So not known to many people, but YEGfoodie also has a place in her heart for the homeless. In a country as rich as ours, no one should be going hungry, ever. Since this is the season where we feel a little more generous and want to give back to the community, I wanted to feature a new charitable venture: LeftOversYEG
A bit of background story first...
At my wedding, it was a huge eye opener. We had a lot of food left over and we wanted to be able to pack everything up and make sure that someone who needed it could benefit from it. We discovered that the shelters will not accept any food that has not been prepared in a commercial kitchen. Period.
I have been doing my best since then to make sure that people that are using the shelter system still have a means of being able to enjoy a good home-cooked meal without having to go through the shelter. I discovered that there are several groups of people that get together and bring crockpots full of good, hot food directly to the shelters and feed those folks outside that are waiting for a spot to sleep that night.
As a food journalist, I like to keep on top of the latest trends and I am always keeping an ear to the ground for anything food related.
Food insecurity has been a subject that has come up a few times over the past year.
From the Leftovers Calgary website:
“Close to half of food produced worldwide is wasted. Discarded in processing, transport, grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries and kitchens. The Leftovers Foundation is an nonprofit organization that rescues food that would otherwise be thrown into the landfill, and ensures it gets to service agencies in need. We deliver perishable food to these locations to reduce food waste and deliver the excess to those in need. We are an organization working to find solutions of a global issue.
Food waste is a $31 billion dollar industry in Canada and 25% of Canadians live in food insecure households.”
Needless to say when Chef Daniel Huber took over the reins of LeftOversYEG, I was very intrigued and had to find out what it was all about.
RR: What does food insecurity mean to you?
DH: The inability for any Canadian, of any walk of life, income and lifestyle, to access healthy and nutritional food. That can take the shape of a lack of healthy retail or commercial choices in your neighborhood. All the way to a lack of knowledge on how to cook. As well as having the means to end hunger in a community on the basis of what people throw away.
RR: What inspired you to step up and take over Leftovers YEG?
DH: To put it bluntly, it is a productive way to both help the community and myself. I get to use my knowledge to help others and I saw an opportunity to get Edmonton on board with an amazing idea. It’s a no brainer.
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