Pellerin: No one in Ottawa should go hungry. Let’s fix this

Contents of the article

This week you can choose from a huge number of topics, from the most sublime (little cute) ByWard Market ice rink) to the ridiculous (raising fares for older people by 120 percent just to reverse course) or an outright clown (pay a private consultant almost 14 million dollars find office space for federal government employees in the National Capital Region). I decided we needed to focus on the basics. Like food. And how to make sure that in such a rich society as ours, there is enough of it for everyone.

Contents of the article

It shouldn’t be that difficult. However, news that the use of food banks at a record highwith over 50,000 people using it in October alone, this is something that should make us all stop what we’re doing and get our collective rear end ready to fix it.

According to the Ottawa Food Bank, one in four households in Ottawa is food insecure. Many of these people have jobs and work as hard as they can, but due to inflation and the generally high cost of living, they are forced to make impossible choices between equally basic needs.

According to the Ottawa Food Bank, one in four households in Ottawa is food insecure.

The Ottawa Food Bank says we need to do what Mississauga did and declare food insecurity an emergency. Ottawa council disagrees. Cynical me joked on Twitter that this would be great because food insecurity would then join climate and homelessness as things we pretend to care about but do nothing to address (I used slightly saltier language). That’s sarcastic, but hardly unfair.

Food insecurity is unfathomable in a society so smart it can catching rockets with chopsticksTalking about things Elon Musk should focus on instead of playing the role of Donald Trump’s Buddy One. Why can’t we put the food we have into hungry stomachs right here in our community?

Contents of the article

I don’t want to disparage the work that food bank staff and volunteers do every day. But their users often find themselves faced with a choice that… how should I put it? – not the most attractive. There is also a stigma associated with using food banks. Not that anyone should feel bad for doing what they need to do to feed their kids, but you know how people can be.

The solution to both problems is to create public markets. These are similar to farmers’ markets, but they are subsidized enough to offer fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and other staples at a significant discount. Everyone can shop here, regardless of income.

According to research in the United Kingdom, which is also seeing record high levels of food bank use, public markets allow people to access fresh, healthy food at affordable prices because it is a market where they choose and pay for their own food. , it allows everyone to experience a “greater sense of autonomy” and a sense of belonging. Users “did not feel that their dependence on food support was a barrier to becoming part of society,” the authors write.

Contents of the article

Another solution is to intensify our efforts to match those who have surplus food with those who need it. Organizations such as Foodsharing Ottawa save thousands of pounds of food every month and spread this to food banks and shelters. Grocery stores and restaurants often have a lot of food that they cannot sell or use before the expiration date. Why throw it away if it’s perfectly edible?

A whole cultural shift is expected there too. Not everything needs to be thrown out because it’s close to its expiration date or because it’s not visually perfect. Loblaw has championed this approach in its “Naturally Imperfect” a range of fruits and vegetables, and honestly, bent carrots taste just as good as straight ones.

It amazes me that a quarter of Ottawa homes suffer from food insecurity, where we throw away food we can’t make a profit on. We don’t need loud declarations of a state of emergency. We need to put two and two together and solve the problem of hunger.

Brigitte Pellerin (they/them) is a writer based in Ottawa.

Contents of the article