Originally published: https://peterboroughcurrents.ptbopodcasters.ca/2018/04/18/thirteen-years-food-not-bombs-peterborough-never-missed-meal/
Every Monday in Peterborough, right when City Council sits down for their weekly meetings, across the street Food Not Bombs Peterborough is setting up tables and laying out a free community meal, open to all.
The time and place for these meals aren’t a coincidence. Food Not Bombs Peterborough started and continues to be a political movement to put poverty and hunger onto the political agenda. It’s a reminder to City Hall and City Council that there are people going hungry in this city.
But not only are these meals a demonstration, these community meals are locations of exciting political conversations in themselves. Those diners and volunteers are often from a mixed background of educations, political orientations, and ages.
To learn more about how Food Not Bombs is doing, Ayesha and Will spoke with Rachelle Sauve and Myles Conner. Listen to their story, or scroll down to read an excerpt of Rachelle’s interview:
Rachelle Sauve: We don’t ask permission. We’ve never gotten a permit. We have no intention to ever do so. We try to position ourselves in a place that means that we can be allies and accomplices as much as we possibly can to other movements as they’re happening; the primary way that we do that is: anyone and everyone doing awesome things in the community, we try to get in touch with them and we bring food to whatever they’re doing so that we can bring what we do to them. The outstanding piece of what Food Not Bombs does is try to locate itself in a place where we can always remain critical because we are the grassroots because we are not a group even. Food Not Bombs is a collaborative force of autonomous beings who choose to take action based on a very simple basis of unity which is that we can reclaim the food that’s being wasted. We can cook it up sharing skills and knowledge and we can serve it to anyone who hungers in a very public space thereby publicizing and bringing to light the reality that hunger and poverty are.