Words by Smiley Team
A new style of supermarket is opening up in Vancouver, which gives customers the option to pay what they feel once a week.
The “rescued food” supermarket, as it's been named, which opens for the first time on 1 October 2021, works as a zero-waste store, that’s stocked with nutritious surplus food from farms, grocers, and wholesalers.
The food is usually surplus food that would have otherwise been thrown away, cancelled orders, food approaching a best before date, or food that doesn’t feel the standards shoppers usually expect (think wonky veg!).
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It’s run by the Food Stash Foundation, which was founded in 2016 by David Schein, a Vancouver-based teacher who was inspired to reduce food waste after watching the documentary Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story. By October 2017, it became a registered charity.
The rescued food market uses a “pay what you feel” model, so you choose what food you want, and how much you want to donate. The market is open to everyone in the community, regardless of income, and helps to promote a circular economy.
“We prefer the phrase ‘pay what you feel’ rather than ‘pay what you can,’ to eliminate any shame associated with not being able to afford the rising cost of food,” says the charity.
The purpose of the market, states the charity, is to welcome everyone, and provide the opportunity for people to make their own food choices – “more so than if subscribing to a food hamper service or using food banks”. It’s also to eliminate the stigma around not being able to afford the rising cost of food; to serve as a space to learn about food waste and a circular economy, and to reduce Food Stash Foundation's reliance on fossil fuels
As well as the rescued food market once a week, the charity “rescues” food by also delivering it to other charities and people in need.
