Blog  September 13, 2011

Recipes from Transit Kitchen: Part 1

Arlene Stein presenting her Distribution Salad recipe (Photo: Bill Wilson)

On August 20, an eclectic group of urban ecology enthusiasts were on hand to present their “recipes” for sustainable transportation.

Sponsored by Metrolinx, a government agency working to develop an integrated transportation system for the GTA, the event was a follow-up to the performance and installation art project Transit Kitchen, by Berlin-based artists Folke Köebberling and Martin Kaltwasser.

Commissioned by the Goethe-Institut and co-curated with No.9: Contemporary Art & the Environment, Transit Kitchen was first performed at Union Station this past June, before coming to Evergreen Brick Works.

Modeled after TV cooking shows, Transit Kitchen gave participants the chance to present their ideas for a sustainable transportation system. Below is the first in an ongoing series of urban transportation recipes.

Bon appétit!

Distribution Salad: A model for bringing local food to cities

By Arlene Stein

Each week, farmers with refrigerated product drive in and out of the city many times to deliver fresh food to restaurants and grocery stores. This driving emits a lot of carbon and uses up a lot of time that could be spent on the farm.

The special ingredients below will reduce this impact and help restaurants, grocery stores and families gain access to local, sustainable food seven days a week.

Ingredients
1 large refrigerator unit—from a reused shipping container
Sprinkles of solar panels
10 eager bike messengers
10 cargo bikes
1 social enterprise
An eager and excited public

Directions

1. Place a refrigerated storage centre (run by solar panels) at Farmers’ Market locations around Toront.o
2. Add local farmers from specific Farmers’ Markets to the mix by inviting them to store one week’s worth of product in refrigerated units for a small fee.
3. Stir in bike messengers who can deliver products throughout the week to restaurants and grocery stores on cargo bikes.
4. Sprinkle in an eager and excited public, and ensure that home delivery is part of the mix.
5. Invite local public gardens to store extra food to sell to Food Hub clients.
6. Invest earnings from refrigerated space rental and delivery service into educational programming for the local community

Arlene Stein is the Director of Visitor Experience at Evergreen. She is a member of Slow Food Toronto and Chair of the Board for Good Food Revolution.