled with perfectly comestible products destined for the landfill. 

It is not any individual, organization, or government who is singlehandedly responsible for the environmental damage and the social paradox which exists in relation to our food, but ultimately it is up to every person to change their behaviours in order to minimize support for such a distructive system. Unfortunately, the most well-known method to achieve this –purchasing local, organic foods– is often very expensive. However, making a conscious effort to minimize kitchen waste and being open to eating foods that are below shelf-sale quality are two ways to decrease contribution to the problem while minimizing costs, which suits the low-income individuals who may otherwise be turning to superstores and fast-food restoraunts for their nutrition.

In Montreal, there are in fact a large number of food provision services and meal kitchens which are open to the public and follow a similar mandate to that discussed above. If more widely known and accepted as alternative food sources, these services could amend the city’s hunger problem and decrease the average consumer’s environmental damage. The purpose of this web page is to educate Montrealers about alternative food options so that one by one we might be able to change our habits.