Happy Belly

Committed to reducing the waste of food in grocery stores

Every week for the past eight years, a group of students on McGill University’s Macdonald campus cook and serve meals prepared using donated food. Their objective: to raise awareness among students of hunger in the world, the amount of food wasted in our society and how food that is past its best-by date but still edible can be salvaged.

“The Happy Belly kitchen is the workplace of students whose compassion and values are a source of inspiration for the future of our society. In overcoming certain taboos, such as the appearance and expiry date of foodstuffs, these young people have opened up new avenues that may be the starting point for solutions to ensure the future of the planet,” maintains Joëlle Mottart, member of the Macdonald Campus Students’ Society.

For their community kitchen project, the members of Happy Belly formed a partnership with the on-campus farm as well as grocery stores in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue where the campus is located, which donate food that is too old to be sold but still fit for human consumption.

The food donated is almost exclusively bakery goods, fruits and vegetables that the students turn into meals by adding spices, pasta, legumes and so forth in order to enhance the flavour and increase the nutritive value of the dishes. The food is cooked the evening it is collected and is offered free of charge for lunch the following day on the campus.

“The dishes prepared are varied and nutritious, from salads to soups and toasted sandwiches. Every week, we salvage more than 50 kg of food, allowing us to offer sixty or so meals. We hope that our activities will make students realize that they can indeed get involved and play an active part in reducing world hunger thanks to simple gestures made on a weekly basis,” points out Happy Belly member Chloé Nadeau-Perrier. She also reminds us that 30% of the food produced in North America is thrown away even though it is still fit for human consumption.

And sampling meals prepared mostly with food that was destined to be thrown away encourages participating students to think about the waste of food among producers and in grocery stores as well as the different stages of food production.

“Moreover, Happy Belly lends a helping hand to students on a limited budget by offering them what is most likely their most nutritious meal of the week,” adds Caroline Pegg of McGill’s Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Happy Bell’s action is also well received by participating grocery stores. According to François Richard of the Marché Richelieu in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, the grocery store’s partnership with the organization is very beneficial. “It helps us to cut down enormously on food waste and also reduces our volume of trash by making use of products that are still fit to eat and in no way dangerous to health. More importantly, it enables people with little financial means to enjoy a good meal.”

Happy Belly is rapidly expanding and its impact on the Macdonald campus community is forever growing. “We currently have several projects in the making,” says Chloé Nadeau-Perrier.

Happy Belly