by Cheryl Cheung and Yusra Khalid, Feeding City Lab The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity issues in Canada. Since March 2020, community organizations across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) have subsequently been helping less resourced populations get access to food. This article highlights the ways a few of those have quickly pivoted their activities… Read More
By Jeffrey Liu, Junior Researcher Introduction It is well known that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the restaurant industry in Canada and abroad. Knowledge of how the pandemic has affected disparate types of food businesses is comparatively lacking. In this article, I summarize and reflect on my recent research project that explores how the… Read More
By Jeffrey Liu, Junior Researcher, Feeding the City: Pandemic & Beyond At the University of Toronto, the Feeding City research lab’s commitment to analyzing and documenting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the GTA’s food system extends well beyond the classroom. Assisting grassroots actions that provide Torontonians with nutritious and sustainably produced food is… Read More
by Matilda Dipieri, Junior Researcher The Withrow Park Farmers Market is a longstanding farmers market in Toronto, located on the corner of Withrow Park in the East End of the city. As a result of the pandemic, Withrow Market, along with other farmers markets in Toronto, experienced significant uncertainty about its ability to open and… Read More
summary by Hannah Klemmensen, Junior Researcher The University of Guelph’s Arrell Food Institute has just released their Food System Summit Dialogue Report; a compilation of the key insights revealed during 3 food system dialogues organized by the institute this winter. The three dialogues focused on strategies to center agriculture in green economic recovery planning, the… Read More
As part of Feeding the City’s commitment to accessible knowledge dissemination, our team has hosted several public-facing webinars over the last several months. Ranging from conversations with women ecological farmers, to community stakeholders leading Toronto’s emergency response to food insecurity, these webinars provide fruitful insights on the experience of food workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the following… Read More
Trent University has published a new community report, titled “From Crisis to Continuity: A community response to local food systems challenges in, and beyond the days of COVID-19”. This study heard from Peterborough-area residents and food support organizations regarding the ways that residents have been accessing and engaging with food during the pandemic- and how… Read More
by Hannah Klemmensen, Junior Researcher As has been the case for so many, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant acute hardship for many university students. In particular, the pandemic has brought to focus a severe and pressing issue across university campuses: food insecurity. As students have lost jobs and faced unexpected expenses, they have also faced… Read More
by Matilda Dipieri, Junior Researcher “[T]his moment of time, right now, there’s the opportunity to shift or nudge how things are operating…and to change cultures and habits, not just with farmers, but with people enjoying food” — Dave Kranenburg The Virtual Farmers Market, also known as the Green Circle Food Hub, was founded by Dave… Read More