The dish on the Loaded Ladle
It’s finally here! After two years of intense struggle by The Loaded Ladle volunteers, the student-run food co-operative will be cooking up a storm for its first official serving on September 13.
Call it what you want, whether it’s Tasty Tuesdays or Toast-worthy Tuesdays, because every Tuesday the Ladle will be serving up ethically sourced, local, vegan meals for students in the Student Union Building (SUB)—for free.
That’s on Tuesdays, if you missed that.
The society that formerly operated on grants and donations from generous farmers will now be funded through a $2 student levy that an overwhelming majority of Dalhousie students voted to support in the March Dalhousie Student Union (DSU) elections.
However, each day when the food runs out, the collective will be packing up and rolling out of the SUB as they have no official kitchen space yet. They will be cooking the entirety of the food at St. Andrew’s Church (corner of Robie St. and Coburg Rd.) and rolling their meals on insulated carts down the street.
It’s a stepping-stone, after all.
“It also means that we can actually pay producers for the food. In the past two years we’ve pretty much relied on donations entirely from really generous farmers,” says Sonia Grant, a Ladle board member and fourth-year student at Dalhousie.
She says they are eventually hoping to serve every day.
“But for now we are just really excited to be here.”
A food serving co-ordinator and an outreach co-ordinator have been hired on to their staff to help assist with the cooking frenzy. All students who want to get involved can help cook at St. Andrew’s on Monday nights or Tuesday mornings.
All students are members of The Loaded Ladle co-operative; however, there are 10 students who sit on the Board of Directors. According to Grant, the goal is to avoid a hierarchical power structure and maintain a consensus-based decision-making model.
“We want to challenge the notion in society that food is a commodity,” she says. “We believe that food is a human right and that everyone has a right to healthy and ethically sourced food and food that is culturally appropriate and affordable.”
Because of this mandate, The Loaded Ladle has decided to serve vegan food only. Grant says vegan food is easier to make, is ethically sourced and has a low environmental impact.
“We’re not serving vegan food because we think that everyone in the world should be vegan,” she says. “We seek to provide an alternative to corporate food systems and that includes factory farms, where a lot of meat is produced.
The co-operative group is looking to put more power in the hands of students, and away from corporations. They hope to see Dalhousie phase out its outsourcing contracts to food corporations in time. Last year, the DSU signed a one-year contract with Sodexo with the hope of initiating a self-operated food service in the future.
Students can get a sneak peek of The Loaded Ladle’s tasty treats on September 4, when they will be dishing out food for the Frosh picnic.
For anyone hoping to get involved with The Loaded Ladle, they will be posting a calendar of outings and outreach activities to their website in September. Activities may include apple picking, canning or pickling workshops, and cooking classes. See theloadedladle.blogspot.com for details.
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