Thunder Bay doctor says healthy eating is preventative medicine
Dr. Prashant Jani wants to expand his volunteer-run initiative to include a food truck.
One Thunder Bay doctor says he feels driven to start a food truck serving low-cost vegetarian meals.
Dr. Prashant Jani has already launched a volunteer-run, low-cost vegetarian meal delivery service out of the Vedic Cultural Centre.
He's currently raising money to buy a truck.
Jani, a pathologist at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, said he sees a lot of cancer as a result of his job, and he wanted to do something to support healthier living to help prevent it.
"One of the risk factors for cancer is the diet ... and there are very few options which are vegetarian or vegan options available in town, which are healthy and nutritious," Jani said.
Society spends a lot of money diagnosing and curing diseases, he added, but some risk factors for cancers can be minimized.
"That was the part which led me to think ... 'Why don't we start a vegetarian or vegan food truck program where we go to the various places ... specially school children or college and university students? They are the ones that start this eating of fatty food and fast food, and that is where the disease starts," Jani said.
The current service, launched in October, offers complete meals for pick-up or delivery at a cost of $7.99.
The South Asian meals typically include curry, daal, rice and flatbread.
People can order them on the service's web site.
Those who are interested in Jani's food truck project can contact him at 684-6591 or email vccthunderbay@gmail.com.