“Anticlimactic” is how Joshna Maharaj describes the launch of her first book, Take Back the Tray: Revolutionizing Food in Hospitals, Schools, and Other Institutions, which had the unfortunate timing of being published just a few weeks after the pandemic started in 2020.
“When all the parties and interviews got cancelled in one afternoon, I realized that this was going to be a slow burn,” she says.
The subject matter couldn’t have been more timely, though. The Toronto-based chef, instructor and author had long been vocal about the role nutrition plays in social justice and had been advocating for better food systems in hospitals. COVID-19 brought with it a collective focus on health care.
“In a few of the interviews I did, journalists asked, ‘How did you know that we would all be collectively focused on hospitals this way?’”
Understanding Community-Based Food Systems
Maharaj’s work has always focused on community-based food systems. That’s how food is grown and made available for consumption, as well as intersections around poverty. “Restaurants were never that interesting to me,” she says.
Her first job was at The Stop Community Food Centre in Toronto. This is a charity that provides a food bank, drop-in meals and urban gardens for low-income community members.
In 2011, she started working on an institutional level. The Scarborough Hospital wanted to open up its kitchen and change its food systems and meals as part of patient care. “I pounced right on the idea,” she says.
Here’s some of the pre-pandemic information she collected during her research and shares in her book:
- A hospital bed in Ontario costs $842 per day. Just $8 to $15 of that amount is budgeted to a patient’s meals
- 45% of people arrive in hospital malnourished
- She served a turkey lunch made with local ingredients for just 33 cents more than what the Scarborough Hospital was spending per plate
She also includes a bulleted list of ways to start making changes. That includes ensuring access to free water and making available a minimum number of fruits and vegetables.
Post-Publication Impact: Inspiring Change Worldwide
Since the book came out, she’s been approached by institutions, including schools and health-care organizations. Some are even as far away as Ireland. What they all have in common? They’re considering revamping their food programs. But there’s still plenty more work to be done. She’s found that the main barrier to achieving change is the will to make it happen.
“We all think that it’s the money, but the biggest obstacle is that the people in the institutions with the real power to make this change don’t care enough to do it.”
Nutrition First: Reimagining Food Systems on Campuses
Maharaj is now spending much of her time advocating for more nutritious food offerings on college and university campuses.
“Post-secondary students are a very vulnerable population that has slid into food insecurity in a way that we’re all not paying enough attention to,” she says.
Thinking back to her undergrad days, Maharaj recalls being given a bag full of food when she arrived at residence. It included ramen noodles and Kraft Dinner, things stereotypically associated with students living on their own for the first time.
“There is a weird, romantic notion that it’s cool if students are starving,” she says. “Culturally, we’re somehow okay with this.” So she is working with schools to help them understand that food is integral to academic success.
Real Change: Food Systems at Toronto Metropolitan University
She was the assistant director of food service for Toronto Metropolitan University from 2013 to 2015. Her job was reimagining the school’s entire food system. Or, as she puts it, “how food lives on this campus.”
After Maharaj examined what was available and how accessible it was, the school put new systems in place. These improved the food offered and how it was sold. She says the school saw a transformation on campus.
“The most common response we got from students was that it showed them that the administration understood where they were and cared about taking care of them.”
“To some degree, our public institutions are a reflection of who we are as a society, for better or for worse,” says Maharaj. “They should reflect our collective values to some degree.”
Her hope is that these places will revamp their food systems to provide better options and food education. That includes nutrition, cooking, meal planning. “I would love it if hospital gift shops could turn into little pantries or places to get cookbooks or ingredients or tools,” Maharaj adds.
Discover more Homegrown Heroes from ELLE Gourmet, in partnership with Wines of Ontario
- Chef Ned Bell Shares Tips for Sustainable Cooking on a Budget: The B.C.-based chef explains why sustainability is so important to him, and how to buy seasonal seafood for less.
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- Bonton and Company’s Fresh Approach to Local Yukon Ingredients: Owner Shelby Jordan talks about how the award-wining restaurant got started and her guiding principles as a butcher.
