Toronto’s “pay what you can” grocery store is the talk of the city

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A Toronto chef offers healthy meals to people who can’t afford to buy food and it’s a pay what you can system as well. As an executive chef of his own catering company, he learned how much food goes to waste. He didn’t think it was right, so he began giving left over food to people on the streets. That’s where the idea sparked that this was a bigger issue.

“I realized how many hungry people are out there as I was feeding. And what I wanted to create is a program where it allows people to obtain the food that was destined for landfills and give it back to them,” said Gordon.

His name is Jagger Gordon and he’s the founder of Feed It Forward, a non-profit organization that offers meals to people that are hungry and don’t have enough money to buy food. Feed It forward is a pay what you can grocery store, bakery and coffee shop. All their food comes from donations or have been harvested at their Whitby, Ontario farm.

Gordon has two other locations, one at 3324 Dundas West and the other, recently opened, SoupBar at Humber College North Campus. They also have twenty-two hundred people involved with Feed It Forward.

Toni Zambri has been a volunteer with Feed it Forward since 2017 and she helps manage Humber College’s North Campus SoupBar location. She says what keeps her motivated is seeing people walk away happy and fed.

“I use to work down on Bay Street and there was this young girl pregnant and on the street begging for money, since then, it’s something I wanted to reach out someway somehow,” says Zambri

Feed It Forward’s mission is to repurpose unwanted food into healthy meals, such as a soup or stew for people to still eat and enjoy.

“We’re trying to educate as much as we possibly can. With food waste a lot of people don’t realize with a little blemish it’s perfectly edible,” says Zambri

According to Canada’s Food Price Report, published by a team of researchers from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab and the University of Guelph says, they’re forecasting food prices will increase two to four precent in 2020.

It’s predicted that the average Canadian home’s annual grocery income is $12,667 and it’s likely going to spike nearly $500 more in the next year.

“Already one in eight Canadian households is food insecure and food affordability is a major issue for Canadians,” says Guelph Project Lead Simon Somogyi.

Canada’s Food Price Report of 2019 predicts vegetables will have a major increase and it has already gone up to 17% in the past year.

Although Canadians have been warned about the cost of food increasing, people can still take matters into their own hands and be creative looking for solutions.

“Families will need to reduce the amount of food waste they generate and learn how to repurpose food, says Sylvain Charlesbois, Director of Dal’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab.

Countries such as Italy and France already have a law in place that prevents food businesses from destroying food that they think isn’t appealing to eat anymore. The law’s guidelines force businesses to donate their unwanted food or pay a fine.

Gordon has created a petition online that has generated over 22,000 signatures to get the Federal Government’s attention to create regulations on food waste in Canada. His goal is to reach 25,000 signatures from Canadians to push this matter forward.

“I was asked how many signatures do I need – I only need one, my own; but I wanted to lead by community how many people want to have a voice,” says Gordon

Some local food businesses such as supermarkets and bakeries are supporting Gordon’s initiative to donate their unwanted food to Feed It Forward. Gordon hopes to have more businesses do their part and repurpose or donate food that they don’t want rather than throw it out.

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“No matter what it looks like if it’s in good standing, we’ll take it and repurpose it. If we gotta cut out the blemish part and make an apple pie or apple sauce, we’ll do it,” says Jagger Gordon

Developing partnerships with other companies that believe in the program’s initiatives and help fund Feed It Forward are Gordon’s next steps. He hopes to continue to grow and expand feeding more Canadians that deal with food insecurities by offering healthy meals.

For more information on Feed It Forward visit their website: https://feeditforward.ca/

A Markham man hopes to impact and spread awareness the importance and severity of food allergies

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“It’s really the non-food allergy community that I really want to get the message across to because it’s really easy to say, well this doesn’t affect me, I don’t have food allergies, I don’t need to pay attention to it. Well, it isn’t necessarily about you, might be the people around you.” – Joey Salmingo

Joey Salmingo’s 30-year-old sister died from a nut allergy. Salmingo says his sister, Joanna, didn’t realize the food she ate contained nuts. Joanna has eaten the product before, but it was her first time purchasing it at a different grocery store chain.

Joanna was rushed to hospital and brought into ICU. She was later pronounced brain dead and did not survive from her injuries.

Salmingo and his family were devastated by their sudden lost. It was Salmingo’s father who thought of the idea to do something about the tragedy. Salmingo and his parents started a non-profit organization called The Fate Initiative, which stands for Food Allergy Training and Education.

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” It’s how you treat that energy, I’m choosing to use it as positive energy. I could have used it as negative. It’s very easy to be consumed by grief. It’s just we’re using it as positive for the benefit of other people.” – Joey Salmingo

Salmingo is the founder and forum leader of FATE.
Salmingo conducts free custom tailored training and educational seminars from small businesses to large corporations, restaurants, schools and at home one-on-one engagement or in group settings.

Salmingo encourages people at his trainings to always double check food labels and read every ingredient. He also says when food products say “may contain nuts”, that it’s best not to take a chance. Being critical and cautious are a few protocols people can do to avoid someone you know or yourself from reacting to a food allergy.

“Unfortunately there isn’t a law, or a mandate, or policies put in place for food labelling when comes to food manufacturing and serving as well. So until there is a law in place, this is the only thing we can do.” – Joey Salmingo

Beatrice Povolo is The Director, Advocacy and Media Relations of Food Allergy Canada, she agrees that there needs to be stricter regulations when it comes to food labelling. She says at restaurants it’s usually the customer’s responsibility to disclose any food allergy concerns rather that the business to ask questions.

“We do feel there needs to be greater ingredient disclosure in all of those environments in order to make safe and inform choices.” – Beatrice Povolo

Povolo hopes people take the steps at restaurants and/or at the grocery store to carefully read food labels and ask questions if you’re unsure about something.

Salmingo continues to share his sister Joanna’s legacy through FATE’s forums so no one else’s family would go through the same pain that Salmingo’s family went through.

“I know the education that we provide will allow people to be more cognitive and compassionate about the epidemic itself.” – Joey Salmingo

https://www.fateinitiative.com/

For more information you can visit FATE’s website

“It’s really the non-food allergy community that I really want to get the message across to because it’s really easy to say, well this doesn’t affect me, I don’t have food allergies, I don’t need to pay attention to it. Well, it isn’t necessarily about you, might be the people around you.” – Joey Salmingo

Joey Salmingo lives in Markham, Ontario, with his family. He was the older brother of Joanna Salmingo. She was only 30-years-old when she died from a nut allergy. Salmingo said she was always allergic to peanuts, all tree nuts and seafood. However, Joanna was always very cautious, and took good care of herself to avoid her allergy. Unfortunately, she ate a dessert that contained cashew nuts. She didn’t realize because she ate the dessert before, but this time it was purchased at a different place. Although there was a sign that indicated “may contain nuts”, Joey says it wasn’t quite visible at the time.

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After the death of his younger sister Joanna, it prompted him and his parents to initiate FATE, which stands for Food Allergy Training and Education. They decided to create a non-profit organization in order to help spread awareness about the severity of food allergies. Joey conducts forums at schools, restaurants, events, corporations, etc. He hopes to impact people on his story of what him and his family went through in hopes to educate people how to be prepared in case of an emergency and how to avoid putting yourself or someone else with a food allergy at risk.

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“We have made it our jobs to talk about how my sister died. As shocking as that sounds, it’s what really impacts people the most is the story of what happen to my sister.”

– Joey Salmingo

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” It’s how you treat that energy, I’m choosing to use it as positive energy, I could have used it as negative. It’s very easy to be consumed by grief. It’s just we’re using it as positive for the benefit of other people.”

– Joey Salmingo

Salmingo continues to educate people about the severity of food allergies through television, travelling to present live forums and social media. Platforms that could help others better understand how to handle someone dealing with a food allergy and ultimately how to avoid tragedy from happening to someone else’s family too.

Joey Salmingo’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joeysalmingo/

FATE Initiative’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fateinitiative/

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Written by: Hope Dos Santos