The Potato is Hiring!

LA PATATE DU PEUPLE/PEOPLE’S POTATO

Offre d'Emploi : Membre du collectif

The People's Potato, un organisme à but non-lucratif
oeuvrant dans le domaine de l'alimentation, est à la
recherche d'une employé-e à temps partiel. L'activité
principale du People's Potato consiste à servir des
repas végétaliens à environ 400 personnes par jour à
l'université Concordia. Sa vision à long terme est
d'offrir une alternative saine et éthique à la domination
des corporations sur les échanges alimentaires.

 The People's Potato est un organisme géré par ses
employés-es où chacun-e participe à la prise de décision
par consensus, ainsi tout-e candidat-e doit être prêt-e à
travailler dans une structure de gestion collective. Nous
encourageons les candidats-es d'écrire, dans leurs lettres
d'intention, les contributions uniques qu'ils-elles peuvent
apporter au People's Potato basées sur leurs expériences
diverses.

Nous reconnaissons les inégalités qui peuvent être reliées
à vos expériences d’emploi et à vos qualifications en raison
des injustices du système capitaliste, raciste et patriarcal.
Nous accepterons toutes les demandes pour l`équité d`embauche
durant le processus d`embauche. Si vous voulez être reconnu-e
pour l’équité d’embauche, s’il vous plait inclure dans votre
lettre « je désire être reconnu-e pour l’équité d’embauche ». 

La personne engagée participera aux réunions du collectif,
au travail de cuisine, ainsi que d’autres portfolios à définir
en collectif. Les réunions du collectif ont lieu les mardi et
les jeudi après-midi de 15:30 à 17:00, la personne embauchée devra
prendre part régulièrement à ces réunions.

Qualifications :

-Être auto-motivé/e et auto-dirigé/e
-Avoir de bonnes abilitiés organisationelles
-Avoir la capacité de travailler de près avec les autres
-Avoir la capacité d’apprendre de nouvelles qualifications
-Expérience en activisme et/ou en travail orienté vers la justice sociale
-Éligible au programme travail/études international

Atouts :
-expérience en restauration et/ou cuisine industrielle
-connaissances de base de l’informatique
-Être capable de travailler en français et en anglais
-Posséder une connaissance des systèmes globaux de l'alimentation
-Expérience dans la préparation de repas végétaliens/végétariens
-Connaissance du processus de prise de décisions par consensus
-Aptitudes en animation de réunions

Rémunération : 13,91$/heure       Heures/semaine : 10-15 heures

La date limite pour soumettre votre candidature est le
15 février, 2008 à 17:00. Afin de postuler, veuillez apporter
votre CV et une lettre d'intention au bureau H-733
(pavillon Hall) à l'université Concordia, 1455 
deMaisonneuve O. Vous pouvez également nous télécopier
votre candidature au: 848-7450 (a l’attention de People’s
Potato) ou nous la faire parvenir par courriel:
peoplespotato@resist.ca. Seuls les candidats-es choisis-es
pour l’entrevue seront contactés/es. L'emploi commence la
semaine du 25 février, 2008

Pour plus d’informations sur notre organisation,
visitez notre site web :
peoplespotato.blogspot.com

THE PEOPLE’S POTATO

Job Offer: Collective Member

The People's Potato, a not-for-profit food service organization is looking for a part-time staff member. The primary activity of the People's Potato is to serve daily vegan meals to approximately 400 students at Concordia University. The long-term vision of the project is to provide a healthy and ethical alternative to the corporate domination of the food system.

The People's Potato is a worker-run consensus-based organization and applicants must be willing to work within a collective structure. The People's Potato is a unique working environment in which employees both guide and execute the vision of the organization.

We recognize the present nonexistence of a level playing field, with regards to people’s experiences and job qualifications, given the structural injustice that affects those who exist within patriarchal racist capitalism. As a result, we recognize the need to compensate for these inequalities in our hiring policy.

We encourage applicants to describe the unique contributions they, as individuals with diverse experiences, would bring to the People's Potato, in their cover letter.

The People’s Potato undertakes its hiring procedures upon the basis of employment equity. Please indicate in your cover letter if you would like to be considered for employment equity and include the following sentence “I would like to be included for employment equity”. Please note that we do not require applicants to specify the basis on which they are applying for employment equity.

The individual hired will participate in collective meetings, kitchen work and other portfolios to be decided following the hiring procedure. Collective meetings are held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons between 3:30 and 5:00, the individual hired will be required to regularly attend these meetings.

Requirements include:

-Self-motivated/self-directed.
-Strong organizational skills.
-Ability to work closely with others.
-An aptitude for applying new skills
-Dedication to or involvement in social justice causes
-Eligibility for International Workstudy

Assets:

-Experience in large scale cooking and/or commercial kitchen
-Ability to work in English and French
-Basic Computer skills
-Knowledge of food politics
-Experience with vegan and/or vegetarian cooking
-Knowledge of consensus-based decision making processes
-Willingness to facilitate meetings

Remuneration: $13.91/hour Hours/Week: 10-15 hours

The deadline for applications is Friday February 15, 2008 at 5pm
Applications and cover letters can be sent via fax: (514) 848-7450 (ATT:People’s Potato),

e-mail: peoplespotato@resist.ca or dropped off in person to
the People’s Potato office located at 1455 de Maisonneuve W. H-733. Only
applicants accepted for interviews will be contacted. Position to start
the week of February 25, 2008

For more information about how the Potato functions and to see our constitution, please refer to our website: peoplepotato.blogspot.com

No Olympics on Stolen Land

We will be serving food at this event

JAN. 23 : SPICE WORKSHOP

COOKBOOK TITLE CONTEST

TWO YEARS TOO MANY : Status for Kader now!

Part of an INTERNATIONAL DAY of ACTION in support of Kader

Friday, 18 January 2008
11 am
MARCH: Two Years too Many!
Gather at Phillip's square (corner of Ste-Catherine and Place Phillips)

On 1 January 2006, more then two years ago, Abelkader Belaouni, or Kader, a non-status Algerian man, took refuge in St. Gabriel's church in Montreal to avoid deportation from Canada.

Despite an outpouring of support, he has remained a prisoner in the church ever since, unable to leave for fear of being arrested and deported. That's two years too many!

Join us on 18 January 2008 to send a loud, clear message to the Canadian Immigration Minister to Act NOW to regularize the status of Abdelkader Belaouni.

background information available at www.soutienpourkader.net

Job Posting for Le Frigo Vert Worker's Collective

DEADLINE: Applications must be received no later than February 3rd at midnight.

Le Frigo Vert is a non-profit, collectively-run natural food store and social justice organization, funded by the students of Concordia University. We strive to provide a viable alternative to the current corporate food distribution system. We aim to provide affordable healthy food to the community at a fair price to producers, and to collect and share educational resources and skills that help us challenge oppressive systems.

Le Frigo Vert has an employment equity policy. Native people, people of colour, women, queer people, transgendered people, transsexual people, people with disabilities, working class people and people from any other marginalized community are strongly encouraged to apply. Please indicate in your cover letter if you would like to be considered for employment equity. To our great regret the current location of Le Frigo Vert is not wheelchair accessible.


Remuneration: $12.87 per hour
Benefits: CSU health plan option
Hours per week: Part-Time: 20 hours/week, evenings and sometimes
week-ends may be required. There is a potential to increase to 30
hours/week at the end of May.


Required Qualifications
• Commitment to anti oppression
• Must be familiar with consensus decision making
• Must be able to work in a collective, non-hierarchal structure, and
independently.

Assets
• Administrative skills
• Bilingualism
• Experience working in a retail store
• Feel free to emphasize any other personal skills you might have.
(ex: graphic design/layout skills, fundraising experience, writing
grant proposals, computer skills, building and construction skills,
naturopathic training, popular education training, etc.)

Job description
• Working the cash
• Cleaning and Stocking store
• Customer service
• Working with volunteers
• Some administrative tasks
• Education/Outreach which includes the following:
Raising public awareness about food politics, anti colonialism, anti-oppression
Challenging traditional accessibility concepts
Building a network of local organisms sharing our mandate
Making links outside of the university setting

Deadline: Applications must be received no later than February 3rd at midnight.

How to apply
email: lefrigovert@resist.ca
in person: 2130 rue Mackay, 10-7 Monday to Friday

*please no phone calls or mail submissions.
If you are selected you will be notified on Tuesday, February 5th for
the interviews taking place on the following Friday and Saturday
February 8th-9th. Starting date is March 17th.

-Le Frigo Vert Collective

Number 1 in Canada!

You may have noticed that Maclean’s Magazine, in its annual issue on the state of Canadian Universities, ranked the People’s Potato as the number 1 university cafeteria in Canada!(1) The reviewer was so impressed by the food coming out of our student/worker-run workplace that he claimed that “Communism might still be around if these people had been in the kitchen.”

One of the initial goals of our project was to challenge the corporate domination of the food industry. 9 years later, even if only on a small scale, we have succeeded in a big way! Cooking with whole foods and striving to serve a balanced meal are probably the biggest factors contributing to our culinary success. But of course, none of this would be possible without the support of the Concordia student population and the dedication of the many volunteers who work with us everyday. Volunteers : thank you! You are the People’s Potato, you are the best in Canada!

Now if only we could replace all corporations with successful cooperative projects…




(1) Tied with “Sammy’s Student Exchange” at the University of Toronto. Congratulations Sammy’s!

The Abolitionist interview

Interview by Claudette Vaughan

Nathan, one of our staff members, did an interview with The Abolitionist a little while ago.

CV: The Co-op was formed in 1999 after several students felt there was a need to address the issue of student poverty and hunger on campus. All these years later, has that been achieved?

NC: I would say that this has been achieved to a degree. The People's Potato gives over 200 people meals daily during the fall and winter semesters, and we provide a food bank twice a week during the exam time that follows these semesters. I know that those who accept our service really do value what we provide.

However, there are two campuses and over 30,000 students at Concordia University . Those who usually aren't at the Downtown campus (where we serve) don't have another option for an affordable, healthy meal. There have been talks of people setting up a similar service in the suburban campus, but nothing has been established as of yet. So, I guess it's hard to say... I see people eating everyday and I know that they are satisfied, but there are so many other students at the University, so I really have to wonder sometimes.

CV:The kitchen is structured so there's no hierarchy. Who decides what to cook, weekly menus, what's cheap veg at the time etc?

NC: We have weekly meetings and make decisions regarding expenses, kitchen use, etc when they need to be brought to the attention of the Collective. We keep track of our expenses and try to make decisions regarding market runs accordingly. As far as the actual cooking goes, it is usually a bit more improvised. What is cooked depends on what food is available from the food bank distributors, whom we collect much of our food from. There are some general guidelines; we have to prepare a soup, a salad, a stew, and a grain to be sure that the meal is nutritious. There are two "chefs" for each kitchen shift, and they decide on what they will prepare for the soup and stew. We prepare a grain according to what is in the stew, or we'll just make whatever we have enough time to prepare before serving. We tend to let volunteers take care of the salad. The chefs will let them know what we have, and maybe give them some ideas, and we let them go from there. Sometimes the food supply is low, but we usually figure something out!

CV: Do students enjoy eating healthy nutritious vegan food?

NC: Yes, I think they do! In the fall, students were given the opportunity to vote to continue having a fraction of student money go to the People's Potato, and an overwhelming amount voted "yes." Not all students are vegan, of course, and many who voted may not even come to the Potato for lunch, but it's certain that many find the Potato to be a valuable resource!

read the rest here

A worker run vegetarian soup kitchen

A short history of the People's Potato...




In 1999, a group of students from Concordia University came together to start what has become a very successful student/community based project. What they had in common was a passion for vegetarian food and chefing combined with a genuine concern for food and anti-poverty politics. They decided to provide an alternative to the corporate run cafeterias on campus. The cafeteria service, at the time owned by Sodexho/Marriot, was judged overly expensive and inaccessible, because of the burger, coke and fries content of its menu, to vegetarian students, to students of muslim or jewish faith as well as to students of Concordia's numerous cultural communities.
After a few free servings of hearty vegetarian food, the People's Potato was born.

The founding of the People's Potato came at a time of growth for left politics at Concordia University. In the context of the emergence of a strong anti-capitalist wing in the anti-globalisation movement, students at Concordia set up various "political clubs," for example international solidarity groups and anarchist reading groups. Activity in and around Concordia's Quebec Public Interest Research Group (Q-PIRG) and the Concordia Women's Center was greatly increased. For a few years there was even a radical-left elected executive at the Concordia Student Union (CSU). Within this left-emergence, the People's Potato and like-minded organizations such as the Frigo Vert were able to counter the longstanding criticism that radical politics aren't practical. Not only did they bring forward anti-poverty and food politics to the student body, they implemented them on a large scale — everyday.

A workers' co-operative

The soup kitchen, commonly known as "The Potato," hasn't looked back since. It has grown from a small volunteer run collective to a worker's co-operative employing approximately 15 people. There is no hierarchy in the co-operative, as every member/worker takes part in equally in decision making at weekly collective meetings. Every member is expected to "guide and give direction to the project" and "work in a self-motivated fashion.” The lack of hierarchy by no means translates into a lack of efficiency; the People's Potato serves over 500 hungry students and folk every weekday, maintains a vibrant educational program (regular workshops, newsletter) as well as an affordable good (organic) food bag program and an outdoor serving for the homeless and coordinates massive volunteer participation in the project. An elected Board of Representatives reviews the collective's activity, making sure it is in the spirit of the project's original mission and in line with various rules of its constitution. The Board of Representatives is made up of service users and volunteers, insuring that an organic link with the People's Potato exists before this more formal relationship takes shape.

Beyond an organizational model that seeks to eliminate hierarchy in the workplace and promote participation is also a hiring policy of new workers that is based on employment equity. In the past years, the People's Potato has consciously tried to hire people from backgrounds historically and currently disadvantaged on the job market. Although it is nowhere near perfect and sometimes misunderstood, the employment equity hiring policy has made the People's Potato workers' co-operative more accessible to queers, women, people of colour and the disabled in the past years. Recently, collective discussion has indicated that hiring will also be more open in the future to non-students and people who don't have english as first language as an effort to break out even more of the "Concordia activist ghetto.”

Opposition and conflict

Obviously, the emergence of this type of project did bring up a considerable amount of opposition and conflict.

One of the first, and a rather important one, was with the existing Sodexho/Marriot (now Chartwells) cafeteria service. Not only did the People's Potato gain its kitchen space through bitter negotiations with Concordia administration from out of the abundant mainstream corporate space, it also gained a good amount of their customers! This in fact to the point where Chartwells decided in 2001 not to provide a cafeteria service for students any more, and to concentrate on what could be described as a catering service for Concordia's administration and high-brass. The flipside to this conquest of space and clientele by the People's Potato was that Chartwells was now well positioned to rid itself of much of its staff. One can imagine Chartwells workers being a tad pissed off at this student initiative that was being pointed at as the reason they were losing their jobs. The People's Potato was wise enough to recognize that the problem in itself was the Chartwells corporation and not the ordinary workers of Chartwells that were indeed those being directly exploited by the multinational. A small "save their jobs campaign" was initiated but achieved limited success, as most jobs at Chartwells were either lost or transferred elsewhere. It should be noted however that the class politics of the People's Potato were well applied with their siding against the corporation but with the workers.

Throughout the years, most conflict involving the People's Potato has revolved around funding and space. Although the project is directly funded by a levy from student dues to their union, this money is first accumulated by Concordia's administration then distributed to the People's Potato and other student-funded organizations. This results in the administration having the control to withhold funds and the opportunity to make accounting mistakes (that have been numerous). Many times, the People's Potato has had to fight the administration (using a variety of pressure tactics from letters to protests to occupations) just to access money that was already granted to them by the student body! More recently, with a right-wing executive at the head of the student union, the "Potato" has had to wage battles just to be part of negotiations on 7th floor space of the Hall Building (where the kitchen is) with the student union and university administration. The student union executive seemed convinced that it could negotiate space on the 7th floor without input or a mandate from the People's Potato and other student groups. In October 2003, a meal was served in the executive's office — shutting it down — to remind the executive of the union that it couldn't act against student interests. The position of the People's Potato is to grant the entire 7th floor space to student projects (including the "People's Kitchen" and eating area), a position that contradicts the plans of the administration, which seeks to renovate and build income generating conference rooms. This is but one of many examples of battles for space and funding. Even though the People's Potato is an established and respected student/community based project that has proven its usefulness to the Concordia community, the larger fight against capitalist interests in the university is far from over.

The importance of building alternatives

The People's Potato has inspired similar projects at other universities and schools in Montreal and in the rest of Canada. Its importance and the interest it inspires is multi-faceted. In terms of addressing student poverty, it has set a standard for countering hunger amongst a student population. As the cost of education increases in Canada every year, students from low-income, working class backgrounds will have to find (or initiate) places such as the People's Potato that are able to remedy problems occurring from poverty while fighting back against them. In terms of building non-hierarchical workplaces and offering decent employment to students/workers from different social backgrounds, the chosen workers' co-operative model shows itself to be one of the best in the context of capitalism. For anarchists and anti-capitalists in general who may be reading this publication, it offers a glimpse of how a self-managed workplaces could function in a revolutionary society.

To finish, it is important to note that a project like the People's Potato cannot live on its own. It depends firstly on the funding of the student body, organized into an imperfect but essential student union. It also depends on the countless hours of volunteer work put in by supporting students and community members. It's not enough to have a great idea to build an alternative project, what's needed is organization, collective resources and dedication.

Principles and Projects

Accessibility: We maintain a by-donation policy to ensure that everyone can eat at the Potato, regardless of financial circumstances. Also, our commitment to be vegan is partly to ensure that our food is accessible. We cater to the religious, ethical and dietary needs of all students. As long as we have food, we never turn a student away. We feel that meeting the basic needs of all students creates a more accessible university.

Worker Empowerment: Our principles of paying all workers at an equal rate and making decisions by consensus are part of our vision of creating a non-hierarchical, supportive work place. We hope that everyone working on the project can contribute their special talents equally, take responsibility and initiative in the work they do, and at the same time, be able to learn new skills.

Environmental Sustainability: We strive to be kind to the environment by producing as little waste as possible. We buy in bulk, avoiding packaging. We compost all of our organic material, and recycle most of the rest, so we produce virtually no garbage for the 400-600 meals we serve. The beans, grains and fresh produce we use are lower down on the food chain and take less energy to grow than raising meat. We buy fresh produce from the farmers market, as shopping locally supports local farmers and the environment.

Health: We believe in serving the healthiest meal possible. Accordingly, we use unprocessed whole foods and ensure that every meal is nutritionally balanced. Our education program also addresses nutritional concerns, and gives students the tools to cook healthy vegetarian food on their own.

Building Alternatives: Our commitment to creating an empowering work space is part of our larger goal of building alternatives to corporate-dominated capitalist methods of doing business. We operate in a not-for-profit structure to build a service that benefits the community. We strive to encourage students and communities to mobilize their resources to take control of their own spaces. Thinking about what we feed ourselves (healthy, nutritious food) and how we feed ourselves (through local communities, not global corporations), is one important step towards building alternatives at a local level.

Ongoing Projects

With such a diverse mandate and such a committed energetic collective, we have many projects on the go. Here’s what is happening at the Potato, how these projects fit into our goals, and how you can get involved.

Daily Servings: We serve by-donation daily vegan meals, between 12:30 and 2 pm on the seventh floor of the Hall building of Concordia. And, if you can’t make it during those times, come check out back in the kitchen for leftovers from the day’s meals! All of our 13 staff members, plus 80 volunteers, work together to serve between 400 and 600 students every school day. All of our volunteers and staff learn a lot about vegan nutrition and food preparation through working together on this project.

Street Servings: In addition to our daily servings on the 7th floors, we take food outside daily to serve to people on the street in the neighbourhood.

Education
Our education coordinators work together with le Frigo Vert to offer diverse educational programming that includes cooking workshops, talks on food politics and nutrition related issues, and D-I-Y. This program furthers our mandate by educating and empowering students to be more self-sufficient, and to make socially and ecologically conscious choices around food and nutrition. Keep your eyes open for flyers and posters announcing upcoming workshops.

Garden: We have a site on Loyola Campus, where we have a garden during the summer that provides a small amount of food to the People’s Potato kitchen. It is part of the victory garden network of Action-Communiterre which encourages people to use their backyards and community spaces to grow organic food for themselves and people in need of produce.

Food Security Issues: We are in the process of linking up with other community organizations that work on food distribution, vegetarianism, and poverty issues. Through these links we can strengthen the work we do. We also make our kitchen facilities available to community organizations.

A day at the Potato

A day in the Potato kitchen and the folks who make it possible

The kitchen opens at 8:30 am by two sleepy Potatoes.

30 to 40 liters of fresh vegetable stock is made.

The contents of the fridge are ‘sussed out’ and the approximate menu is set.

Any beans to be used in the meal have been soaked and rinsed.

9:00 am. A few volunteers and another Potato help wake up the kitchen. Knives, cutting boards, aprons and head coverings are pulled out of their resting places as we prepare for an influx of people. Yawns are replaced by “good mornings”, “how are yous” and introductions.

By 9:30 am, the chopping of onions, carrots, potatoes and other vegetables is well under way. The grains are rinsed and cooked.

The steam kettles are also cleaned and ready to be used again.

10:30 am. 10+ bust bins (or buckets) are filled with veggies and greens; volunteers cut, stew, bake, roast, puree, chop, slice and dice ingredients. The conversations have shifted from small talk to remarks on the state of the world; politics; music; culinary arts and stories. Someone takes over the stereo and music fills the air.

11:00 am. The cooks start preparing the stew and the soup. The smells of a million freshly ground spices, oils, and cooking vegetables fill the air.

11:30 am. The kitchen is bursting with (hopefully) people and everything is in high gear as stew and soup for five hundred people comes together.

11:45 means it’s crunch time; 45 min until the serving. The cold salad is prepared and the bread is cut. Clean-up starts as dirty dishes used to prep the meal begin to pile up. Taste tests happen as the soup and stew near the end of their cooking.

By 12:00 noon the serving area is wiped down, the dishes are pulled out and the donation box is retrieved. There is less conversation as people hurry to feed the hungry mouths in the growing line of patiently waiting people.

There are plenty of dishes to be done and more people coming in to help.

12:30 SERVING!!!! The steam kettles (each holding up to 60L of food) are emptied into pots, which are carried out to the serving area. If it’s cold outside and sandwiches just won't cut it, food is set aside for the homeless serving outdoors.

Four volunteers get clean aprons and head coverings and get ready to serve the hot food. Two potatoes make announcements. One potato sets up the tables upon which cookbooks, patches, newsletters and solidarity items (any we may be distributing for like-minded organizations) are displayed.

Meanwhile…
The cafeteria is equipped with three bust bins and a compost bin.

The counter tops are cleaned, as are all remaining dishes from the morning. Then, the steam kettles are washed.

By 1:00 pm there is a steady stream of dirty dishes piling up at all three sinks, as well as in the cafeteria. Three to five volunteers and/or Potatoes are needed to collect these dishes, wash them and get them back to the serving area so that more patient folks can eat (if they don’t have Tupperware).

By 1:45 the line of Potato hungry eaters is slowing down, but the dishes are not. There have been a number of turnovers in the volunteers helping to serve allowing these people to take a break and eat in the back of the serving area. Joking relieves any nerves about the tastiness of the food and more stories are shared. There are “hoorays” and “uummmm’s” and “we pulled it off’s” as peoples' bellies get full and satisfied.

2:00 pm. The intense kitchen clean up continues as all the remaining dishes are cleaned and put away. The kitchen is quieting down as people return to classes and volunteers are going their separate ways. The big pots are washed, and any leftovers are transferred into plastic containers and stored in the fridge. The serving area surfaces are wiped down. The floor in the serving area, kitchen, cooking area, and hall are swept and mopped. The cafeteria is cleared of all bins and compost buckets. The garbage is taken down to the basement. The fridge is wiped down. If it is Wednesday, the fridge is thoroughly cleaned.

By 4:00 the kitchen sparkles like new.

The beans for the next day are soaked and things are put to rest. The kitchen is quiet and there are few signs that more than fifteen people worked together, to feed 500+ hungry folks.

8am the next day….
It all starts again with two sleepy Potatoes.