by NOEMI LOPINTO

Three years ago, six Concordia students decided to ease student hunger by forming a food kitchen collective to feed the masses at lunchtime. The People’s Potato has been serving healthy, vegetarian lunch meals to broke and hungry students ever since. The organization has grown from the initial six founding members to 18 today. According to People’s Potato greenhouse coordinator Darryl Nunn, upwards of 400 Concordia students a day are coming for their free meal of soup, grains, veggies and salad. Encouraged, the People’s Potato is launching their new cookbook, entitled Vegan on a Shoestring.

Nunn, 25, who has been working for the collective for two years, says, “Basically it came down to the issue of student poverty and the debt and work load that students are asked to take on, whether it’s five courses or part-time jobs to make ends meet. Most students don’t have the time or knowledge to sustain themselves properly during this difficult time. We provide low-cost, highly nutritious food to make them feel better in their daily lives.”

Concordia students pay a 25-cents per-credit levy on their tuition for the service, meaning that a full-time student pays between $6 to $7.50 to the People’s Potato per school year. The People’s Potato offers workshops on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), pesticides and how to make your own soap and paint. Nunn says the cookbook, which is self-published, is a “ground-up” approach to food.

“Besides being full of vegan recipes, it has an extensive section on nutrition, how to stock a vegan kitchen and different ways of cooking,” explains Nunn. “I definitely think that we have opened people’s personal palates up and challenged habits of the people who think they must have meat to feel full or that vegetarian food is not tasty.”

A group called Food Not Lawns, a food-issues educational group, will be releasing their own self-published zine in conjunction with the People’s Potato’s book launch. The zine is entitled, appropriately, Food Not Lawns, vol. II.

There is more to Vegan on a Shoestring than just recipes. It also has a two-page article, written by founding member and student activist Zev Tiefenbach, entitled “Food Is Political.”

“[Eating healthy] does have a political context,” explains Nunn. “We have a mandate to educate students on subjects around the issues. Once you start thinking about it, you have to ask yourself where does food come from? Did it come from California, picked by migrant workers, or was it processed? What about access to food, the fact that organic food is becoming a niche market? It’s good for you, certainly better than the alternatives, but it is unaffordable. The idea is that only the rich can afford organic, and it makes no sense, and what does that say about our society?”

The launch takes place Friday, Nov. 1, 8 p.m., at the Casa del Popolo. Entry fee is $2 at the door or $10 for entry and both books. The cookbook is normally $10 and the Food Not Lawns zine is $3. The cookbook is also available at the People’s Potato, on the 7th floor of the Hall Building (1455 de Maisonneuve W.). :