With an aim to make fruits and vegetables easily accessible to all, Ville St. Laurent’s new ‘mobile market’ is a farmer’s market on wheels.
The truck started circulating in St. Laurent this week, spending approximately three hours in each location, mostly close to schools and parks.
“It starts early in the morning to catch up, for example a primary school, to catch up the parents who go to leave the children, so they can pick up the good food at the same time,” said David Lesiege of Relais Laurentien – Marche Mobile.
Stemming from Relais Laurentien at 760 Decarie Blvd., a not-for-profit grocery store that focuses on food security for everyone, the staff came up with the idea for the mobile produce stand.
“There are a lot of areas in the borough that still have poverty problems, economic problems and the only alternative they have right now is food banks so we want to offer them something else,” said Lesiege.
Nutritionists are among those who staff the truck and produce comes from two commercial distributors and a local farm.
It's priced competitively and any extra money goes into the groups' community initiatives, including a collective kitchen and food workshops.
“This truck is completely refrigerated so when you go inside it's like a fridge, so you can keep the stuff very long and very fresh,” said Lesiege.
The borough spent $400,000 to help launch the project, which will last throughout the year.
“It's a project that we hope will help people eat better, be supportive of families and young kids who may not always have access to fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Borough Mayor Alan Desousa.
