Slow Food Youth groove out and feed the community
This weekend, 484 pounds of food that would normally have been thrown out was repurposed by the Slow Food Youth organization. Slow Food Youth Ontario partnered with Musagetes to gather ingredients close to their expiry date for a Disco Soup, where volunteers took time to make soup and raise awareness for the fight against food waste.
The event took place on Saturday, Oct. 14, at Lakeside Hope House. Volunteers brought their families and helped to rinse and cut the vegetables.
[media-credit name=”Carlos Mandujano” align=”alignnone” width=”1020″]
The first Disco Soup, hosted by Slow Food Youth Germany, took place five years ago as “Schnippeldisko” in Berlin. The event fed up to 8,000 people. Disco Soups now take place in cities all across the world.
“We contacted farms, restaurants, and suppliers. We asked them if they had any food going to waste and if they wanted to donate for our initiative,” explained Rebecca Gordon from Slow Food Youth Ontario, who organized the Guelph event with Chelsea Brant of Musagetes. “484 pounds of food that would normally be thrown out was donated to us by Don’s Produce, Zócalo Organics, Bread Bar, and Ignatius Farms.” All that food would eventually be turned into soup and donated to several food groups around Guelph.
Volunteers went to their work stations and got chopping and rinsing. The event had a friendly, family vibe, which was accompanied by the music of Edwin Hammond and The Magpies.
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After preparing the soup, volunteers spent time with their families and each other, and listened to music, including a surprisingly small — but still groovy — amount of disco.
“We made four soups which will be served to the Hope House community for Monday lunch,” said Gordon. “All of the leftover vegetables that we chopped up will also be used throughout the week by Hope House and distributed to other food groups in Guelph like The Seed, Chalmers Community Services Centre, and North End Harvest Market.”
Photo by Carlos Mandujano