Emily Eck and volunteer Hayley Paquett serve soup at Dal’s Tuppy Thursdays. Photo: Kyle Wells

Local food comes to Dalhousie

The table is covered in a rainbow of peppers, tomatoes, squash and parsnips. Garlic is sizzling away in a stainless steel cauldron. It's eight o'clock in the morning and Tuppy Thursdays is being fired up.

Emily Eck and a crew of volunteers are chopping and stirring to bring a free local, vegan and mainly organic lunch to Dalhousie University students once a week in the McCain Arts and Social Sciences Building.

Tuppy Thursdays, started to promote the use of reusable containers, is less than a year old. Co-organizer Eck is hoping for more, though - more food, more people, more variety, the introduction of local meats and cheeses and even the prospect of cooking classes.

"There's no way to promote local food unless you know how to cook it," says Eck, noting that most students wonder "what can you do with a parsnip?"

Well, make soup out of it, for one. A parsnip apple squash soup to be exact, with potatoes and locally baked bread on the side. That's what Eck and volunteers end up serving later that day for free, so long as students bring their own containers. Response is good this day: up to 80 people served, a new record.

Local food is a hot topic in Nova Scotia. Farmers' markets, organic grocers and local food co-operatives can now be found throughout the province, according to the government's Select Nova Scotia campaign.

Events like a food summit held in mid-October and this fall's Incredible Picnic, an outdoor celebration of local food in 11 communities, are also spreading the message.

Spencer Fowlie, the middle man between SustainDal, the student run sustainability group behind Tuppy Thursdays, and Dalhousie, sees a permanent home for local food on campus as the ultimate goal.

"We'd kind of like to provide a more local everyday option for students on campus," says Fowlie.

"We're looking for space and places to do that."

That's one of the biggest hurdles they're facing. Catering firms Sodexo and Aramark have long-standing contracts with Dalhousie - contracts that Fowlie and SustainDal have to work around.

The McCain Building, for instance, was chosen for Tuppy Thursdays because it has no food service agreements, nor does the Women's Centre, where the food is prepared.

Sodexo buys seasonal local produce when available, according to company rep for Dalhousie Cindy MacDonald, and the company has worked with the Dalhousie Sustainability Office before.

"They're trying. They're doing what they can, but it has been a challenge to find our own space," says Fowlie.

Eck sees the difficulties too, and believes that slow and steady is the best way for the group to find its place on campus.

"The quickest way to kill this would be to go too fast, too far, to piss off too many people," she says.

To have 100 satisfied customers every Thursday would be a better approach, she feels. If they get those numbers, and if the local food movement keeps building, it may not be long before it's Tuppy Everydays at Dalhousie.

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