ANIMAL JUSTICE ACADEMY PANEL:
Getting Plant-Based Food into Institutions, Corporations, and Cities
with Nital Jethalal, Riana Topan, Matt Noble, Eleanor Carrara, and Ilana Braverman

Finding the right food policies to champion in the animal rights movement can be tricky, but getting institutions to shift their purchasing to plant-based foods is one almost everyone can agree on.

Not only does it mean less money going to the animal agriculture industry, but it also means exposing huge populations of people to plant-based eating.

In this panel we'll explore the range of current efforts to get vegan food into hospitals, schools, corporations, prisons, restaurants, food banks, and cities. We'll look at what plant-based procurement strategies and programs seem to be working best, the challenges they’re facing, and some of the bigger wins.

The panelists will also give us ideas on how we can help get more vegan options into institutions we care about.

Following the panel, you’ll have the opportunity to join fellow animal advocates, if you'd like, in breakout rooms to talk and strategize around plant-based food procurement.

*We invite folks to have their video on during this event to enhance the sense of community, but it’s not mandatory

About Our Panelists: 

Ilana Braverman is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Greener by Default. Ilana’s work focuses on the nexus of climate change and food; she gave a TEDx talk on the topic, “Moving Beyond a Hamburger Default World.” Ilana holds a Master's degree in Animals and Public Policy from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences with a focus in Human Dimensions from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Eleanor Carrara has been a committed lifelong environmental and animal rights activist with a focus on transitioning institutions to a plant-based food system, including universities, cities, and federal food procurement. Eleanor heads the Canadian University Initiative and PlantBasedU working with senior leadership, university chefs and students to promote the plant-based transition. She is the Outreach and Policy Lead with Canadians for Responsible Food Policy, co-founder of the Plant-Based Cities Movement, and a member of the Coalition for a Sustainable Food Transition.

Nital Jethalal is a Toronto-based policy analyst and economist committed to food systems change.  He recently joined the Plant Based Treaty team, as a strategist and policy advisor, where he is helping create a global policy framework and playbooks to make it easier for stakeholders to shift their local food environments plant-bases, including in cities and at schools, hospitals, chilc care facilities, restaurants, senior homes, prisons and other businesses.  Nital is also a researcher at Plant-Based Data and sits on the board of directors for VegTO and the Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank.

Matt Noble is the founder and Executive Director of Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank, a fully plant-based charity that has provided over 350,000 meals-worth of whole food groceries to people struggling with poverty and food insecurity. Matt studied Journalism at Centennial College, and is a researcher in the areas of poverty alleviation, food insecurity, housing, economics, public policy, agriculture, and is an avid gardener. Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank also has a veganic farm at Wishing Well Sanctuary, partners with the T. Colin Campbell Centre for Nutrition Studies on plant-based nutrition and cooking classes for clients of other food banks, and is currently collaborating with HSI Canada and Sodexo on plant-based cooking classes for chefs in the Canadian charitable food sector. TVFB advocates for a guaranteed liveable basic income as the most effective policy solution for addressing poverty and food insecurity and is a member of the Coalition for Healthy School Foods.

Riana Topan is a senior campaign manager with Humane Society International/Canada, which together with its affiliates is one of the largest animal protection groups in the world. She works to protect farmed animals by advocating for higher-welfare policies, practices and regulations. She also manages HSI/Canada’s innovative Forward Food program, which helps institutions and businesses across Canada serve more plant-based food options that are better for animals, the environment and human health. Riana holds a degree in international development from Queen’s University and she has worked in the non-profit sector since 2012.

Kimberly Carroll is a coach for changemakers, a campaigns strategist with Animal Justice and director of the Animal Justice Academy, as well as a director with the Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank. Kimberly brings her background as a television host and producer, as well as her diplomatic and strategic skills as a coach to animal advocacy. Besides her current roles, she co-created the original “Why love one but eat the other?” transit ad campaign in Canada and was one of the founders of Mercy For Animals Canada -- helping bring the first undercover farmed animal investigations to television. As a coach, Kimberly helps activists, social entrepreneurs, and mission-driven leaders who want to make a bigger difference in the world with the inner shifts, high-performance habits, and strategies to take their important work to the next level. She’s helped empower thousands of animal advocates and counselled those in high-stress activist positions like undercover investigators. Kimberly also endeavours to use her privilege and platform for environmental activism, democratic reform, and to amplify Indigenous voices and those of other underrepresented groups.