The Canadiens, IGA, and Bell Centre chefs give back

MONTREAL - The NHL season is currently on pause, but the Canadiens' kitchen is as busy as ever.

The Habs have teamed up with La Tablée des Chefs and its partners with Les Cuisines Solidaires on an initiative to help keep food banks in Quebec fully stocked. Over the next few months, Bell Centre chefs - with an assist from Canadiens employees, who are helping prep and package meals for distribution - will be whipping up 50,000 meals, with a possibility of doubling that total, which will be donated to food banks to help feed the province's most vulnerable citizens.

"This is an opportunity for us to be able to give back," said Bell Centre head chef, Yves Lowe, who expects to double the organization's initial goal of donating 50,000 meals. "We're so privileged to work throughout the year on unique events, festivals, and hockey games. We know how lucky we are, so to be able to have this opportunity to give back to people who aren't as fortunate during a time like this is special."

Working with a reduced staff and increased safety measures, Lowe and his team are hoping to produce 9,000 meals in the first week of operations alone. Ingredients for the meals are donated by partners of La Tablée des Chefs and Les Cuisines Solidaires, including longtime Canadiens grocery partner, IGA.

"IGA has been a partner of la Tablée des Chefs and the Canadiens for a long time, so it was a natural fit for us to help support this initiative. In the current situation we're in, it's more important than ever to support food banks," said Carl Pichette, vice president of marketing for IGA. "Since we don't currently have kitchens available and our employees are on the front lines right now working to deliver an essential service in our stores, the best way we could help was through financial and food donations to the program. We're also launching a new temporary online grocery platform, IGA Essentials. This platform will provide people with easier and quicker access to groceries online, and 5% of every transaction through IGA Essentials will be donated to the Cuisines solidaires initiative with la Tablée des Chefs."

On the menu in Week 1: over 3,000 pounds of pork shoulder, accompanied by tomato salsa, mixed veggies, and fingerling potatoes.

"This is the first set of meals we're cooking and then the recipes will change in the coming weeks based on what ingredients organizations donate," explained Lowe. "We work closely with Les Cuisines Solidaires to come up with the recipes."

This marks the second major donation the Canadiens have made to local food banks since the COVID-19 crisis began, having previously delivered over 13,000 pounds of food that would have been used during the team's home games in March.

"The Montreal Canadiens and Groupe CH are proud to partner with Les Cuisines Solidaires on this initiative," said France Margaret Bélanger, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Groupe CH. "We're proud to have our chefs and our staff taking part in this program and we are happy to be able to offer our kitchens and our resources to help support our local community."

Fans looking to help support the cause can make a donation to La Tablée des Chefs by clicking Instagram from @canadiensmtl: Nous avons fait équipe avec La Tablée des chefs afin de préparer jusqu'à 100 000 repas pour les banques alimentaires du Québec, avec l'aide de @igaqc.🧑‍🍳We've partnered with @tableedeschefs to cook up to 100,000 meals to be donated to food banks in Quebec with the help of IGA.#UnisParLeHockey | #HockeySticksTogether.