Table Talks are an informal culinary salon hosted by The Depanneur. Every month we invite a local food personality to talk about something that interests them while Dep founder Len Senater cooks dinner.

“We are caught in a system where food is treated as a means for profit rather than as a human right, with wealth and power concentrated in the hands of a few mega corporations, leading to spiralling prices. Canadians are fed up with insufficient and ineffective government approaches to fix the situation. Meanwhile, families continue to face impossible choices at the checkout, and affordability is the defining issue of our times…”

“One headline-grabbing proposal that has gained prominence over the past year is to open government-run low-cost grocery stores. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani popularized the idea when he campaigned on city-run stores in every borough. Meanwhile, here in Canada, NDP leadership hopeful Avi Lewis made a “public option” for groceries a centrepiece of his campaign…”
— from “How public grocery stores could work in Canada”, co-authored by Raj Patel for the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives

In 2024, Toronto City Council officially declared food insecurity an emergency, acknowledging a crisis where over 1 in 10 residents rely on food banks. Join award-winning author, journalist, and activist Raj Patel for an exploration of how we can respond to this crisis by building robust public food systems at scale, and the growing interest in public grocery stores.

Presented in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Food & Ecology, The Culinaria Research Centre, and the Canada Research Chair in Food and Culture at the University of Toronto

Raj Patel is a Research Professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin, a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and a member of the council of Progressive International. He is the author of Stuffed & Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System, and the recipient of the James Beard Foundation's Leadership Award.

Dinner by Len Senater

Tonight's menu is less about recipes than provenance: the aim is to source all its ingredients from existing alternatives to the industrial food/supermarket complex, through co-ops (Karma), alternative retailers (Graze & Gather), farmer's markets (Dufferin Grove, Sorauren, Trinity Bellwoods), directly from growers (Kendall Hills Farms, Sundance Harvest, Maizal), foragers (Forbes Wild Foods), and other innovative and sustainable local producers (Spent Goods, Scadding Court Community Centre).

Lisa Kate's Asparagus & Ramp Soup
A formidable food activist in her own right, and co-founder of Building Roots, Lisa ran a soup project out of The Depanneur in it's early days on College St. This recipe, featured in The Depanneur Cookbook, celebrates the first flavours of spring in Ontario, topped with Spent Goods sourdough croutons (optional).

3-Bean Vegetarian Chilli, Warm Cornbread with Miso Scallion Butter, Coleslaw

Maple Surprise by Emily Zimmerman
Another long-time Depaneer, chef, instructor, and food justice advocate, Emily will be coming in from Hamilton with one of her justly famous plant-based desserts featuring local Ontario maple syrup.

#vegan options available on request

-----
Len Senater is the founder and proprietor of The Depanneur, who happily cooks for his friends and neighbours. @TheDepanneur