The creamy salad of the curly and the red red stew Ghanaes are among the new dishes that customers were invited to try in a Toronto shelter this fall.
It is a step to meet the city Coolfood pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their food purchases by 25 percent by 2030 in relation to 2019 levels.
The United Nations estimates A third of greenhouse gases caused by humans is linked to food.. (The rest is mainly of burnt fossil fuels).
So, as part of their plans to combat climate change, cities around the world and in all Canada they commit to providing fewer carbon meats and more foods based on plants through services such as shelters, day care and centers Community, as well as in events. as festivals.
Canadian cities and towns that have promised to promote plant -based foods include Montreal, Rainbow Lake, Alta., And several ontarium communities, such as Kingston, Brampton and Toronto.
Why cities are looking at the greatest food policies
James Nowlan, Executive Director of Environment, Climate and Silviculture of the city of Toront and transport.
The local government serves around 3,200 tons of food per year through its shelters, child care centers and their homes of higher care and long term.
“Touches many residents,” said Nowlan. “But it also allows us to show leadership to demonstrate how others can reduce their emissions.”
Do you want to reduce your carbon footprint? Consider stop how much meat eats. A new study reviewed by pairs of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom says that people who eat a vegan diet are responsible for 75 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than meat students.
The City Council for near Brampton, Ontario, approved a motion This last November That undertakes to develop a plant -based food strategy. It includes presenting food and plant -based drink options at the meetings of the Municipal Council and Civic Events; Require plain -based catering options in events in city spaces as parks; Looking at plant -based food options and Plant -based predetermined food options in city facilities and during regional events; and raise awareness about sustainable food practices.
Navjit Kaur Brar lawyer, who brought the motion forward, said that many people in their community are vegetarian or vegan, including herself.
“I think making sure that we are providing and attending to that community is also important,” he said.
There was already a growing local interest in plant and healthier food options, especially among young people and the aging population, he said. “This is for us to bring it a bit and we just do [people] More aware that there are options based on plants and how our environment and health can affect. “
How Toronto is serving more plant -based food
In addition to establishing an objective of food emissions, Toronto, together with London, Tokyo and around a dozen other important cities, signed the C40 Declaration of cities of good food. It is committed to specific policies, including alignment of food acquisition with the Planetary Health DietA low and low meat diet backed by a committee of scientists as healthy and sustainable.
Toronto began analyzing the greenhouse gas emissions of the food that served. Found That beef was only three percent of the foods that bought with weight, but 48 percent of the city’s food emissions.
Nowlan said the city decided to reduce meat consumption. These are test strategies such as replacing it with chicken, fish or plant -based proteins, or simply combining plants based on beef in beef, “then … you still get the same type of flavor to which people are used, but it is really lower in emissions. “
He has also been working with dietitians and his staff on how to do it while satisfying the nutritional needs of customers.
Last September, Toronto’s shelter and support services had A workshop and demonstration for staff on how to cook with protein based on plants, With the Food Food Food Food Food program. In the event at the Toronto Junction Place refuge, the staff showed dishes such as Moimoi, a Nigerian bean pudding and Misir Wat, an ethiopian dish of spicy lentils. The front chef of food, Amy Symington, showed how to do others, such as potatoes and tahini soup and César salad with Tocino Tempeh. Refugio clients could try everything.
Chefs Amy Symington and Andrew Duhasky were present at a plants -based culinary training event at the Western University.
Toronto shelters, the care of the day and the facilities of the elderly have already begun to present more plants based on their menus.
Nowlan said the city staff “has really seen positive comments” about changes. He added that these steps give the city staff the opportunity to talk to customers that serve on those changes.
“People have a deep attachment to food,” he said. “And therefore, you must have that conversation to generate support, build acceptance and generate confidence as it begins to move to other types of food, to see alternatives.”
The plant -based treaty is directed to cities
Anita Krajnc is the global campaign coordinator for the Plant -based treatedwhich aims to “put food systems in the heart of fighting the climatic crisis.” It offers 40 suggestions to do so, from the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions from food to the creation of plants based on plants for schools, hospitals and elderly homes.
One of the groups to which he is aimed at supporting the treaty are the cities.
Krajnc said that cities deal with the food policy in many ways, from promoting healthy eating to providing services such as community gardens. “So, you know, cities can play a very important role.”
Since 2021, the treaty has been supported by 39 cities, including Edimburg, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and three Canadian cities: Rainbow Lake, Alta., Brampton, Ontario, and, from this week, Calecon, Ontario.
Citing the demand of students and environmental impacts, more university dining rooms are changing their menus to increase plant -based options.
In some cases, it has been controversial.
When Kingston, Ontario, Coun. Conny Glenn originally tried to make his city support the plant -based treaty, The proposal was voted. Mayor Brian Paterson He told Kingston Whig-Standard What supports the treaty sent “the wrong message to our rural residents and our rural economy.”
Rainbow Lake, Alta., Declined to speak with CBC News on this subject, citing, in part, negative comments of the community after an previous media interview.
In a article last April, the volunteer of the Treaty based on plants Juan Enrique Hinojosa He told Toronto star That when he approached the Canadian municipalities about the treaty, he received some positive responses, but also hostile responses, including one that called him a “urban green Nazi.”
Montreal, Brampton, Kingston takes action
Even so, the impulse continues to build.
Caledon, Ontario, supported the plant -based treaty this Tuesday. Brampton did it as part of Brrar’s motion in November.
Montreal City Council approved a motion in 2022 To adhere to the Declaration of C40 Good Food CitiesLike Toronto. He said he would offer a minimum of 75 percent of vegetarian foods in events organized by the city and favor sellers who use local products, reduce food waste and promote vegetarian cuisine.
Lawyer Glenn in Kingston tried a different approach this fall, and the council He spent his motion in OctoberCommit the city to “guarantee that plants -based options are included and prioritized every time food is bought or financed” and promoting such options by placing them in the front of a buffet table, for example. The motion asks the staff to develop a strategy draft to do so at the end of 2025.
Glenn imagines interesting plant -based options, together with the habitual meat burgers, in events such as the mayor’s fundraising barbecue, where vegetarian elections have not always been available.
“Why not Portobello fungus hamburgers, which are absolutely delicious?” She said. “I hope we see some really interesting options that arise.”
