Whatever happened to Radical Roots? The worker-run, non-profit, organic vegan lunch spot was a fixture of the International Student Centre for three years until last May.
“Loyal students still approach me, asking where [Radical Roots] went,” said Dermot Brennan, program director of the ISC. “I wish I could give them a good answer.”
Radical Roots began as an continuation of the Vegetarium, a food collective that had operated on campus since the late 90s. After its original contract expired, the café was reborn as the self-sustaining Radical Roots and issued a new contract, which was scheduled to last the 2005-2006 school year.
As for all campus food vendors, an extension of Radical Roots’ contract would need U of T Ancillary Services’ approval of an updated business plan. But Brennan said that plan was problematic, since it departed from the eatery’s activities in past years.
“They wanted to take on catering in a much larger capacity, significantly alter hours-things that Ancillary Services needed to have cleared up.”
That “clearing up” never happened. Once summer arrived, the ISC and ancillary services directors found the Radical Roots workers hard to get ahold of.
“They operated, structurally, as a sort of worker’s co-op,” said Brennan. “So, there was nobody in charge.” There was no specific person to contact regarding immediate concerns, he added.
“The tragedy of it is that their mailing address was this building,” Brennan said, “so of course any correspondance they received…came here. Nobody [from Radical Roots] came to pick it up.”
Director of ancillary services Anne MacDonald said Radical Roots never received their messages. “I have very little information about what happened to Radical Roots after that other than it simply ceased to operate.”
Agata Durkalek, who spoke with The Varsity about Radical Roots’ plans this summer, did not return requests for interview. According to Brennan, we can expect a new eatery in the ISC by next September.
