A third place to eat better

Here, apprentice cooks in socio-professional integration feed 200 people in precarious situations every day. For two weeks they would also like to cook for you. You who are grocery shopping with a calculator in hand, who are in school or who simply have too much broth in the cheek.

I didn’t know Resto Plateau until its team invited me to dine there a few days ago. The organization has been in existence for 30 years…

“There are people who are out of work and there are people who eat badly. What can we do ? We just have to train people in the kitchen and feed others with what they prepare! »

Audrey Mougenot, director-general of the organization, simply summarizes its mission. But behind this apparent simplicity hide many delicate details.

Each year, 96 people in the process of socio-professional integration benefit from seven months of training at the Resto Plateau. Not only are they introduced to the job of kitchen helper, but they are also seen by psychosocial workers to talk about anything that could hinder their employability: stress management, mood disorders, drug addiction, behavior or housing, etc.

It goes beyond cooking school, we agree.

However, this support is necessary.

Some apprentices are new to Quebec; others have not worked for a long time due to lack of self-confidence, injury or drinking habits; some come out of prison; others need to gain accountability. In short, all have particular challenges.

The good news is that about 60% of them will find a job within the first three months of their training.

This lunchtime, there are about fifteen of them busy in the kitchen, supported by chefs and sous-chefs. They can easily be observed from the crowded dining hall. About 200 people came to dinner. The majority of them are in a situation of precariousness or social isolation…

However, the atmosphere is festive. It speaks loudly, it laughs, it takes news.

From Monday to Friday, the Resto Plateau offers two choices of complete meals – one vegetarian and one with meat – at a cost of $4.75. People who can afford to pay more can donate the “solidarity amount” of $7 to support the community initiative.

I notice that around me many people put half of their food in take-out dishes. It must be said that the portions are very generous. “We know that for some, it’s the only meal of the day,” explains Gaëlle Descary, community and communications director.

Now the team also wants to serve people who eat more regularly. Since January 23, the Resto Plateau has opened its doors on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., to offer take-out meals whose price varies between $3.50 and $4.50 (add a dollar for the solidarity price).

As we know, more and more workers are struggling to eat well. They are of course targeted by this initiative, but the team is also thinking of students with tight budgets and parents who prepare meals for the race. Not to mention people who simply don’t know how to cook or who don’t have access to healthy food.

“Or they say to themselves that it is only for people in extreme poverty,” she adds. But everyone can have difficulty eating well! »

And so, everyone is entitled to help.

“I like to tell workers in training that they come here to help themselves, but that they also help the people who frequent the restaurant,” sums up Audrey Mougenot.

She also introduces me to Jean-Marie Giguère, 61, in training for six months. An injury kept him out of work for years. It was the Resto Plateau that gave him the new impetus he needed.

“I think it’s the only job in my life where I’m happy to go every morning. »

Jean-Marie dreams of working in the cafeteria of a CHSLD at the end of his integration process. In the meantime, he prides himself on being able to make just about any recipe. He now knows what a spatula is and how to sand something other than a wall, he tells me, all smiles…

While Jean-Marie returns to the kitchen, Karene-Isabelle Jean-Baptiste, the photographer accompanying me, thinks aloud: “It’s the strength of the community that unfolds here. Reminds me of the concept of third place. It is neither home nor work, but another place where people can meet…”

She is brilliant.

The third place is a concept developed by sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his book The Great Good Place (1989). It is an important place for people who find the opportunity to gather informally. A home outside the home.

And that’s exactly what the Resto Plateau represents for Micheline Girard. Since 2006, the 78-year-old retiree has dined here almost every day. It is that she is sometimes taken in a meeting at the Verdun Women’s Center or a demonstration for the right to housing.

On the culinary level, the meals prepared by Jean-Marie and his colleagues satisfy her. On the social level, she finds people who have become her family on a daily basis.

“What would you like to say to invite the public to discover take-out meals, Micheline?

— We have done a lot of cooking in our lives. It’s time to give yourself a little break ! »

Activist and excellent saleswoman, my faith…