A Growing Team at Growing Chefs! – Introducing Christine

Hello! My name is Christine and I have just joined the Growing Chefs! team as a Program Assistant on Vancouver island to help support the Victoria programs. I started off with volunteering for Growing Chefs! in 2013 while living in Vancouver taking a year and a half break from my studies at UVIC in the School of Child and Youth Care. I was two years into my degree at the time and I had just come back from a trip to India that had blown my mind in regards to food, health, and the world we live in. My senses were heightened and I was really looking at things differently.

Living in Vancouver at the time, I found out about the Growing Chefs! Program. It was an ‘aha’ moment for me... I could combine my love for working with kids with this whole other world of food that really intrigued me and radiated importance. When I started volunteering with Growing Chefs! I had never planted a seed, and had not grown up thinking critically about where our food came from. However, I did grow up immersed in the food industry as my parents owned a family restaurant and I started working in the industry myself at 14 years old. From a young age, I had the opportunity to spend many hours after school and on weekends in the restaurant and felt very at home in this environment. I was able to witness the power that food had to connect people and build a sense of community. But being able to volunteer with Growing Chefs! was a pivotal moment for me in connecting with food systems on a deeper level. After that first spring session in the classroom with Growing Chefs!, I decided to go back to Victoria to finish my undergrad degree. I moved into an apartment with a South facing balcony, and planted an epic patio garden and we reached out to a neighbour to ask about creating a food garden in their unused space.

I continued to work in restaurants while I finished up my degree, and was saving up money to go on a trip with my partner. We eventually moved out of our apartment and left our jobs to go live and work on a little farm in Hawaii for a few months.

When we returned to BC, we were both looking for jobs and my partner found an opportunity to live and work on Southlands Heritage Farm in Vancouver. We moved into a tiny little home (175 sq. ft) and although I was working elsewhere at first, it was not long before I was working on the farm full-time. My main role was as the Program and Volunteer Coordinator. Southlands Farm offers many school and community programs and I was able to continue to witness the great impact that teaching kids about food, and where it comes from had. It was evident to me that visiting the farm was a very special experience for many kids and families in Vancouver who did not really have the opportunity to engage in this environment otherwise. I loved sharing these experiences with the farm visitors and being able to educate them about different aspects of farming, sustainability and food systems.

While back in Vancouver and living on the farm, I jumped on the opportunity to join Growing Chefs! again in the classroom as a volunteer, and even got to collaborate together on a couple of events with the farm. I really got to see all these passions of mine merging together.

One of my favourite parts of the job was hiring Workaway/WWOOFer’s from all over the world to come and stay on the farm. It was great to bring different cultures into our community, and we had many potluck dinners sharing favourite recipes from around the world. Some of my fondest memories at the farm were our outdoor dinners during golden hour and staying to chat and eat until after dark (normally followed by some music around the campfire).

Growing Chefs! was really the catalyst that started it all for me, in my adult life, and I am very grateful to now be able to support the Growing Chefs! programs here in Victoria. I think that ‘planting the seed’ young is so very important, and I am looking forward to growing the reach of the program here on the island. Not only am I excited about supporting the programs in the classroom, but also to be able to support the volunteer experience. Growing Chefs! was such a game-changer for me, and I really value the opportunities that volunteering in the program provided. I look forward to being able to work with the volunteer teams, in hopes that their experience is as meaningful as it was for me. I really look forward to getting to know you all in the Growing Chefs! community and will always be happy to meet over a cup of coffee and talk all things related to food, farming…and dogs!

A Growing Team at Growing Chefs! – Introducing Cayley

Hi! My name is Cayley, and I’m stoked to be working at Growing Chefs! as the new Program and Operations Assistant! While it was my combined love for food and teaching that drew me to the organization, the Growing Chefs! staff, volunteers, teachers, and children are what keep me excited to come back each day. It’s awesome to be able to help make food literacy more mainstream in childhood education, alongside all of these superstars!

My love for delicious food began at a young age, and came full circle through a litany of weird and wonderful experiences. It began while “helping” my grandparents in their garden in rural Alberta. I like to think I was an indispensable asset, but I likely only assisted with making all the berries disappear… before they made it into any pies! The only vegetables I ate without complaint were from that garden; harvesting them right from the plant somehow made them much more interesting and delicious. Mom and Grandma, who are still my two favourite cooks, eventually taught me that vegetables maybe weren’t the worst thing in the world – they showed me that with the proper skills and ingredients, I could turn them into healthy, delicious meals!

After finishing university, I had a severe case of wanderlust, so I began brainstorming ways that I could combine skills and passions while seeing the world. Teaching and a fascination with the ocean took me to Southeast Asia to teach scuba diving. Everywhere I went, food was my comfort zone. I found it was the best way to learn about new cultures and customs, and to get involved with local communities. I learned about so many spices and flavours, some of which I’m certain I’ll never find again… my quest for a delightful bulb-shaped crunchy white vegetable that I found in a Chinese stir-fry is ongoing, nine years later (any information relating to this appreciated – and no, it isn’t any standard onion!).

I eventually ended up in the Caribbean, where I was fortunate to spend a couple years aboard sailboats, teaching youth how to scuba dive and sail. I was (and still am!) amazed at how much young people were able to connect to new concepts through tactile learning. Experiential education enabled students to really engage with the material… “doing the things” allowed different students with a huge variety of learning styles to actively achieve all sorts of awesome milestones! I also met my partner, Jack, while doing this, and he was more than willing to keep up the adventurous lifestyle.

Through a series of chance meetings and opportunities, we were hired onto a charter sailboat, where I was a chef tasked with cooking food for people as they joined the yacht for their vacations. It was a valuable experience to reconnect with the kitchen, and great to finally join a whole bunch of my interests. After a couple of years, though, I really missed the reward that came with teaching. I decided to come back to Canada and pursue a Masters of Environmental Education and Communication, to further explore opportunities for unconventional learning experiences. Through this program, I was lucky to be introduced to Growing Chefs!

My time at Growing Chefs! so far has ticked all the boxes. Watching the faces of children and volunteers light up as they learn, or teach, how to grow a garden from seed while getting their hands in the soil is beautiful. I’m feeling very fortunate to be able to help out however I can.

Outside of work and school, I spend a lot of time adventuring with my dog, Oso, and trying to take full advantage of all that dry, steady land has to offer. I run, ski, and cycle every chance I get, but am otherwise usually finding excuses to be in the kitchen. Lately I’ve been on a sourdough kick, testing out my hypothesis that it’s impossible to grow tired of freshly baked bread. No conclusive results yet - I’ll keep trying!

Volunteer Spotlight: Krista Ettles

To continue celebrating National Volunteer Appreciation Week, we would like to introduce you to Krista. She is a longtime volunteer who has taken the last few years off of volunteering in the classroom to build her food entrepreneur career via Nourished & Whole, but now she is back and ready to plant some seeds in the classroom.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you do? Where are you from?
My name is Krista and I’m an entrepreneur, cook, teacher, recipe developer, and food blogger. I teach people how to cook better at home and make food fun again! I’m passionate about food and love to inspire people to get back into their kitchens. Besides food, I love hiking, beach volleyball and anything outdoors really. I’m a born and raised local and grew up in White Rock.

Why did you decide to volunteer again in the classroom with us?
I’ve done the program before and absolutely love teaching the kids about food. It’s so great to see them get excited about growing their own food and trying different things. It’s such a fun experience!

What is your favourite seasonal vegetable?
There’s so many to choose from but I’d have to say asparagus for Spring.

If you could cook and share a meal with anyone (living or dead) who would it be and why?
Hands down Julia Child. I’d love to sit down and hear about her life in person. She was such a pioneer in the food world and as a woman. She’s someone I admire and is definitely a role model for me.

What is your favourite meal to prepare for yourself?
Again so many choices but I’d probably say some sort of salmon dish. I do a really good maple balsamic marinade. Simple but delicious! My brother is also a fishing guide so I’m lucky to get out and catch the fish myself!

Why do you feel programs like Growing Chefs! are important?
I think it’s so important kids are taught the importance of cooking and where our food comes from. It’s something that’s definitely getting lost in our world of fast food so I think cooking is a life skill that we need to be teaching kids…..and ourselves. Being conscious about our food choices and where it comes from has a huge impact on our health, our planet and our communities and I think it’s a must that we teach our kids this for future generations. 

Thank you Krista, and thank you to all of our volunteers!

Donor Profile: Champion Radish Club

The Champion Radish Club is currently made up of 61 generous individuals and families who donate monthly. They share our vision of a world with healthy, just, sustainable food practices and we’d love to introduce you to three of them!

RICHARD BANNER
A Champion Radish Club member since 2016, Richard Banner works with Polestar Communications Inc. as a writer and editor. He is the vice chair of the Growing Chefs! board of directors and has served on the board for over a decade.

CHRISTINA BOLISZCZUK & MIKE SHEARER
Christina was once a member of our staff team at Growing Chefs! and now works for Canuck Place Children's Hospice as a Major Gifts Officer. Mike is a Service Center Manager at Speedy Glass. The two have recently become first-time parents! They have been Champion Radish Club members since 2017.

RISA PAYANT
Risa is our newest Champion Radish Club member joining just this week! She works as the Executive Director of Common Weal Community Arts, a Saskatchewan arts organization and moonlights as an artist, a grant-writing consultant, and in a brewery. Risa is a mother of two.

What's your favourite seasonal vegetable?

Richard: I'm really enjoying the fresh asparagus this year. I like to think of the crisp green shoots pushing their way out of the ground and reaching up into the sunshine.

Christina: This is always tough to decide because I love pretty much all vegetables! Celery has always been a favourite since I was a kid for snacking - I still love ants on a log.

Mike: Corn on the cob!

Risa: I'm obsessed with zucchini. There's no dish that can't be made better with zucchini. Plus, I love growing monster zucchini in the garden every summer. I have the opposite of a green thumb, but the zucchini always pulls through!

What is your earliest food-related memory?

Richard: I remember the taste of green beans that I picked from the bushes in the back of my parent's home in Port Alberni. I didn't enjoy it then when I had to go out to the hot garden to pick the beans, but I still remember how good they were.

Christina: I have so many good food memories! When I was little we lived on a small hobby farm and my parents grew and raised most of our food. I feel quite lucky to have experienced this. When I was little we could walk out to the garden and pick fresh strawberries, carrots, and peas for snacks. Fresh always tasted just the best!

Risa: Eating dinner in the field during harvest. I feel like the smell of dirt and grain is nostalgic for everyone who grew up in a farming family. My prairie childhood is such a huge part of who I am and the most iconic memory is sitting in the bed of a pickup truck, covered in dust and eating classic farm meals with my Dad.

As a parent, what food values do you bring to your family?

Christina & Mike: We love to cook. We love making everything from scratch and consider ourselves fairly adventurous eaters. Having our daughter experience a wide variety of flavours when she starts on solid food is important because we want her to enjoy much of what we like and learn that there’s so much variety in food. When she is old enough we will have her join in the food prep/cooking experience as much as possible. Even toddlers can learn to help! Taking pride in the food you prepare makes you enjoy eating it so much more. It also helps to create a less picky eater which is always a bonus.

Risa: I think it's important to remember that food is what fuels us. It's so easy to succumb to thinking you need to make "kid food" (which is, inevitably, beige), but when you shift the conversation to filling your body with nutritious fuel, vegetables become magic. I also think it's crucial to let kids be a part of everything from grocery shopping to food prep to cooking. Meal times are family time and that extends well beyond just eating together.

How does being a part of the Champion Radish Club make you feel?

Richard: I'm happy that I can do a bit to help bring the Growing Chefs! program to kids in schools. I've seen how much fun kids have growing and eating healthy foods so I hope Growing Chefs! can bring the program to as many people as possible.

Christina & Mike: We love contributing to kids learning about healthy eating and being in the kitchen. It will benefit them their whole lives! Plus who doesn’t love digging in dirt and watching food grow? Growing Chefs! brings so much joy to the classroom and kids take those lessons home to their families.

Risa: So many kids in urban centres are growing up completely disconnected from their food. Growing Chefs! is doing important work in making sure kids in Vancouver understand where their food comes from and give them knowledge about what they put in their bodies.

Join the Champion Radish Club!

What's the Champion Radish Club?

We're so glad you asked. Our monthly donors make up the Champion Radish Club. Your monthly gift provides sustainability and facilitates program planning and implementation and lowers administrative costs.

Why should I join the Champion Radish Club?

• Your gift is easy, secure, and green—a monthly donation saves paper, postage, and energy!

• You ensure your gift has the greatest possible impact!

• You will get special updates from the classroom from our participating students!

• You will get exclusive event invites to special events like the Affogato Affair and Beer, Bread & Butter!

• You get to be a Champion Radish (A most delicious type of radish!).

We hope to grow our Champion Radish Club to 75 members in 2019. We have achieved over 80% of that goal and with your help, we can get there!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Join the club this month with a minimum $10/month commitment and be entered to win the "Fancy" basket from SPUD valued at over $100, full of B.C. snacks and delicacies.

Current Champion Radish Club members can also win by referring a new member, or increasing their gift by $2/month or more!

Deadline to enter: May 6th at 7:00 pm.

Prize Draw: May 6th at 7:30 pm at our 3rd Annual Champion Radish Club exclusive event. You do not need to be in attendance to win.

Volunteer Spotlight: Brennen Murray

Our Classroom Gardening and Cooking Program is 100% delivered by our wonderful volunteers. We literally could not do what we do without the generous support of our volunteers who not only donate their time but their knowledge. Since it is National Volunteer Week and we have the BEST volunteers, we want to highlight a few. First off is a first-time volunteer (with us), Brennen Murray.

Hi! Tell us a little about yourself.
”Hello! My name is Brennen Murray. I've worked in coffee and food for over ten years, am a barista and a cook at Renfrew Park Community Centre as well as with The Kidsafe Project. I am interested in food sovereignty, urban farming, and localized food systems. I live in a communal home on Victoria Drive where we work to build a closer, sharing community and learn more about growing things.”

We hear you're a worm guy. Tell us more!
”When I first moved to Vancouver and started becoming an urban gardener, I found container gardening to be inefficient and needing constant fertilizing and found myself wishing for the compost pile that was always rotating around the backyard I grew up with. A little bit of research brought me to the City Farmer Vermicomposting Program, which I recommend to anyone wishing to recycle their food scraps into healthy soil for growing things. My initial $25 dollar kit has grown over the years into several bins of worms feeding off the food scraps from a household of six and giving a welcome dose of organic soil every 6 months as well as compost tea (fertilizer) that can be used at any time.”

How did you hear about Growing Chefs?
”I came across Growing Chefs! in the fall while looking for ways to get involved in food security and food sovereignty.”

What made you interested in volunteering with us?
”With The Kidsafe Project, it is my responsibility to feed kids at my site during school breaks, but also to teach them about nutrition and the foods we eat. Growing Chefs! has a great curriculum that teaches kids all about growing food and ways to use it. I'm excited to watch kids interact with food in such a hands on manner and bring that excitement for food to the kids at Kidsafe.”

What's your favourite seasonal vegetable?
”Summertime: cucumbers, for the crisp, juicy bite fresh off the plant. Wintertime: Brussels Sprouts, because they grow all winter and just keep getting better.”

What is your earliest food-related memory?
”Either walking down the tall narrow rows of strung up peas in my mother’s garden, harvesting thick pods into a colander and often opening the pods and eating the peas fresh; or tip-toeing in the strawberry patch, turning the berries over to see which ones had ripened all the way around and were ready for eating.”

How did your first lesson in the classroom go?
”It was incredible! We examined seeds and their full grown vegetable form, planted the seeds, and imagined and hoped for a beautiful growing garden. I was definitely just as excited as the kids and can't wait to get back into the classroom for lesson two.”

Thank you so much Brennen - we (and your class) are lucky to have you.

Stay tuned this week for more volunteer spotlights.

Celebrating International Women's Day and Local Food Businesses

Last year on International Women's Day, we celebrated 10 women who have made a big impact at Growing Chefs! We included our founder, classroom volunteers, our female staff, and some of our community supporters. This year we want to celebrate a few female owned and/or run food businesses that are connected to Growing Chefs! As Melinda Gates says, “When we invest in women and girls, we are investing in the people who invest in everyone else.”

Photography from The Globe and Mail.

Karen McAthy of Blue Heron Creamery and Soil
Vancouver

Chef Karen is a long time supporter of Growing Chefs! She has volunteered in the classroom, been a chef at multiple From Farms to Forks (our annual Harvest Kitchen Party), put on fundraising dinners to support us, and she has been even hosted volunteer appreciation events for us. She recently delivered a plant-based cheese tasting at our 2019 AGM. Chef Karen is the head chef and owner of Blue Heron Creamery making delicious plant-based cheeses and co-operator of Soil, a plant-based eatery in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant community. On top of all her accomplishments, she is also an award winning writer for “The Art of Plant-based Cheesemaking”.

Photography from Port Moody & Co.

Taryn Barker of The Little Butcher Shop
Port Moody

Taryn Barker is the owner and head butcher of The Little Butcher Shop in Port Moody. Even with most butchers in Canada being male, The Little Butcher Shop has a almost all-female team. Taryn is the driving force behind supplying local BC meat to her customers and being a strong supporter of local food companies. This spring, Taryn is returning for her second year volunteering in a Growing Chefs! classroom.

Photography from The Vancouver Sun and Allison Kuhl Photography.

Gabriella Mayer of Harvest Community Foods
Vancouver

Gabriella is the chef and co-owner of Harvest Community Foods in Vancouver’s Chinatown and former Growing Chefs! classroom volunteer. Harvest Community Foods sells local, organic, and seasonal foodie goodies, as well as has one of best noodle menus in the city. It is also the only place in Vancouver to get a chef-picked CSA (community supported agriculture) bag with produce from local farms. Chef Gabe is a fierce advocate for supporting local food systems and businesses.

Photography from Central Park Farm.

Kendall Ballantine of Central Park Farm
Langley

Kendall is the head farmer and owner of Central Park Farm. She became inspired to start feeding her family food that she knew exactly what was in it and where it came from, so Kendall left her corporate job to become a farmer and opened Central Park Farm. Central Park Farm raises free-range, pastured, and grass-fed animals. They also have Farmer Ashlee from Inner Peas Market Garden growing beautiful, organic vegetables on the farm. Did you know BC has the most female farmers in all of Canada?

We love to celebrate women and the impact that they have on their communities. But, it’s one thing to celebrate women and another thing to invest in them. Here at Growing Chefs! we challenge you to invest your money where your best intentions are and support more female-owned businesses year-round. We know we will be!

Thank you to all women making an impact on their local food systems and in their communities. And let us know who they are - tell us about your favourite female-owned business. HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY!

Donor Profile: Earth's Own

Our Adopt a Classroom program makes it easy for companies to get involved with Growing Chefs! This 2018/2019 school year, Earth's Own generously adopted four classrooms, providing the opportunity for these teachers and kids to experience our Classroom Gardening & Cooking Program when they otherwise couldn't.

We caught up with Robyn Skinner to talk a little about Earth’s Own new branding, and why they support Growing Chefs!

How long have you been working at Earth's Own, and what do you do there?

I started at Earth’s Own in May 2018, so I am still relatively new. That being said, since joining the team our plant-based mission has really impacted the way I look at + think about food. I have adopted a mostly plant-based diet and really believe in our mission.

The best way to describe my job is that I am a Plant-Based Connector. My #1 role as a Brand Manager is to get more people eating more plants. It’s as simple as that!

What is the most exciting part of working at Earth's Own?

Right now… everything! We are all about creating change. At Earth’s Own we’re on a mission to make plant-based living delicious and doable. Why? Because plants make us feel good, they’re good to the earth and they are great for communities. In short, we think a plant based diet can save the world and that’s really exciting!

Oh and Oat Milk. I’m low-key obsessed with Oat Milk! It is the new environmental kid on our plant-based block. If you haven’t tried it yet, we highly recommend. It’s rich and creamy like milk, grown using 7x less water than Almond or Dairy Milk and it supports Canadian Farmers.

Tell us a little more more about the company.

At Earth’s Own, we’re here to stand up for the planet and our health. We don’t see plant-based living as a “vegan” thing, it’s an everybody thing. We see eating plants as a healthier choice for the Earth and our bodies. Plants use less water, land and energy and are more nutritious. We dig ‘em so much, even our cartons are made from plants! We have some pretty big goals for the Plant Generation, but as I said above it’s really about inspiring more people to eat more plants.

We see Earth’s Own has a new logo! Tell us more about your new branding.

Yes! We have re-designed our logo to align back to our mission. “We dig plants!” You’ll now start to see this branding come to life. We also will be launching a new website and are updating all of our packaging, starting in February. It’s a really exciting time for us and we can’t wait to share everything we have been working on.

What about Growing Chefs! resonated with your giving?

Well, if the future is plant-based, then it begins with our kids! We love how the Growing Chefs! program is teaching young ones how to grow their own veggies and turn them into healthy meals. In turn they teach their parents and families how to bring more plants into their meals. The more we can support making plants fun for kids, the better.

What was it like visiting the Growing Chefs! classroom?

I absolutely loved it! In November 2018, we were invited to act as judges for the end of the semester stir-fry competition. I couldn’t believe how excited the kids were to take the recipes they had personally created and cook them for us. They were so proud of what they had done and it tasted delicious! I remember one of the teams plated their dish with a side smear of Sriracha sauce. It definitely won the most “Spice-tastic” award!

Volunteer Profile: Chef Jason

We love the enthusiasm that our volunteers bring into the classroom, and we’re especially excited when we get to support volunteers through their own professional growth. Thank you Chef Jason for all you have given us. Your future students are lucky to have you!

Jason, how did you first hear about us?

I heard about Growing Chefs! on Twitter in 2014. I was just flipping through and a chef I follow had tweeted about it so I clicked on the tweet and link, and read up about it. After reading about it I thought it was something I’d like to help out with. 

When you’re not in the classroom role of “Chef Jason”, what are you up to?

Currently I’m in school to become a secondary school teacher, specifically a teaching chef in the cafeteria. As part of the Bachelor of Education program, we are to do a 3 week Community Field Experience where we can choose from quite an extensive list of places to volunteer at, with a focus on school-aged children.  When I saw Growing Chefs! was on the list I jumped at the opportunity to be able to work with them again as my previous experiences were awesome! 

What about Growing Chefs! makes you return as a volunteer?

The curriculum is so well thought out and easy to present and engaging, not just for the students but for volunteers also. The excitement of the students as you are walking towards the classroom and entering it is great. Teachers are always asking how to get it into their own classrooms and I think that’s a testament to their thoughts and feelings about the program and how it enriches the students' experience.

And the students are great. They have tons of questions and are truly interested in what we are looking to teach them. Seeing them excited about vegetables and trying vegetables that they normally wouldn’t experience is also a neat experience.

If someone is on the fence about volunteering, what would you say to them?

The program is extremely well set up. The Growing Chefs! team puts all volunteers through a training session where they give you the binder with the curriculum in it. It is all the lesson plans, materials, and tips and hints on working with school-aged children. It’s so well laid out and definitely, after going through the training session, I was set at ease.

A Recipe for Impact - 2017/2018 School Year Report

At Growing Chefs! CHEFS teach kids to GROW, COOK, and EAT HEALTHY, JUST, SUSTAINABLE FOOD. Why do we do it?  Because too many kids (and grown-ups!) don’t know how important food is to our bodies, our community, and our planet. Too many kids aren’t excited to make nutritious choices, don’t know how or where food is grown, or have access to healthy, fresh, whole foods. We’re on a mission to change that! 

Too often, when we ask kids where their food comes from, they say “the grocery store!” Or when we offer a student a new vegetable to try, they say “No way! I’m allergic!” Growing Chefs!works to change this. By connecting kids and chefs, we get kids to think differently about food. 

Suddenly that kale isn’t so yucky after all. In our programs, kids are hands-on with the entire food cycle from seed to plate to compost--digging in the soil, planting seeds, tending gardens, harvesting vegetables, learning basic cooking skills. Afterwards, kids that refused to eat vegetables, or kids that told us “I’m allergic!”  serve themselves third helpings of salad that they grew and cooked themselves. 

Through experiential learning, kids are inspired to make food choices that affect not only their personal health, but the health of the community, economy, and environment. 

PLANTING VITAL SEEDS

Since we planted our first pea seeds back in 2005, we have worked with:

In the 2017/2018 school year, we had our biggest and most exciting year yet. We worked with: 

In the 2017/2018 school year, our program was in Vancouver, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Victoria, Richmond, Surrey, New Westminster, Langley, Port Moody, Coquitlam, Burnaby, and Kelowna. 

HEALTHY KIDS MAKING HEALTHY CHOICES 

It’s important to us that we evaluate the social impact we are making. Each year, we conduct pre-and post-knowledge surveys with our participating kids. 

The Fall: 63 lessons

In September 2017, we kicked off our Intermediate Program, working with nine intermediate level (Gr. 4-7) classes and sending 35 chef and community volunteers into the classroom to deliver 63 hands-on lessons.

“Growing Chefs was like have a field trip come to us every second week for a whole term! I loved the program - the experimentation of growing and tasting new things and especially the interaction between the chefs and gardeners and the kids. Besides becoming more adventurous eaters I know my students gained a much better appreciation for locally grown things and how much fun it can be to experiment in the kitchen with food.”
--Valdine Ciwko, Teacher, Charles Dickens Elementary School

In our Intermediate Program, the students learn about local food and healthy food systems. They dive into activities that teach:

• How to grow food

• The different edible parts of a plant 

• How to reduce food waste

• Food miles and seasonality

• Local food systems and how to support them 

They learn useful food and cooking skills such as how to: 

• Properly handle a knife

• Make a quick-pickle

• Create healthy, nutritious snacks

• Make a vegetable stock

• Construct and write a recipe

• Make homemade salad dressing

• Cook their own stir-fry 

• How to properly clean up after cooking  

Lesson Six: Stir it Up!

One of the highlights of our Intermediate Program is the Stirfry Competition. The kids work with their chefs to develop a recipe all of their own. The following lesson, they cook up their creations to serve before a team of special guest judges. This year, we had judges from Whole Foods, Telus, Shauna Gold Personal Real Estate Corporation, and BCIT Magazine come to taste.

From the classroom: James McKinney Elementary 

After long debates and deliberation the previous week about which produce and seasoning would make the best flavour profile, the students were keen to get started. Their classroom had been converted into a mini kitchen with stations for washing, chopping, sauteing, and plating.  For 45 minutes the classroom bustled with activity: greens, peas, and beans plucked from the garden beds after weeks of care; bunches of spinach washed in the classroom sink with little fingers pulling back layers of leaves to rinse dark soil away. A student, tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth in intense concentration, used her newly learned knife skills to create precise, uniform cuts of broccoli, carrots, celery, beans and more. Clusters of kids gather around their dish, heads bent together in conference as they decide on their final plating. 

A hush falls over the students as the guest judges taste the four different stir fries. After careful thought, the judges announce the winners for best presentation, best flavour, most colourful, and most creative! Each student wins a spatula to take home.  

The Spring: 329 lessons

In our Spring program for primary grades 1-3, the students also learn about local food and healthy food systems. They dive into activities that teach:

• How to grow food

• Composting and reducing food waste

• Urban Agriculture

• About vegetables from around the world

• The different edible parts of a plant 

• About vitamins and why we need them

• Kitchen safety and cleanliness

They learn useful food and cooking skills such as how to: 

• Properly handle a knife

• Make homemade salad dressing

• How to prepare various vegetables

• How to stir-fry

The first day our volunteer chefs introduce themselves in their bright white chef jackets, as eager students describe flowers, plants, and bugs that they associate with gardens. It isn’t long before everyone has their hands in the dirt and are planting seeds that will over the course of 3 months grow into their very own classroom windowsill gardens. As the gardens grew so did students’ curiosity of all the new vegetables our chefs and their fellow classmates brought in to share. Arugula became a new favourite word to say by many tongue-tied students, even if the surprisingly spicy flavor resulted in a few scrunched up faces. While students were often eager to try foods made with what they had grown, there were still some that were hesitant about eating vegetables. With plenty of encouragement and cheers from their peers, and by involving them in the creation of the dish, many were willing to try a taste of the vegetables that came from their gardens. Students could hardly sit still whenever it came time to start one of our cooking lessons and gobbled up bowl after bowl of the healthy vegetables they had grown, harvested, and prepared themselves.

“The Growing Chefs! program was engaging, and fun for my class. Almost every student said they loved it and were upset it was over. Watching the plants grow and taking care of the  garden helps them feel accountable and involved in the whole process, even on days when the Growing Chefs were not in our classroom.”
- Grade 2 Teacher from Lord Nelson Elementary

“Planting seeds is like having money to feed everyone” 
- Grade 2 Student from Southlands Elementary

From the Classroom: Captain James Cook Elementary

This year our foods with moods lesson fell during Ramadan and one of our students had decided to observe it for the first time. He happily participated during the whole lesson, making his baby cucumber into a superhero and discussing what urban agriculture is. When it came time for the lettuce taste test, where students taste a bunch of different types of lettuce, the chefs asked if the student if he wanted to take them home to try after sunset. The next lesson, he let the chefs know that he shared the lettuces with his mother and they did their own lettuce taste test together. He liked every single one. Every lesson after that he wanted to take home the leftover veggies to share and learn with his mother.

“A student in our classroom would always have unhealthy lunches (Nutella sandwich and a Kool-Aid) After the second lesson mystery vegetable tastings she mentioned that she had asked her parents to send fruit or veggies with lunch and they did!” 

- Natalia Ordonez, Classroom Volunteer

GROWING CHEFS!VICTORIA
Our program continues to grow and with the amazing support of the Island Chefs Collaborative and our Victoria Program Liaison, Andrew Paumier, we were able to bring our classroom gardening and cooking program to 6 classrooms in the Victoria area. Twenty volunteers from local restaurants and the local nutritionist community helped to deliver 28 lessons to four primary classrooms and 14 lessons to two intermediate classrooms in the spring.

GROWING CHEFS!KELOWNA
With support from the Central Okanagan Foundation and four community volunteers we were able to deliver our intermediate classroom gardening and cooking program to a very excited class at École Glenmore Elementary. The young chefs were excited to learn about and share their experiences with food, gardening, preserving, and get cooking together. Their final lesson was a competitive stir-fry competition which resulted in a three-way tie for first place as our guest judges were blown away by the students’ recipes and skills.

OUR INCREDIBLE VOLUNTEERS 

Chefs are the heart of our program and about half of our volunteers are professional chefs eager to share their knowledge and passion for good food to inspire the next generation of chefs. We have a number of restaurants, such as Fairmont Vancouver Waterfront, Tacofino, and Earnest Ice Cream, who provide a whole volunteer team for a classroom. 

Our volunteer team has grown to include:

• Gardeners and urban agriculturalists excited to get students hands in the dirt

• Nutritionists and dieticians wanting to share their expertise in healthy eating

• Students with a keen interest in local food looking to expand their own skills and leadership abilities in the classroom and to pass on their enthusiasm.

• Front of house staff from local restaurants

• Retired and student teachers

• Parents of kids in our current classes

• Parents of kids that have done our program 

Anyone can volunteer with our program and we have nearly 200 volunteers that want to support a healthy food system and get kids excited about good, whole food.  

Our Big Farm Party

In June, we organised a Big Farm Party, to celebrate these 194 exceptional volunteers that made the 2017/2018 Growing Chefs! program possible. Our party was gracefully hosted by Southlands Heritage Farm. The afternoon was fun-filled with a pie contest, a kid’s corner, farm tours and bee talks, goat visits, amazing ice cream, snacks, and beverages donated by our sponsors, a whole range of lawn games, and some fitting farm-style live music. A newborn baby chick named Artichoke stole everyone's heart.

Over 100 people attended this event, and we hope to repeat its success in the following years!

OUR TEAM

Growing Chefs! is growing! To support our biggest program year ever, our team has welcomed new staff to help us deliver our record-breaking number of classrooms. 

Meet some of them here! 
Afton Bell, Program Liaison
Alan Chen, Program Liaison
Morgan Shupe, Program Liaison and Operations Assistant
Selma van Halder, Program Coordinator 

DOING MORE TOGETHER 

Digging in the SOYL

This year Growing Chefs! partnered with Fresh Roots Farm to empower high school youth through food. 

Our Program Coordinator (and chef extraordinaire), Selma van Halder, coordinated the Community Eats portion of the SOYL summer program. Selma was in charge of kitchen management, lesson delivery, and meal preparation. 

Twice a week, Selma worked with six Fresh Roots youth to prepare lunch for more than 50 people. Fresh Roots farm produce grown right on the school grounds was given centre stage in these community meals, served outdoors on the farm.

Every meal, we had one of our wonderful Chef Volunteers in the classroom with us to share their unique perspectives and specific knowledge with the SOYL youth. The youth learnt how to cook for 50 people, prevent food waste all along the food chain, think about how our food choices impact the community around us, and how food can be a connector between cultures. We made pesto out of turnip tops, used zucchini in everything, and tried vegan aged cheeses. We made falafel, kimchi, salad rolls, and so much more!

Camp it Up!

Along with partnering with Fresh Roots Farm for SOYL, we also joined them at their youth summer camps to teach a cooking lesson on their last day of camp. Our Program Liaison (and superstar chef!), Morgan Shupe, developed and taught two lessons with the campers. During the lesson, the campers cooked a healthy three-course meal from scratch and enjoyed a meal together. The campers also assisted in cleaning up during and after the lesson. All the campers were sent home with a recipe book so they could continue their kitchen adventures at home. Campers were introduced to kitchen basics, basic safety and sanitation, and learned how to have an adventure with their food.

On the first week, we made pesto, flatbreads, a giant salad, and coconut chia pudding with local fruit. And on the second week, we made gluten-free cornbread, honey butter, another giant salad, and more coconut chia pudding with local fruit. All of the vegetables used in the lessons were from Fresh Roots Farm with some of the produce even being picked by the campers themselves.

A successful first year of summer collaboration between Fresh Roots and Growing Chefs!

Think and Eat Green with our Teachers

In the first week of July, we participated in Think and Eat Green’s Summer Institute, which is three days of workshops, plenary sessions, and networking for educators interested in school food systems topics. Many teachers are eager to include food education in their classroom but often feel they lack the basic culinary skills to do so. To address this Growing Chefs! led a kitchen skills workshop for 30 educators where we discussed:

• Basic kitchen skills

• How to create a food-safe environment in the classroom,

• How to incorporate food literacy and cooking into their regular lessons and the B.C. curriculum.

Using the Growing Chefs! model of hands-on learning, participants not only learned new skills and how to connect these skills to their regular lessons, but also prepared a portion of the lunch for all the TEGS attendees. They also walked away with some classroom friendly recipes.

GROWING CHEFS! IN THE COMMUNITY

Growing Chefs! has participated in a number of community events with our partners and supporters over the past year, such as the Stone Soup Festival, the Spot Prawn Festival, and the PNE’s Ag in the City to raise awareness for and educate families about food literacy issues through fun interactive games and activities. These are also great opportunities to connect with teachers interested in having our programs in their schools. We also participate in a number of on campus events at UBC, UBC farm, SFU, and Capilano University to reach university-aged students and increase their awareness of food-related issues.

GROWING CHEFS! IN THE MEDIA

Growing Chefs! volunteer chefs, board members, staff members, and students have been featured in print and on screen. We’ll be famous worldwide before you know it!

• Interview on CTV News in September 2017 with volunteer Shannon & Growing chefs! student Sienna.

• Interview on Global TV in December 2017 with Jaydeen, our Development and Communications Director,  & Growing Chefs! student Piper.

• Article in Country Life in BC “Where good food comes from: Growing Chefs! Program for school children puts emphasis on seed to plate” in February 2018.

• Interview on Roundhouse Radio, Fong on Food in April 2018 with Merri, our Founder & Board Chair, & Helen, our Executive Director.

Social Media Growth

In our 2017/2018 year, we grew our social media reach by more than 1,000 people! If you don’t already, be sure to connect with us! 

• Facebook: 2,839

• Twitter: 8,815

• Instagram: 2,030

THANK YOU

Of course, this jam-packed year full of food literacy fun wouldn’t be possible without the support of our incredible donors. A huge thank you to our supporters.