On a cool February morning, The Stop Community Food Centre on Davenport Road was buzzing with activity. It was a Tuesday, after all, which means it’s Good Food Market Day, the day when community residents shop for affordable fresh produce, homemade baked goods, and prepared meals to take home.

“We offer a balance of baked goods and treats, plus fresh produce,” explains Shaynara Katwaroo, Food Bank Service Coordinator of The Stop Community Food Centre. She adds that they try to keep the Good Food Market prices as low as possible for the community, so for The Stop it's more about breaking even than making a profit.

In the summer months, the market usually serves around 80 to 95 people, and then in the winter season, that number goes down to about 60 people. Most of those who visit here are residents from the units above, since the The Stop is located on the ground floor of a Toronto Community Housing Corporation Building. Aside from the residents, their volunteers also get to shop at the market, where they pay using the vouchers they receive from volunteering with The Stop. Participants to the centre’s Healthy Beginnings Program, a perinatal program for new and expectant parents, also receive vouchers that can be used to purchase items from the Good Food Market.

Variety of Choices

Shaynara says that they try to regularly rotate their selection of fresh produce at the Good Food Market. Volunteers are trained to gradually introduce to community members one or two news items to try. Sometimes, when an item is unfamiliar, people ask for tips on what to do with it, so staff and volunteers come ready with recipes. But The Stop also keenly listens to what the residents want, so Shaynara adjusts their market’s offerings based on their conversations and rapport with the community, who eagerly tell the staff what they’re looking for.

The Good Food Market also keeps things interesting by syncing their items with celebrations or festivals, often highlighting the food associated with those particular events. For example, during our visit in February, they were selling prepared foods inspired by Black History Month, so there were lots of soups and stews with Afro-Caribbean flavors, as well as patties (instead of the usual hand pies). It was also a few days before Valentine’s Day, so they had pink heart-shaped cookies and other Valentine’s-inspired items as well.

The market’s prepared food items are also born out of resourcefulness and creativity. “[We’re] always just rotating through what we’re getting donated, what inspiration hits us, see what ingredients we get,” explains Hannah, who is the volunteer head chef serving up all the delicious prepared foods and baked goods on offer at the Good Food Market.

From Farmers’ Market to Good Food Market

While the Good Food Market uses donated ingredients to make their prepared foods and baked goods, the fresh produce they sell comes from FoodShare, as well as The Stop Farmers’ Market, which operates every Saturday at Wychwood Barns on Christie Street. This market is one of the few farmers’ markets open all year round -- rain, shine, or snow.

Shaynara oversees the placement of orders from the farmers’ market, which involves coordinating with the market manager, giving the budget, and listing what items they were thinking of offering at the Good Food Market. Summer brings in a bounty of items, but during winter it is understandably less, with Shaynara ordering from them only once a month.

Nevertheless, this partnership between The Stop’s two markets, the Good Food Market and Farmers’ Market, is a great way to support two communities: the farmers that grow the food, and the residents that get access to fresh, healthy, affordable, and locally-sourced produce.

Indeed, watching their customers busily filling their baskets, chatting with the staff and volunteers, and generally just going through the market with such familiarity and ease, showed us that the Good Food Market really is already part of the community’s Tuesday routine. And as Shaynara emphasizes, the Good Food Market is all about community: “People have always inspired us. We do this with them and for them.”

The Stop Community Food Centre is open every Tuesday, from 12 noon to 3 pm, at 1884 Davenport Road. Shaynara suggests coming in early, as the best selection is in the first hour!