Besides serving up a mean grilled cheese, the Galley is aiming to take away some of the false pretenses surrounding local food, says John Adams, the King’s Students’ Union’s internal coordinator. “We’re not reinventing the wheel here. We’re trying to prove everyone wrong—you can do local food for not very much money.”
Sourcing much of their supply from Local Source Market on Charles Street, the Galley also offers vegan and vegetarian options. Adams says the Galley arose out of the dissatisfaction with the food available on campus. “An opportunity presented itself with the space being renovated and the students decided they wanted to take it upon themselves rather than going to a third party,” says Adams.
The students put a proposal forth, worked hard to get it approved by the administration, and the Galley finally opened in February of this year. “The students wanted an emphasis on local food, too, so that’s what we did, and they hold us very accountable to our mandate.”
Adams says things are booming. “The whole idea is that we keep it cheap, because we’re not trying to gouge students—nobody’s getting rich off this.” One thing the Galley does splurge on, though, is St-Viateur bagels. No, it’s not local, says Adams, but “until anyone wants to open up a really good Montreal-style bagel shop here in Halifax, we’ll give them our business.”