Cooking up mutual aid | The Press

While the successive increases in the price of the grocery basket are weighing heavily on the budget of Quebecers, people are uniting in the kitchens almost everywhere in the province to save on the cost of meals. On the eve of National Collective Kitchens Day, The Press met the members of one of these groups who, in their own way, are helping to curb food insecurity. Welcome to their kitchen.

The sound of knives slicing onions and cloves of garlic resonates in the room of the collective kitchens of the Grand Plateau.

The four participants seated around the table are very focused on their respective tasks. What are they up to this Friday morning? “Spaghetti sauce and barley and legume soup,” replies Nicole Beaulieu enthusiastically.

The 69-year-old woman has been participating in this collective kitchen group for six months, which meets monthly to prepare two recipes. After each morning of meals, she goes home with a dozen dishes that she can reheat in the following weeks. All for the modest sum of $1.50 to $2.50 per serving.

Cooking in large quantities certainly saves money. But if the costs are so low, it is also because certain ingredients, such as salt, sugar, flour and spices, are provided by the collective kitchens of the Grand Plateau in exchange for a small financial contribution.

According to Statistics Canada, food prices experienced their strongest increase in 40 years in 2022, or nearly 10%.

In this context, about 40% of organizations that offer collective kitchen groups have seen their number of participants increase, reports the Regroupement des cuisines collectives du Québec. So much so that some cannot keep up with demand due to a lack of resources and have had to create waiting lists.

In the collective kitchens of the Grand Plateau, we have also noticed a growing enthusiasm. “When there was an announcement during the summer that the cost of the grocery basket was going to increase by 5 to 7%, we received a lot of calls”, indicates Pénélope Stuart, responsible for associative life and communications for the organization which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

More than savings

But the financial aspect is not everything, hastens to add the general manager, Carole Déry.

This is easy to understand when you see the group bustling around the commercial stoves: one member adds the tomatoes to the spaghetti sauce, another pours the broth for the soup.

“Do we put all the tomato paste? asks Nicole Beaulieu. ” We should. Tomato paste is important for thickening it,” replies Pierre Gendron, another participant.

Quietly, links are forged between these four elders, who admit to sometimes feeling a certain loneliness.

“I said to myself: ‘It’s going to get me out of my confinement a bit'”, replies the 65-year-old man when asked what made him want to participate in a collective kitchen group.

” I’m home alone. I’m not doing anything. Instead of staying to watch television, I said to myself that I would rather come here and learn to cook, ”says his Frantz Lemaire side. Because although it is not a cooking class, the activity is led by Louise Gamache, who is present to guide the participants and offer them advice. Today, she has a surprise for them. While the sauce and soup are simmering, they will also prepare a dessert: oatmeal and cranberry muffins.

“We are not a food bank. We are not a repair center. Baskets are not distributed. […] We work in food education. The saying goes, “Better to show someone how to fish than to give them fish.” That’s kind of our philosophy,” explains Executive Director Carole Déry, specifying that the organization welcomes people regardless of their income.

In the collective kitchens of the Grand Plateau, this learning begins very young since some groups are made up of children aged 4^e and 5^e primary year. “Not everyone is lucky enough to have an education on healthy eating. However, eating well has lifelong impacts,” notes her colleague Pénélope Stuart.

Nicole Beaulieu can attest to this. The woman who very rarely ate vegetarian dishes discovered this type of cuisine and its benefits thanks to the body. “It gives us a taste of new dishes,” she rejoices.

The cooking morning draws to a close. The participants sit down together to plan their April meeting. What will they concoct? Colette Samuel offers a dish that reminds her of her childhood: cod cakes. His associates accept his suggestion. After finding a recipe online, everyone chooses the ingredients they will bring. ” See you next time ! “, they say, leaving each other, their small dishes under their arms.