Jamie Oliver meets culinary crusaders in Toronto

Global culinary superstar Jamie Oliver and Toronto anti-poverty activist Nick Saul of the Stop Community Food Centre share ideas in the greenhouse at the Stop’s Green Barn. Photo by Colin McConnell.

“I wish my kids could come to a place like this,” declared Oliver

By Jennifer Bain
The Toronto Star
Nov 26, 2010

Excerpt:

Jamie Oliver brought his food revolution to town last week and left Toronto a fan of Nick Saul’s crew at The Stop Community Food Centre.

Twenty kids from The Stop’s after-school program gathered at the Green Barn on Friday to meet the chef-turned-food advocate. Clad in immaculate white aprons and deftly handling knives, the children — aged 8 to 13 — split into five groups and prepped pancakes with tropical yogurt, chopped salad, fruit salad and chicken nuggets with honey-mustard dipping sauce under the watchful eye of Andrea Maldonado and her volunteers.

Saul, the Stop’s executive director, took Oliver around the 10,000-square-foot space on Christie St. — indicating the space where a farmer’s market draws 1,000 shoppers every Saturday; showing off the compost demo centre; stopping by the greenhouse that doubles as a fundraising venue for five-course dinners; and visiting the seven globally themed outdoor gardens.

Saul, an anti-poverty activist, is vehemently opposed to a two-tiered food system where only the affluent and educated can buy healthy local food. Near the Green Barn, on Davenport Rd., the Stop’s main office serves a lower-income community, with its own produce market, bake oven, drop-in programs, food bank, perinatal program, community kitchen and garden.Global culinary superstar Jamie Oliver and Toronto anti-poverty activist Nick Saul of the Stop Community Food Centre share ideas in the greenhouse at the Stop’s Green Barn.

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