If Feed It Forward chef Jagger Gordon isn’t fixing up a pot of soup inside his converted shipping-container stall at Market 707 (707 Dundas West, at Bathurst), he’s hollering out the window at passersby: “Are ya hungry?”
He coaxes folks into taking a loaf of bread from the bins lining the front of the stand, and waves off a guy who tries to buy a coconut water with a “That’s for you, man”. Everyone who pauses is treated to an elevator pitch: Everything at Feed It Forward is made from food that would otherwise be sent to a landfill, and is available for free or by donation.
“Basically, you don’t pay for anything – you just donate,” the chef explains to me, between ladling out bowls of steak and bean soup.
For every $2.50 donation made by paying customers, Gordon sets aside a poker chip that those without funds can exchange for a free meal. “That allows me to pay the bills and buy new products,” he says. “I look for products about to expire within a couple weeks or a month. The suppliers offer me a deal, and I buy it at subsidized prices and stock up with it.”
Gordon transforms that subsidized food (or, as he calls it, “marginalized food”) into soups like wild boar, roasted red pepper (a local favourite) or pho broth. He tops each bowl with microgreens he grows in a window box attached to the stall, and customers can beef up their meal with fresh loaves and rolls of donated bread from an anonymous bakery.
The soup kitchen might be Gordon’s most well-publicized project, but Gordon has a number of projects on the go under the Feed It Forward umbrella, all geared toward improving access to food. In addition to catering orders, which keep the financial engine of the business running, Gordon offers subsidized meals to families in need. His next big project, launching this fall with the University of Toronto, will provide subsidized meals for students. His goal is to use donated and diverted food to produce 25,000 to 45,000 meals per month.
In order to make that happen, Gordon says, he’s going to need to significantly increase the amount of food he can source from companies. But most large corporations tend to do what’s best for their bottom line, and instead of coordinating and transporting donations, it’s simply easier for them to throw that product away – to the tune of $31 billion in food every year, Gordon says.
“The big companies have to start jumping up and say, ‘Okay, we dump a ton a day. Why not hand it over to a nonprofit?’” Gordon says. The bakery he works with, he adds, understands that vision: “They literally sponsor me by hiring a specific driver to bring me what’s left over, out of their own pocket, because they believe that there’s going to be change. They believe in the future.”
On a wider scale, Gordon hopes the federal government will enact longer-lasting change by following the lead of countries like France and requiring businesses to donate still-usable food, either for human consumption or to make animal feed and compost. A petition can be found on the Feed It Forward site.
“I think if people understand it doesn’t take much to help, or if the government changes the laws and allows some tax incentives or tax breaks for the logistics of our donations, then the world opens up,” he says.
Founder Jagger Gordon says it’s a way to help feed those in the city who are less fortunate, while simultaneously reducing food waste.
The chef who made it his mission to end food waste in the city now wants to end hunger too.
Jagger Gordon is launching Soup Bar, a model he describes as Toronto’s first subsidized eatery where patrons are allowed to pay what they can in an effort to feed those less fortunate.
“If you can afford to eat, you can pay for someone else to eat,” said Gordon.
Through his project Feed It Forward, Gordon is already collecting unused, unsold food bound for the landfill and creating nutritious, balanced meals. In the new subsidy system, a chip is placed into a jar for every $2.50 meal purchased. Anyone who can’t afford a meal can take a token out of the jar and use it as payment.
Gordon has no concerns about anyone abusing the system. “I don’t judge anyone,” he said. “If you are humble enough to come and utilize one of the chips for a meal, you’ve earned it.”
Soup Bar opens May 21 at the Scadding Court Community Centre. It’ll primarily serve soup and sandwiches but will add other items such as veggie burgers and hot dogs.
“Let’s just take care of the less fortunate and make sure no food is thrown away,” said Gordon.
Toronto chef Jagger Gordon’s Soup Bar promises to be a community food shop with a unique way of feeding those who need a hot meal. It’s pay what you can, no questions asked.
Many who walk by Chef Jagger Gordon’s food stall at Scadding Court are curious to know why he’s giving away bread for free. Gordon’s mission is to feed the hungry using perfectly good food that would otherwise go to waste.
Toronto’s shipping container food market is open year round, but things really start to heat up at the corner of Bathurst and Dundas in the summer months.
That’ll be especially true this year because Market 707, located outside the Scadding Court Community Centre, will officially welcome a new soup bar into the fray on May 21.
Run by chef Jagger Gordon of Feed It Forward, which aims to eliminate food waste and provide meals to those in need, Soup Bar will operate on a pay-what-you-can and pay-it-forward model to help ensure all people have an opportunity to grab a fresh, warm meal.
“Through Pay-It-Forward, a subsidized meal is purchased and a meal token is placed into a bowl,” explains Gordon, via email.
“A person in need then retrieves a token from the bowl and uses it as payment, a transaction that means no one has to ask or beg for a free meal.”
Soup Bar’s already had its soft launch, but its grand opening is on May 21.
Toronto’s shipping container food market is open year round, but things really start to heat up at the corner of Bathurst and Dundas in the summer months.
That’ll be especially true this year because Market 707, located outside the Scadding Court Community Centre, will officially welcome a new soup bar into the fray on May 21.
Run by chef Jagger Gordon of Feed It Forward, which aims to eliminate food waste and provide meals to those in need, Soup Bar will operate on a pay-what-you-can and pay-it-forward model to help ensure all people have an opportunity to grab a fresh, warm meal.
“Through Pay-It-Forward, a subsidized meal is purchased and a meal token is placed into a bowl,” explains Gordon, via email.
“A person in need then retrieves a token from the bowl and uses it as payment, a transaction that means no one has to ask or beg for a free meal.”
Soup Bar’s already had its soft launch, but its grand opening is on May 21.
TORONTO — During the final day of the Restaurants Canada Show, in Toronto, chef Jagger Gordon shared his passion for waste-based cooking with show attendees. Jagger, who founded the non-profit organization Feed it Forward, utilizes an innovative waste-based cooking program to feed those in need while reducing the amount of food waste that ends up in landfills.
The idea for Feed it Forward came from Gordon’s experience as a sergeant overseas, where he witnessed his crew disposing of hundreds of pounds food waste. This experience inspired the chef to use food that would otherwise be wasted to help feed those who go hungry.
Gordon showed guests how to utilize scraps and food that may be past its expiration date. Each dish prepared was made from produce that would typically end up in the landfill, such as the scraps of vegetables and produce that has brown spots, is wilted or past its best -before date. To demonstrate, Gordon and his team prepared pakora made from vegetable scraps. The pakora was made using chickpea flower, sparkling water and any leftovers from throughout the week — including ends of carrots and broccoli stems — then baked or fried. The team also made a tea from pineapple peels and a blend of spices.
Gordon stressed that waste-based cooking could save restaurants hundreds of dollars every year and gave helpful tips for wasting as little produce as possible: food planning to avoid letting food go bad, keep to the outside area of the grocery store to stay away from processed foods and freeze any scraps from vegetables gathered over the week to use in dishes such as soups and stews.
Jagger Gordon is spending Christmas Eve preparing more than 600 meals for the needy — all with food that was destined for a landfill.
The Toronto chef wants to see the federal government make it mandatory for grocery stores and restaurants to donate food approaching its expiry date to food banks and shelters, instead of throwing it in the trash.
So, ahead of Christmas, Gordon picked up the phone and started asking for donations. Some of those he contacted were apprehensive at first.
“There’s always the issue of them saying, ‘Ok, we’re not too sure about this.’ But I say, it’s called the Good Samaritan law,” he told CBC News while chopping, prepping and organizing dinner at the Evangel Hall Mission. “If you know it’s good and I know it’s good, then we have no issues.”
Gordon first came up with the idea in 2014. As a caterer, he found he often had plenty of good food leftover that would otherwise be headed for the garbage. He decided he’d start packaging and freezing it.
‘Why would you not put it on someone’s table?’
All told, it was enough to allow him to feed eight families over the span of a year, he says.
The experience inspired him to launched the Feed It Forward program. Now he’s developing an app to make it easier for grocery stores and restaurants to redirect their surplus food to those who need it most.
Banning food waste is a concept already in place in parts of Europe. Earlier this year, France banned food waste, forcing supermarkets to sign agreements with charities so no edible food ends up in the trash.
Italy offers tax breaks when businesses donate leftovers. But each year in Canada, $31 billion worth of food ends up in landfills or compost, according to a 2014 report from Value Chain Management International. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay told CBC News earlier this year the government is set to hold discussions about food policy in 2017, but hasn’t said whether reducing waste will be one its priorities.
“If there’s perfectly good food, why would you not donate it? Why would you not put it on someone’s table?” Jagger said. “Yes, there’s world hunger, but there’s also hunger in our own community.”
‘It’s no one’s choice to be poor’
Leslie Squaire knows that desperation firsthand.
Squaire was supposed to complete a Master’s program at York University, she says, when she became heavily involved with drugs and got into trouble with the law.
“It’s no one’s choice to be poor,” said Leslie Squaire, who says she has enough to rent a subsidized home but still struggles to pay for just about everything else. (CBC)
She says she ended up in a shelter and has been trying to get back on her feet for about the last ten years.
“It’s no one’s choice to be poor,” said Squaire, who now has enough to rent a subsidized home but still struggles to pay for just about everything else.
“Everyone is one step away from where I am. You don’t make your mortgage payment, your wife leaves you. People are not that far away from this.”
Somewhere to go on Christmas Day
Squaire supports the idea of the government legislating against food waste — and she’s not alone.
“There’s a lot of hungry people in this area,” said Jane Spooner.
Despite relying on the Evangel Hall Mission for the last five years, Jane Spooner considers herself one of the lucky ones. (Laura Da Silva/CBC)
Spooner has relied on the Evangel Hall Mission for the last five years, but considers herself one of the lucky ones.
“I see so many people going through the garbages and stuff. We’re in a big country and we can’t feed everybody?” she said. “The government’s got to step in and help out more.”
Still, she says, she’s grateful.
“At least I’ve got somewhere to go on Christmas Day, which is nice.”
