Food Is for Everyone. That's Why I'm Here.
A note from our new Executive Director
A yellow school bus pulls up the driveway, and 20 of my third-grade classmates pour out. They’re visiting for two reasons: my mom’s famous saskatoon scones and this morning’s fresh cream we’re about to churn into butter to top them with.
I grew up on a dairy and beef farm in Alberta. For me, food education was never an abstraction. It was our daily rhythm, tied to seasons, animals, gardens, and the people around our table. It was also part of our school curriculum.
And as a farm kid and 4H tween, I learned two things that have stayed with me ever since: that knowing where your food comes from changes how you relate to it for the rest of your life, and that kids thrive when they're given the keys to learn and lead. Put young people in community with each other, give them real responsibility and real trust, and they can make extraordinary things possible.
Preparing jambalaya at LunchLAB
Caring about food doesn't require a particular biography. It belongs to everyone, and so does the work of making sure everyone has a strong and joyful relationship with it.
In the years since leaving the farm, I’ve become more and more worried by a food system that has become harder to understand, harder to navigate, and harder to feel any sense of belonging in. That dislocation isn't inevitable, and it isn't neutral. It falls harder on some communities than others, and it starts early. Food systems should serve us all.
That's what makes the work of Growing Chefs so important to me. Food literacy is more than building skills. When a child cooks something and shares it with people they care about, something special happens. What begins as curiosity about food grows into confidence and connection, and eventually, the sort of relationship with food that can serve them through their whole life.
I've spent over a dozen years leading non-profit organizations, including One to One Literacy and the Alberta Student Executive Council. In both roles, I kept coming back to the same conviction: learning and discovery are among the greatest joys available to us.
One of my favourite experiences was organizing the 10 Mile Meal, a series of gatherings that brought together farmers, chefs, grandmas with time-tested recipes, and local food lovers to share meals and stories from close to home. It was a reminder that food, at its best, is a way of being in community with each other.
At the Earth Spirit Healing Garden ceremony at Total Education Secondary
Growing Chefs is doing that work every single day, in classrooms and kitchens across Vancouver. I am honoured to be joining this team as Executive Director, and I am genuinely excited to meet the community that has built something so worth building on. Please say hello. Tell me what this organization has meant to you, and what you hope it becomes.
In joy and justice,
Carol Neuman,
Executive Director, Growing Chefs
Bio
Outside of her work with Growing Chefs, Carol is a sometimes-writer, often-birder, and wannabe-orchard owner. She spends her free time exploring local forests, reading, hitting the pool, and organizing with other local community groups—including the Urban Horse Project, where she serves as Board Chair.