Radical Roots, the student-run, not-for-profit vegan kitchen, was scheduled to re-open at the International Student Centre this fall after a typical summer break, and didn’t.
Little information (and lots of misinformation) has been available about what happened, with the most prominent voice being the ISC administration, which was instrumental in Radical Roots’ shutdown in the first place (see Vegan eatery uprooted, Nov. 6). Meanwhile, U of T is basking in the glory of a mega-deal with local sustainable suppliers for its cafeterias. Everyone looks good-except Radical Roots. This is no accident. As a long-time staff member and organizer for Radical Roots, I would like to provide some much-needed clarifications on what really happened.
An important point that needs to be made clear is that, while the university administration claims to have supported Radical Roots, they did not by-and-large show this support in their actions. Radical Roots was stuck in the university’s bureaucratic quagmire almost from its beginning. As an example, for years the ISC and Ancillary Services passed the buck on much-needed repairs they were contractually obliged to provide. The problems with the building jeopardized our health and safety as workers and resulted in lost revenues. Further, decisions regarding the renewal of our contract were made behind closed doors between Ancillary Services and the ISC. Staff members from Radical Roots were only invited to the table when it was too late to have any real impact.
I would also like to take issue with the how the ISC staff, in particular Dermot Brennan, present themselves and have been represented in The Varsity as allies of the Radical Roots. In the years since Mr. Brennan began working at the ISC, we constantly faced passive, and sometimes direct, hostility from the ISC as a result of his influence. He compelled us to jump through constantly changing bureaucratic hoops, made idle threats, and spread defamatory rumors among administrators. This treatment exemplified the unwelcoming and sometimes adverse environment we were in-an environment that had a grave impact on our ability to achieve our organizational goals.
The sad conclusion is that an alternative space that mixed food and community has died. The reasons for the closure are complex, but an understanding of the situation can begin by looking at the organization’s diverse and ambitious aspirations, and comparing these with the hostile, compartmentalizing, and overly bureaucratic environments in which it tried to do its work.
As staff, we tried our best, even with unpaid wages and working volunteer hours, to prove the organization’s worth. Eventually, the tension of being round pegs in square holes reached a breaking point. We were a resource-strapped, independent, student-run entity increasingly expected by the university to compete on a business level with major, for-profit food service providers-for example, we were expected to provide a business plan on par with those of for-profit organizations-and in the end, we couldn’t.
To everyone who enjoyed coming together and eating with us at Radical Roots, you have our most sincere apologies that we were not able to sufficiently resist being driven out by the university. It is our hope that another group of ambitious individuals will be able, with the help of SAC, UTERN and others, to carve out a new “Radical Roots.” For all its work, it will certainly be worth it.
Agata Durkalec was a staff member at The Vegetarium/Radical Roots from 2002-2006.
