This year, A Taste for Change offers the opportunity to attend two discussion and reflection panels with experts on food waste and the fair price of food, both essential issues for a responsible and fair food future.
*Please note that the discussion panels are only offered in French
Time: 12:45pm to 1:45pm
Location: outdoor gallery
The issue of food waste has been a hot topic for quite some time now. Waste at its source is caused by a system that has accustomed consumers to the abundance, continuity and uniformity of products.
How can we change habits and perception to influence systemic changes? Why do we experience so much food waste and food insecurity, and why are we developing solutions that we believe “kill two birds with one stone”? What innovative initiatives are underway?
These perplexing questions are among many others that will be addressed by our panel of experts. We hope visitors will leave with a more holistic and conscious view of food waste at the end of this engaging discussion.
Director, project management and program manager, SALIM – Montreal in Common
Judith’s dream is to provide healthy, diverse, colorful and eco-responsible food for all by developing sustainable agricultural models and creating spaces that reconnect citizens with food. Her ultimate goal: To ensure the sustainability of ecosystems through a dynamic, respectful, and diverse occupation of the territory. Judith studied agricultural science and has been an Agronomist for almost 20 years. Her experience at a youth-focused social enterprise in agricultural production inspired her to promote diversified and eco-responsible agriculture. Following this, she specialized in marketing for different collective organizations. The completion of a master’s degree in project management from UQAM in 2019 then led her to explore the emergence of collaboration within food governance. The combination of these past experiences allows her to actively participate in the dynamism of local and eco-responsible food systems at Collectif Récolte.
Co-initiator and Managing Director, La Transformerie
Guillaume Cantin is a human being at the service of humans. A graduate of the École hôtelière de la Capitale, his passion for cooking became more than a profession: it became a way to build a better world.
At a very young age, Guillaume’s talent and personality led him to win the first season of Radio-Canada’s Les Chefs! After several years in prestigious Quebec kitchens sharing his love of food with local ingredients, he took a break to reorient his career to have a positive impact on society.
Challenged by a friend to cook a gourmet meal from unsold products recovered from grocery store garbage cans, he became aware of the extent of food waste and decided that he would use his talents to curb this problem at the source. In 2017, this desire led him to co-initiate the NPO La Transformerie with three friends.
Photo credit Bénédicte Brocard
Coordinator and founder, Réseau contre le gaspillage alimentaire (RÉGAL)
Passionate about social and environmental causes, Éric Ménard – alias Éric l’Enverdeur – holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and a double master’s degree in environmental management. The fight against food waste has become his greatest specialty since producing his master’s essay on the subject in 2013. He did it again in 2019 with the production of a study giving a first glimpse of the potential extent of food waste. in Quebec. Always on the lookout for new information and initiatives, and endowed with a great spirit of analysis and rigor, he has undeniable expertise in the subject which he regularly shares in the media, in his conferences and on social networks.
Member of the Action and Reflection Committee on Food Autonomy (CARAA), Carrefour solidaire
Karine Bernard has been interested in issues surrounding food security, food systems and the right to food for many years. She is passionate about the initiatives that tend towards a right to healthy, local and sustainable food for all.
As a citizen, she is a member of the Comité d’action et de réflexion sur l’autonomie alimentaire (CARAA) within the organization Carrefour solidaire-Centre communautaire d’alimentation. She is actively involved in issues related to food security and food waste, and with populations living in a situation of financial precariousness.
With CARAA, she contributed to the writing of the brief “Et si se nourrir était un droit” (What if food was a right?), presented to the Consultation sur la cessation du gaspillage alimentaire de Montréal. Several recommendations on the reduction of food waste were made, but above all, the ethical issues of redistributing unsold food to populations living in precarious situations were raised. Too often, this approach is seen as the way to solve both food waste and food insecurity. However, it does not solve the problems at the source and raises major ethical issues in terms of human dignity and social justice.
By training, she is a biologist and nutritionist and recently completed a master’s degree in community health, where she examined the contribution of collective gardens and community kitchens to the well-being and health of communities.
Member of the Action and Reflection Committee on Food Autonomy (CARAA), Carrefour Solidaire
Time: 2:30pm to 3:30pm
Location: outdoor gallery
There is this myth going around that eating local is more expensive. Why is that? What is meant by the term local? What are the social, economic and environmental values of consuming local products?
Our panel of experts is on a mission to demystify some of these common propositions and shed light on other perplexing questions about the fair price of the food we consume. We hope that visitors will leave with a better understanding of the challenges of a globalized economy/trade and the importance of sourcing local food.
Co-founder and director, business development and partnerships, Collectif Récolte
Laura’s drive and passion is in reinforcing local food systems and building thriving local food economies. Having worked for over 15 years with community-driven initiatives related to circular economies; social innovation and social entrepreneurship in connection with local food systems development; Laura is passionate about helping those on the ground leading needed change to achieve their desired impact. She is the Co-Founder of Récolte and Parler la Bouche Pleine, as well as the organization Taking Root. Her previous experience includes working with agricultural communities across Canada and around the world: supporting the start-up phases of a FoodTech company for farm-to-restaurant sourcing solutions, and working with a diversity of stakeholders throughout Québec and beyond in support of systemic shifts in the future of food.
General director, Aliments du Québec
With more than 15 years of experience in business development, marketing and management, and after several years on the Aliments du Québec management team, Isabelle now holds the position of General Director.
Determined to promote local businesses, she successfully led several high-profile projects for the organization. In particular: the definition of new strategic pillars including the digital transformation in progress, the recent structure of Aliments du Québec as well as promotion and identification actions in points of sale which contribute to food autonomy by facilitating the identification of products premises for consumers.
Associate professor at Laval University and co-president of the Jean-Garon Institute
Guy Debailleul is an agricultural engineer with a master’s degree in political science from the Institut d’études politiques de Paris and a doctorate in agricultural development economics from the Institut National Agronomique de Paris (now “Agro-Paris-Tech”). He was first a researcher at INRAE (Institut National de la Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) in France before joining the Department of Agri-Food Economics and Consumer Sciences at Laval University, where he has spent most of his career.
His teaching has focused on the economics of natural resources and the environment, the economics of agricultural development and the history of economic thought.
His research has focused on agricultural and agri-environmental policies as well as on agriculture in developing countries, where he has carried out numerous missions.
He is currently an associate professor at Laval University and co-president of the Jean Garon Institute.
Vice-president, La CAPÉ and main operator of Ferme Bibeau