Many Edmontonians, myself included, enjoy a warm summer afternoon splashing around in he wading pool at City Hall. This year, I noticed an addition to the usual array of food and ice cream vendors in front of the pool. A group of young people were dishing out hot vegetarian meals -- for free! I grabbed some of their literature, eager to know what this was all about.
These people are a part of Edmonton Food Not Bombs, a social organization aimed at promoting peace through food. It's part of a North American movement which started in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1980 bu anti-nuclear activists, and you'll often find FNB groups at various protests and events. FNB takes food that would otherwise be wasted -- day old bread, and produce not perfect enough to be sold in supermarkets -- cleans it, cooks it, then takes it to the serving destination and dishes it out to anyone, free of charge. And people from all walks of life were lining up to get some. You can find Food Not Bombs dishing it up every Saturday afternoon at 1 pm at Winston Churchill Square. Everyone involved is a volunteer, and you can reach FNB at 988-FOXY (3699).
