Activity

Repeat Post from September 1, 2009

Remember the days when pay phones cost a quarter…and ironically, you never had a quarter when you needed to make a call? A quarter can go a long way…four of them saved and you have a loonie! So for the rest of the year, lug your mug and save yourself many, many loonies.

At participating UeaT locations, when you buy a coffee or tea in your refillable container (mug, thermos, bottle, jar, vase), you save $0.25 off the regular price. That makes you happy. It also makes the employees happy because they have less disposable coffee cups to throw out. And it makes Mother Earth happy because she does not have to process all that plastic, cardboard, ink. And when she’s happy, everybody is happy.

In short, make everybody happy and Lug a Mug!

As promised, the second FOOD JUSTICE UNCONFERENCE is happening next week. You are invited to come out on Friday evening to discuss/learn about food….security, justice, sustainability, beekeeping, agriculture, and much more!

If you would like to attend this event, please register at http://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/Programs/leadership/Training/Food-Unconference.htm

Tomorrow, Wednesday afternoon, the U of T Farmer’s Market will be running inside UC from 2:30pm until 5:30pm. Among the fabulous local farmers, we have a chocolatier with an amazing story.

Mathieu is one of the people who works at ChocoSol: local chocolatiers who produce pedal-powered, stone ground chocolate right here in Toronto. We asked Mathieu to give us a quick introduction to ChocoSol, and here is what he had to say:

We are ChocoSol Chocolatiers. We make stone-ground dark chocolate directly from the cacao bean here in Toronto. We make locally processed chocolate which is made in a traditional Mexican style instead of an industrial factory. Traditional Mexican chocolate is like the “Drinking Chocolate Pucks” (sold at the market) which are used to make chocolatey which is a traditional form of Mexican drinking chocolate. Chocolatey comes from the word xocolatl which means “bitter drink” in Mayan. We draw our inspiration from the tradition of chocolate from the region the chocolate is grown in. Our project in Toronto has an educational component. We try to connect people here with the tradition of cacao and inform them of where chocolate comes from. We also combine this chocolate with local Toronto ingredients like local hemp seeds from Peterborough and locally grown chillies and mints, some of which are grown on our green roof. It’s a wholesome dark chocolate that is ecologically produced, nutritional and delicious. You can come out and try the chocolate any time- we have free samples here. We are here every Wednesday. Everything is done on bicycles around the city, so we are all over the downtown core.

They encourage volunteers to join ChocolSol and participate in the production of chocolate the way it has been done for centuries in the Mayan regions. There are no skills needed, and no predetermined hours. It is a great way to connect with the food you consume. Feel frère to ask Mathieu about volunteering, and to try some of the free chocolate (by the way, the vanilla seed chocolate is to die for!).

So drop by the Farmer’s Market tomorrow afternoon, bring your own mug, sip on some of the best hot chocolate in town and learn about chocolate-making, from the fields in Mexico to the Farmer’s Market at U of T.

Dear UeaTers,
We would like to share a unique and inspiring story with you about one of the vendors at our Farmer’s Market.
When you come down to the U of T Farmer’s Market on Wednesday afternoons, you will not be able to resist the delicious breads being sold by St. John’s Bakery. They claim that for them, its more than selling bread at a market…..their breads and sweets build community. It is run by St. John’s- The Compassionate Mission, who helps those in need by employing them in the bakery and elsewhere. This way, by buying breads and sweets from the Farmer’s Market, you are helping somebody in need.

(The following is taken from St. John’s Bakery’s website)

St. John’s started as a drop-in centre in a strip mall on 53 Blake Street in South Riverdale. Two stores down was Joe Link’s bakery. The second day we moved in, Joe arrived with a whole tray of doughnuts, and after that he just kept dropping by and bringing us wonderful, fragrant goodies from his bakery.

Joe’s history took a turn for the worse. He took ill and lost his family and his bakery—everything. He ended up on the street. But slowly, he started pulling his life together, baking bread at our drop-in centre with his old equipment. We saw him being transformed; he “rose” like his bread. We started to sell his bread throughout the neighborhood. Two years later, Joe died. It was a terrible loss for us. But he left us his old dough mixer and a taste and desire for good bread and honest labour.

For us, it is more than our breads and sweets. It is about connecting with people, about building comunity. We draw people in with our bread. We believe our bread builds community.

On that note, UeaTers, come on our to the U of T Farmer’s Market, indulge in some delicious breads and help make somebody’s day!