Crowds gathered at Woodbine Park to taste the savoury soups of more than 160 chefs and restaurateurs at Soupstock, an event protesting the proposal to build a mega-quarry in southern Ontario.
The event, a follow-up to last year’s Foodstock, raised funds to fight the quarry proposed for a site approximately 100 kilometres northwest of Toronto on Highway 124 near Shelburne.
The quarry will span 2,300 acres across the Township of Melancthon and tap into one billion tonnes of limestone deposit, eliminating farmland in the process.
The provincial government announced in September 2011 that a full environmental assessment will be required before a final decision is made. If approved, the quarry will be the largest in Ontario and the second largest in Canada.
Participating chef Jamie Kennedy told CTV Toronto that the restaurant industry has a vested interest in preserving local farmland.
“As restaurateurs we view food as culture. So when you are making a contribution to food culture, it’s very important to respond to where you are geographically,” Kennedy said during an interview in October.
Sunday’s event was co-sponsored by The David Suzuki foundation.
Faisal Moola, director of operations at the Suzuki Foundation, said that the quarry will eat up more of the province’s prime farmland.
“This proposed project is unprecedented in Canada in terms of the impact it will have on farmland and nature,” said Moola.
According to Moola, around 16 per cent of class one agricultural soil has been lost to development in the last 10 years.
“This is not the time to be moving forward with this proposal that would destroy so much farmland,” he said.
