It’s been a busy weekend in Toronto for talking about food and what and how change can be made ! Our Lunik garden co-ordinator, Natalia, attended the Urban Agriculture Summit while Kaela (general co-ordinator) and Eninna (volunteer), attended the National Student Food Summit. We all learned a lot and met other great people working on campus’ and in citites across Canada addressing food. We’ll be posting and sharing the great info we’ve picked up with all our Lunik community!
Did you know that there are a lot of other projects like Lunik Co-op happening all around Canada (and the world)? Here’s some links to other student co-op cafés! Co-operatives working with other co-ops is one of the 7 principles of a co-op (read about that here!). Check-out some of these great student initiatives and the work they are doing to change the food scene:
http://cultivatingfoodcoops.net/ Check out an awesome list of food co-ops here
Green Campus Co-op at York Univeristy Keele Campus
“Green Campus Coops strives to bring sustainable, fair trade, organic goods and services to our campus. We offer a range of learning opportunities for students from cirriculum to hands-on-enterprenurship expereince to events and activities. We collaborate with stakeholders which include students, faculty, staff, community organizations, and local businesses to achieve our vision of a sustainable campus.”
Harvest Noon at U of T
“Harvest Noon Café provides a relaxed and inclusive gathering space for both U of T students and members of the wider community to eat, cook, learn about, and express their love for food. As a café we aim to serve local, sustainable, and organically produced food and to support principles of food justice and accessibility. Harvest Noon is a project of the Toronto Sustainable Food Co-operative, an organization initiated by members of the student group Hot Yam! in the Fall of 2011. By building relationships with local producers and like-minded groups, we provide opportunities and support for folks interested in fostering good, clean and fair food alternatives.Open Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch from 11:30 til we sell out!”
Hot Yam at U of T
“Hot Yam! is a volunteer-run vegan food collective. We make food for the U of T community that supports our planet, our neighboring community and people of diverse eating heritages and preferences. To us that means preparing and serving inexpensive vegan meals once a week that are accessible to everyone. We use ingredients that are as local and organic as possible and we aim to please your taste buds as well as your heart and soul.”
The Loaded Ladle at Dalhousie
“The Loaded Ladle is a non-profit, open cooperative of students and community members dedicated to providing affordable, diverse, fresh and healthy food to as many people as possible. We aim to tackle the unjust global food system by providing a local alternative. The Loaded Ladle gives students the option to determine what food they eat and how it is produced through their right to participate in the our non-hierarchical and consensus-based decision making process.”
People’s Potato at Concordia
“The People’s Potato is a vegan soup kitchen at Concordia University – a student initiated project that was founded in 1999 in order to address student poverty. We offer by donation meals each day of the week during the Fall and Winter semesters. We serve more than 400 meals daily to students, community members with the help of our dedicated volunteers. We are committed to educating about healthy cooking and food politics and to broader goals of social and environmental justice.”
The Seasoned Spoon at Trent U
“The Seasoned Spoon is an independent café at Trent University offering delicious lunches and snacks for students, staff and faculty. Acting as an alternative to the processed, institutional offerings of the larger corporations, the Spoon’s mission is to serve up ethically-mindful fare on ‘real’ dishes. Our Key Principles are: • To serve healthy, organic, locally grown, affordable food• To be a student-run, co-operatively structured, not-for-profit organization• To offer student learning opportunities through paid staff, volunteer work, and Community Based Education courses• To encourage the diverse use of preexisting student space on campus(continued)…”
LUNIK CO-OP 