Several Ottawa shelters and food kitchens are taking part in a plant-based food training program offered by animal welfare group Humane World for Animals Canada.
Riana Topan, senior campaign manager for Humane World for Animals Canada, told OBJ that the group started the Forward Food program in 2017 to help organizations that serve large batch meals incorporate more vegan and vegetarian recipes into their menus.
“We know that there’s endless benefits to doing that,” Topan said. “It’s more healthy, it’s more sustainable, it’s more compassionate and it’s usually more cost-effective. There’s just a win, win, win, win.”
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The group recently received a grant from the Ottawa Community Foundation’s community grants program to bring the program to Ottawa and, last Friday, local charities took part in the first of three training sessions that will be hosted in the coming months.
Shepherds of Good Hope, one of the participating charities, volunteered its space and resources to host.
Topan said the free program provides culinary training as well as recipes and guides to incorporate more products like beans, legumes, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts into menus.
“Everything has to be delicious. That’s rule No. 1 in anything we do,” she said. “But beyond that, everything we’re doing is designed for large food service operations. The recipes shouldn’t be too complicated or require specialized equipment. And we try to keep them cost-effective. We focus on minimal equipment and low-cost ingredients and things that don’t always require cooking.”
For an organization like Humane World for Animals, reducing the use of animal products is top of mind. But Topan said economic factors have driven the need for charities and businesses to turn to other options.
“It depends on what you’re buying but, generally speaking, plant-based and whole food ingredients (are cheaper),” she said. “We’re constantly hearing that meat is often the biggest expenditure when it comes to operations, food budget and spending. By replacing that with seasonal fruits and vegetables and low-cost proteins and whole grains, you can usually save quite a bit of money.”
Peter Gareau is the food services manager with Shepherds of Good Hope. He told OBJ that he is looking to refine his menus and bring more quality and nutrition into the meals Shepherds serves across its locations.
“Shepherds is very new to food programs,” he said. “We’ve been serving it for years but we’re just now starting to create a real food program. This organization was willing to step up and help us get a bit more knowledge going throughout the organization. With our new building opening in another month or so, we’ll be doing a lot more of these sorts of things and we’ll be doing more vegetarian.”
Meat won’t be leaving the menu, but Gareau said the training and the many recipes he’s received open the door to more variety and upgraded quality.
“The chef that was there very kindly gave me her cookbook and as I was going through it at home I was thinking there is so much in here that we can utilize,” he said. “Whether that be soups or they had these vegetarian burgers that can be made from scratch that would be delicious. There’s a lot of good, useful stuff.”
It’s been a tough few months for charities such as Shepherds of Good Hope. The charity’s foundation CEO David Gourlay told OBJ that the Canada Post strike that closed out 2024 put the organization in “crisis mode” as it was unable to reach its key donor demographic at the most important time of year.
As a result, the cost savings from introducing cheaper food alternatives could be significant.
“Proteins are often the No. 1 thing on my mind for foods I need to find at a good price,” said Gareau. “So those recipes will be very easy for us to utilize. It’s not like we’ll be serving vegetarian every day. But having those things readily available will be a great benefit and it is cost saving.”
While things have been looking up in 2025, Gareau said cost challenges never really go away.
“The nature of our business is it’s always tight,” he said. “I don’t believe there’ll ever be a time where things are, you know, raining gold by any stretch of the imagination. So we work with what we have and we’re always looking for ways to innovate. If cooking some of these dishes will save us money, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing.”
Plant-based restaurants and businesses finding success
In addition to her role with Humane World for Animals, Topan is also one of the organizers behind VegOttawa Fest, a festival coming to the capital in July featuring plant-based businesses from Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.
Exhibitors from Ottawa include SuzyQ Doughnuts, BanhMiYes and Roan Kitchen, as well as Astoria Bistro Botanique from Gatineau.
It’s the first time the event will be held in the capital since 2019. In the years since, more plant-based businesses, from vegan and vegetarian restaurants to bakeries and other retailers, have cropped up across the city.
Topan said part of the proliferation is the growing popularity among consumers.
“I think over the last several years we’ve seen people become more aware of how important our food choices are,” she said. “I think for a long time it was left out of the conversation about things like sustainability or it was not as highlighted in conversations about healthy and compassionate living. Now there’s a huge interest in changing the way we eat or at least including more plants in our diets.
“Now people are realizing that you can also eat more plants and have it still be enjoyable and delicious and satisfying,” she said. “And you can definitely still meet your nutritional needs, or even exceed them, on a plant-based diet.”
