For more information and a calendar of events go to FEWD.ca

Food Equity with Dignity: Local Chef, Yasi Zorlutuna is Creating a Mobile Solution addressing Food Insecurity and Food Waste, and Bringing Affordable Food to Your Neighbourhood with the Community FEWD Truck

In partnership with GNSC and with support from Our Food Future, local chef, Yasi Zorlutuna is bringing her long-held dream of a Community Food Truck that takes pre-consumer food waste – high-quality fresh produce and food items that are destined for landfill for a variety of reasons, including aesthetic, lack of space to properly store and process, etc. – and uses it as the resource it is with Community FEWD. 

What is FEWD?  It stands for Food Equity With Dignity. It offers an equitable, dignified, and nourishing food source for community members no matter their economic status. Itapproaches food preparation with the same methods used at celebrated farm-to-table restaurants and food businesses. It has no fixed menu and draws on the creativity, skills and flexibility of chef led teams, allowing raw ingredients to be quickly transformed into delicious menu items; creating a continuous stream for getting surplus food out of fields, boxes, fridges and freezers – and onto dinner tables of families throughout our community. It is a system that marries commercial foodservice with grassroots community organizing, outreach and care. And carries with it a commitment to supporting the growing movement of more inclusive and holistic approaches to community care. 

Community FEWD does not seek to replace the essential work current agencies are already doing, but to work with them in order to complement their services and resolve gaps that hinder further surplus diversion. Most food security programs lack the space and resources to safely store and process mass quantities of perishables in a timely and food-safe manner. Community FEWD will provide this labour. A strategic network of collaborative partnerships, includes local food security groups and food-rescue organizations, grocery stores, markets, local farms, gardens and those working towards a more equitable food system. Continued community consultations will ensure that the program is addressing community identified needs, and that meal offerings are culturally appropriate. It is designed to be scaled up, replicated and adapted to reach diverse populations and divert large quantities of surplus food from ending up as waste – in our community, and beyond. 

Leveraging her years of experience leading commercial kitchens and supporting emergency food programming at local organizations including The SEED, and her drive for food equity, surplus diversion and systemic change, Chef Yasi will maximize the potential of surplus ingredients, and create restaurant-quality, nutritious meals available to all through an optional tiered payment system, and deliver them to neighbourhoods throughout Guelph.

Changing the narrative. Beyond the logistical challenges of dealing with large quantities of unsold and unharvested surpluses, there is the perception that these foods are waste. When the reality is that they end up as waste because our current system needs to be expanded. These foods are not waste, they are a resource.

Community FEWD will also provide reliable employment for a team of both experienced chefs, and those new to the food industry, who will be trained and mentored by experienced professionals, gaining viable skills for life, while the cooks will be provided with reliable, well compensated employment. 

Beyond providing stable employment, there will also be opportunities for wider community engagement, volunteer positions and educational opportunities for community members. 

Want to know more? Want to help? Donate? Please email communityfewd@guelphneighbourhoods.org