Author: Rebecca Weigand
On a hot Saturday in June, a happy crowd gathered to celebrate Karma Food Co-op’s 50th anniversary, in the colorfully refurbished laneway outside the store. Between relishing fresh Oso Leo strawberries, savory Zara hors d’oeuvres, cooling off with Happy Pops popsicles plus FrogPond wine, and capping the treats with Prickly Pear Bakehouse cakes, Karma members and well-wishers listened to a sneak peak of co-op member Dayjan Lesmond’s Toronto Fringe Festival performance, and enjoyed chatting with friends old and new. I caught up with a few Karma members who shared what Karma means to them.
In between taking photos, Dave Bell shared that climate change and overconsumption have guided his decision to be part of Karma Co-op. “It’s the ability to do something better for everything I need,” he said.
Erika Reyes also talked about how being a member of Karma has deepened her commitment to organic food. “What attracted us to Karma was the zero-waste products, and organics.” Reyes’ partner, Clément Bureau added, “We have not found anywhere else where vegetables taste that good.”
Reyes said, “We trust Karma’s choices, because the choices are made by the community, for the community. That means a lot to us. We like to see where it’s coming from, whether it’s fair trade, organic, or just conventional produce. Whenever we enter Karma, we can relax.” As the conversation wrapped up, Reyes and Bureau mentioned that their commitment to zero-waste has led to the creation of Inwit, a new reusable container takeout option, and a reminder of the exciting possibilities and cross-pollinations that happen when people come together in sustainable community.
“I always run into people I know when I come to Karma,” said Harriet Friedmann. The former chair of the Toronto Food Policy Council has been a member of Karma since 1990. Having studied the problems facing food systems, she is also excited by the alternatives. She joined the call for more food cooperatives, saying “Instead of trying to grow bigger, you be a model. You scale out rather than scale up. And we’ve tried to do that many years ago, and it didn’t work. But I think it’s still a brilliant idea. So my vision would be to have Karmas in every community and to be able to help from very practical experience, you know, what are your connections to farmers, or to artisans, any of those suppliers.”
University-Rosedale city councillor Mike Layton joined the celebrations with his daughters Phoebe and Chloe. He talked about his hopes to replicate Karma’s model of co-operative community. “We got through the pandemic and what we realized is that access to healthy food as well as community networks didn’t exist for many and we have to almost invent it. But when you have something like Karma Co-op you have that embedded in your community. It’s not only about the sustainable food, it’s about the resilience that you get as a community.”
Karma Board president Andrea Dawber shared that Karma will be embarking on a visioning process over the next year. “We want members’ input into the visioning of how we’re going to thrive over 25 or 50 years.”
