Helping Montreal newcomers add local produce to traditional meals with online platform

Incorporating local fruits and veggies into traditional meals is what a new Quebec online platform is hoping to assist newcomers with.

A way to help them maintain good eating habits while adapting to a new dietary landscape in an unfamiliar environment.

“It’s not easy to integrate it,” said chef and an ambassador of the platform, Nongyao Truadmakkha. “One thing when we think of home, apart from our family and loved ones, is food.”

The I Love Fruits and Veggies Movement, who raises awareness about eating healthier, launched this new platform.

The goal — showing the ease of incorporating locally-grown Quebec foods into traditional meals.

“This project was to give tools to people that might experience vulnerability when it comes to nutrition,” said Alison Caron, Dietitian, I Love Fruits and Veggies Movement.

“We think that fruits and vegetables is a great way to talk about like healthy eating and well-being.”

With funding from the Quebec government, educational tools were developed in five languages with ambassadors from the Haitian, Arab, Asian and Latin American communities.

Including chef Nongyao Truadmakkha who moved to Quebec from Thailand in 2009.

“Try them out,” she said about the recipes now available online. “It’s not difficult to make and there’s a lot of variety of fruit and vegetables over here.”

“So have fun and go nuts!”

The platform’s resources include:

• A calendar, showing when to cook with the freshest fruits and vegetables year-round.
• Traditional recipes from the ambassadors, reimagined with local produce.

“You also have some factsheet about all kinds of fruits and vegetables,” added Caron. “You have pictures also of the fruits and vegetables to be able to recognize it at the grocery store.”

The tips and recipes can be found at: fruitsetlegumesquebec.ca

“If I could be an inspiration for someone who just first came here<” said Truadmakkha. “It’s a new land, new culture, new produce definitely.”

“Find out that sweet spot of what you can do with them,” she added. “With your own culture, blend it together.”