New mutual aid collective serving free meals in NDG
Food Not Bombs NDG creates a space where like-minded people can build community
Food Not Bombs NDG is a humanitarian organization devoted to serving free meals every Saturday in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) neighbourhood. The organization first began its operations last July and has since been active within the community, serving vegetarian meals to roughly 40-50 people weekly.
The collective receives their ingredients primarily from local donations consisting of surplus produce. Throughout the summer, one of their suppliers was Concordia University’s People’s Potato.
“The food is usually vegan, sometimes there will be yogurt on the side. We have some volunteers who do baking, which is fun,” said Hannah Stratford-Kurus, a key organizer of the Food Not Bombs NDG collective. “People are always welcome to bring food too, like you can show up with a plate of brownies and give them out and everyone would find that really cool.”
The collective was founded on the principle that poverty is a policy issue, and that currently available resources can be used to effectively combat food insecurity. Ultimately, the collective aims to affirm that resources shouldn’t be spent on fueling wars but instead on feeding those in need.
“There are enough resources to go around, there’s so much food waste that can serve to feed people,” said Mackenzie, another organizer of the collective, who has been granted full name anonymity for safety reasons. “Just by making meals out of surplus food, we’re proving that there are resources to feed people. It’s more of an issue of political will.”
CultivAction is a solidarity cooperative of urban farmers who also supply ingredients to Food Not Bombs NDG.
“Food is being used as a tool in the genocide in Gaza, and there’s been a lot of solidarity between farmers around the world about this,” said CultivAction member Caleb Woolcott.
“Olive groves are being destroyed alongside people’s farms in Palestine. The National Farmers Union, [the] Palestinian Union of Agricultural Work [Committees] and others have expressed their solidarity,” Woolcott said. “It’s really beautiful to see Food Not Bombs NDG as a political organizing tool to use food in a good way.”
According to Mackenzie, the combination of its anti-war message, community-oriented initiative and foundation of shared values allowed for an interactive space where like-minded people could interact and share meals.
Mackenzie further explained that the collective is one of the first of its kind in the area.
“There wasn’t really anything like this in NDG [before],” Mackenzie said. “There’s [an] NDG food depot that serves meals during the week, but there’s not really any kind of food resources during the weekend.”
They added that Food Not Bombs NDG has a secondary purpose as well.
“We wanted to meet other activists in NDG, and build up the neighbourhood and community, not just between activists but everyone in need,” Mackenzie said.
Food Not Bombs NDG serves as a space where those who wish to adhere to COVID-19 precautionary measures can safely meet. Volunteers, committed to adhering to COVID-19 preventative measures, have created a space where people can still use masks and respect the safety of others at risk.
With winter right around the corner, the amount of local produce received through donations will diminish, according to Stratford-Kurus and Mackenzie. In this transitionary period, the collective is seeking new donations from local grocery stores as well as help from volunteers.
This article originally appeared in Volume 45, Issue 5, published November 5, 2024.
