Childs: "Everyone's got to eat!"

MUCS's long-term dream is to build "a sustainable co-operative community which will include ecological, affordable co-housing, community resources and co-operative businesses," explains Stephanie Childs of MUCS. "We hope that the Dining Co-op will serve as a model for innovative approaches to addressing food security issues and community building initiatives," she says.

"Bringing people together around a shared meal is an excellent way to build community and break isolation," Childs says. "On top of that, buying in bulk is a very inexpensive way to eat, so the dining co-op will be accessible to everyone, regardless of their income."

Meals will likely include "a vegan option and a meat or vegetarian option every night," she says. "Because all of the members will take turns preparing food, we expect to have quite a variety of dishes, everything from curries to stir-fry, pasta and quinoa salad," Childs says.

Dining co-op members will choose a meal plan that best suits their lifestyle. So far (rates are tentative) "all-meal" members would get 21 meals a week for $125 a month (a low-income option costs $75 a month); "half meal" members would get 10-14 meals per week for $95 a month, while "third meal"

members would pay $55 for 5-10 meals a week. Members are expected to attend meetings and put in four hours of work cooking, cleaning and buying groceries etc., either every week or every other week, depending on the meal plan.

Since plans began in March, a core group of 15 members have worked on construction of the 1,000-square-foot shared kitchen, dining room and living room and are organizing meal planning, bulk food purchasing and dining co-op finances, Childs says. Another 30 people have signed on for when the co-op begins serving meals (as early as mid-July). "We expect we will be overloaded with interested members," Childs adds. "We've had interest from students, families, seniors - everyone's got to eat!"

MUCS is urgently seeking volunteer plumbers and electricians. For more info or to join the Dining Co-op, email info@mucs.ca.

 
 

		Write your comment on this article!

Sigh. I don't live nearby     Like other readers, I am disappointed that I don't live in the Vendome metro area and can use it. It's a great idea on some many different level. As a Montrealer, I already have a sense of community where I live but I can see the potential for newcomers to the city, especially in an area of town that is the home to a sizeable student community. I have seen a similiar type of project at Concordia called the People's Potato where a collective have come together to offer daily vegetarian lunches and met a lot of new people through these communal lunchtime meals. The ability to get people together and to cook a lot of different meals really appeals to those who have to cook meals scaled for one. It is often a chore to cook in the right quantities and not be faced with repeated leftovers for days. The pricing scheme looks very reasonable and the requirement to work in the kitchen is no impedement. I think this should be a very successful project and may spin off other similar projects in the future, hopefully one in my neck of the woods.
Gary Ng	{9 votes}	June 28th, 2007
Eating     I love the idea of the community kitchen! A great way to meet people and eat a variety of foods (from different cultures too, I imagine). Cooking for one is never very motivating and it's easy to just settle for already prepared meals or take-out. I imagine this would be a healthier alternative... Does one HAVE to be from the NDG area or can they come from other Montreal districts? My main question is regarding the consumption of these meals. Say someone is on the 21-meals/week plan, how do they go about to get their food? Is it seperated so they can bring it home and simply reheat? Thanks!
Jennifer Bush		September 9th, 2008
Great Concept     It is really a great concept to bring the people together at the dining table and then for ever. I met Stephanie Childs on the train while going from Chennai to Bhopal. She looks very determined, composed, and focused and I was very much impressed by her HINDI that she learned in just 2 months. I wish I could be part of this team.
Sanjay Ujjainkar		April 14th, 2008
what a great Idea!     I cant begin to tell you how wonderful this Idea is. Not a new one I know. Although I am sure that this twist of pre purchase will help the coop plan and be able to buy with money on hand. As opposed to funds they hope to get. I plan on donating some time and energy to this wonderful cause if they will have me!
Michael Levine	{4 votes}	July 3rd, 2007
Theory Is One Thing But In Practice...     It all sounds good in theory anything to combat the corporations welding their price options. But being as resourceful as I am, where is the saving on the meals? There isn't anything so extraordinary in a meal from 5 to 10 when I could do it myself for less and can check the conditions under which I work. Can't say the same for somebody who falls ill and is still cooking food for someone else. What about the member that decides to add salt according to his taste buds? And what about those that aren't going to wash their hands? I think that those who eagerly commented on joining up or participating should consider the reality of the situation: buying in bulk is an option free to us all and when it comes to hygiene having had a toe in the food industry I can tell you that besides the ones with good hearts there will be plenty of thoughtless participants too, looking for a sweet deal and not keeping clean. I can also do the shopping in much less time on my own and don't have to clean after someone else's mess. Sorry guys the days for a college food collective for me are over, however I wouldn't want to brand this as useless. It is a good excuse to meet people in the community, share cooking tips and apply a certain responsibility.
Martin Dansky	{2 votes}	July 3rd, 2007
Count Me In!     Hey, as an ineffectual chef and consummate bachelor, this sounds like something that would be right up my alley. After all, considering how much I spend on take-out food and over-priced frozen microwave fare, this is a very sweet deal, even when you factor in the co-op chores that go along with partaking of all this. Where do I sign up???
Mark St Pierre	{1 vote}	July 1st, 2007
Sabotaged by Success     Wow, what a great idea and amazingly simple idea! And yet I can't help but think that all of this may well become very unwieldy very quickly - after all, the group even expects to be "overloaded with interested members" which could regrettably cause things to collapse before the co-op fully coalesces.
David St Pierre	{2 votes}	June 30th, 2007
Re: Located in one place?     yeah, it wouldn't make sense for a lot of people to come from different parts of town. Actually our members are mostly from the neighborhood (NDG) and most of the full-meal members live within a few blocks of the space. it's important to involve people who live nearby not just for convenience but for building community. That said, once we're rolling hopefully we'll have some resources to help other neighborhoods start their own dining co-op. Of course everyone has their own reasons for joining the co-op and it's not for everyone, but I can personally respond to your concern about food tastes. Usually I go out, buy fast food, cook quick meals etc. because I don't have the energy or room in my life to cook healthy meals at home. By joining the co-op I'm investing a minimal amount of energy to ensure that others and myself can eat healthy food every day. To make it taste good, well, we just have to communicate with eachother to make sure we're offering enough options.
Izaak Branderhorst	{1 vote}	June 28th, 2007
Located in one place?     How can they expect people to come from all around if they are located in one place, namely near vendome metro? I guess they are starting it there and plan to make it bigger in other municipalities. I hope so anyway, because it is a good idea but in order for it to be sucessful overall they would need to expand to other areas. But the whole vegan and vegetarian concept is good since everyone can eat it (no limits to anyone's diet needs) but it will be a question of taste. It seems they take one fee from the get go, its not a pay as you go thing (i guess that wouldn't work financially). What if one night they serve something people really don't like on the whole? People will have lost their money or be forced to eat food they don't want to. The reason people cook in their home or go out to restaurants is because they like to satisfy "their own" tatse buds, which undoubtedly is different in everyone. It's an ideal concept but the truth is there are too many snags that could come up along the way in my opinion.
Sacha Sukhdeo	{2 votes}	June 28th, 2007

Write your comment! please follow these guidelines

Information requested in blue will remain confidential   [privacy policy] Please indicate your real first and last names.

First name :

Last name :

Your email :

Confirm your email :

Title of your comment (max. 150 characters)   Your comment (max. 2000 characters)  characters remaining       LIMIT PER PERSON : one comment per article per member. Thank you. Your comment will be read by our approval team and, if it is approved, will be posted on the website within 24 hours. It could also be published, along with your name, in the printed version of Hour magazine and on any of our partner websites. In order to present the highest quality of comments, Hour reserves the right to refuse certain submissions. Any plagiarism will entail the entire removal of the member’s profile. Hour is not responsible for the opinions expressed by the members.