The Tastiest Movement in Toronto

by Darcy Higgins

I’ve been watching something happen in Toronto, and it’s the tastiest movement this place has ever seen.  It celebrates, advocates, and innovates every day, all through the city.  It too is part of the 99%.

It’s called the food movement and it’s gaining roots. 

From the resident of the Annex who decided to spend her money at the farmer’s market, to the group in Malvern starting a community garden, to the business processing new goods at an organic bakery in Etobicoke.

This set of community projects, small businesses, farming methods, and politics mark a shift in how people see the food they eat and how it affects their community and planet.  And it’s largely a women’s movement. 

Toronto-based organizations and ventures are filled with creative leaders like Debbie Field (FoodShare), Laura Reinsborough (Not Far From The Tree), Jane Hayes (Garden Jane), Lori Stahlbrand (Local Food Plus), Tracy Philippi (Toronto Youth Food Policy Council), Toyin Vanessa Coker (The Permaculture Project), and Anne Freeman (Dufferin Grove Farmer’s Market).

Some who started here have even taken up political office.  A large batch of Toronto’s newest city councillors are foodies through and through.

Prior to being elected to City Council, (backyard vegetable grower) Sarah Doucette was a founding member of her ward’s environmental group, Green 13, which works from the Junction and High Park to the Humber.

“It was easy to see the importance residents of Ward 13 placed on the environment.  There were also a number of local environmental issues that placed a key component in my campaign,” Doucette told me.

Food is key among priorities for Doucette and Green 13, who are working together post-election to implement projects to localize their food supply.  These include a community garden and a Farmer’s Market in the Junction.

“Projects such as these can easily be replicated throughout the city and do not cost a great deal of money to set up,” said Doucette.

Across town in Beaches-East York, Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon is making Ward 32 a healthier place to live.  Known as a doer (the movement called them “food actionists”), McMahon pushed for community gardens, farmer’s markets, and local living as part of her campaign wears her veggies outfits “anytime, anywhere, anyhow” to promote Ontario farmers.

“I went into politics thinking I could spread the community building work I did in my area right across my ward,” she said.  “Nothing brings people together like food.” 

McMahon took a lead in starting and running the East Lynn Park Farmer’s Market, creating a transformation in her neighbourhood, once a “no man’s land” that now marks a Thursday destination spot and new area businesses, young moms, newcomers, and seniors are able to connect and lift spirits.

City-wide, the councillors are working together and with others to promote policies and projects to keep things moving. 

In High Park, one of Doucette’s constituents found her boulevard vegetable garden tagged with a removal notice, which got the Councillor working to change the by-law to allow the practice.

Both councillors are keen on ending other food unfriendly measures, such as old laws that disallow backyard hens in the city.

McMahon is eager to get innovative street food in Toronto, while continuing to support a second market, canning workshops, and winter market that sprouted up in Leslieville, while getting local, sustainable, and fresh food to The Beaches’ Boardwalk Cafe.

Their success will mean a city flush with new opportunities to live, work, and play.

Darcy Higgins is the director of Food Forward and will be writing a series of monthly articles about the food movement. If you have questions you'd like to see Darcy address, drop him a line.

Image courtesy Danforth East Community Association.