Paul DeCampo in front of FoodShare's converted high school headquarters, a Good Food Box,
Chef Chris Brown and volunteer making bread in The Stop Community Food Centre's kitchen

This spring Paul DeCampo was Niagara winery Henry of Pelham's main man in Toronto, managing accounts with restaurants throughout the city and thoroughly ensconced in the fine-dining scene. Similarly Chris Brown was the Chef at his family's high-end Distillery District restaurant Perigee, winning critics praise and a firm place on the list of the next generation of hot young chefs. Then things changed. Now, Paul DeCampo hangs out in a converted high school managing the distribution of boxes of fresh food to volunteers in the "food deserts" of Toronto's older suburbs, and I last saw Chris Brown making bread with a trio of eight year olds. What happened?

De Campo's move was, among those who knew him in food and wine trade, a surprise but not a shock. He has been a prominent mover and shaker in Ontario's good food movement. When the Speck Brothers, who own and operate Henry of Pelham, were honoured at the Ontario Hostelry Institute's Gold Awards dinner in April, Daniel Speck singled out DeCampo for helping their company develop sustainable practices and become involved in good food events. He is also the co-leader, with Arlene Stein, of the Toronto convivium of Slow Food. Part of DeCampo's mandate at Food Share is to increase the amount of locally and sustainably grown produce into their Good Food Boxes. FoodShare manages the distribution of the boxes, mostly to areas that are underserved by decent grocery choices. The boxes are delivered to community based volunteers and then sold at a subsidised price (between $12 and $32) to customers. The program works much like a Community Supported Agriculture program and DeCampo stresses to me that he is in the business of servicing FoodShare's customers: "It's important to understand that this isn't a handout, we know our customers value our program because they are willing to pay for it."

If DeCampo's transition was a natural evolution in long career arc, then Chris Brown's change was sudden, abrupt and born out of the shock and confusion of the credit crunch. When his restaurant, Perigee closed suddenly in April, Brown was sent into a spiral of depression and frustration: "I didn't know what direction to take. I thought about moving to Japan - just getting away from Toronto."

One thing that kept Brown in Toronto was his involvement in Crosstown Kitchens, an ad hoc association of young chefs and restaurateurs that also includes Bertrand Alepee, Jason Inniss and Sarah Lyons from Amuse Bouche, Ted Corrado from C5, Craig Alley from Marben and Carlos Hernandez and Veronica Laudes from Torito. Conceived as peer-to-peer mentoring organisation, Brown claims it was Sarah Lyons who first suggested the young chefs raise money for The Stop. "I hadn't even heard of The Stop," confesses Brown, "Then I found out what they did and I couldn't believe it." Brown and the Crosstown team soon started a series of events (still going strong), raising tens of thousands of dollars for The Stop.

The Stop Community Food Centre began as a food bank, but contemporary visitors are wise not to use that term around their west Davenport Road campus or the their new 'Green Barn' facility at Christy and St. Clair. From urban agriculture to community cooking, The Stop's mandate is to "increase people's access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds community and challenges inequality". A key player in this process was Joshna Maharaj, who ran the Stop's busy kitchens for years. With the addition of the Green Barn, which serves as both an education centre and a venue for fundraising diners, those kitchens were about to get a lot busier. When she announced she was leaving for a job running the kitchens at the Royal Ontario Museum's Food Studio, the good food community wondered how they would fill her shoes, not least Brown.

Brown got a call from The Stop's Executive Director: "Nick Saul called me to ask if I knew anyone who might be interested in taking the job," Brown explains. As it happened he had a meeting with the Crosstown Kitchens crew. "I asked them if they anybody who would be good for the job and they all stared at me and said, 'Hello!?!' I honestly hadn't thought about it." Brown called Saul back with his suggestion and successfully applied for the job, where he works with fellow chef Scott McNeil.

Brown's transition to The Stop was as swift and complete as his move out of the kitchen at Perigee. When I met him he seemed simultaneously relaxed and excited in the Davenport road kitchens as a steady stream of local kids, volunteer cooks, suppliers and whoever else came and went as he prepared Red Fife wheat bread for the centre's wood-burning outdoor oven. ""I was meant for this job. I mean, I was born for this job," he says with a big enough grin that it's impossible to doubt it.

Visit FoodShare.net and TheStop.org to learn more about these innovative organisations. Malcolm Jolley is the editor of Good Food Revelation.