There have been countless acts of generosity since the start of this pandemic, whether during the first wave, the second or the various periods of confinement. Some of our restaurateurs have made some of these gestures and some others have been the beneficiaries. This will be the case again as the Montréal en Lumière festival launches the "I love my restaurant" campaign and a number of restaurants in Quebec City donate their "unsold" items to a local organization. Here are the explanations:
The Montreal en Lumière festival is used to celebrating Montreal gastronomy every year, but will not be able to do so as is normally the case this year. Rather, the organization decided to launch a movement of support for restaurateurs and remind people that they can be important players in reviving the community.
The campaign, launched a few days ago with an advertisement featuring Marina Orsini and a song by Michel Louvain, offers people different ways to help restaurant owners, such as having a meal delivered to a loved one in need, offer gift cards or share photos of the dishes ordered with the hashtag #jadoremonresto.
Through this campaign, Montréal en Lumière also wants to remind people that, despite the curfew, restaurants are still open for take out orders until 7:30 p.m. and that they can continue deliveries even after 8 p.m.
In Quebec City, the Recover Food Action project is able to provide approximately 400 meals per month to food insecure families thanks to unsold items from participating restaurants and grocery stores.
The recovered food is transformed into healthy meals which are then frozen.
In this way, restaurant owners in the region who have joined the organization Recover Food Action are avoiding more food waste and benefiting families in need.