Cook and Dine With Us!

LEAN, Make & Take, Cook & Dine, Fresh Choice Kitchens – reality television? 

No, these are the name of community kitchens, real life success stories in food programming.  

And it’s here in Halton Region !

Originating in South America, Peru alone has 1,300 community kitchens.  Comedores Populares were started in the 1960’s and 1970’s as a way for women to stretch the family budget by sharing the cost of food and meal preparation during tough times.  Today, community kitchens offer training opportunities and local empowerment by giving participants a sense of solidarity, collectivity, and respect.  Community kitchens are a place where friendships are built and neighbours are strangers no more.

In Canada, health and social agencies across the country have adopted community kitchens to address nutrition issues and to stimulate mental wellness.   In Halton Region, the Come Cook & Dine with Us program is offered as a 4 week food skill building cooking series.  It features local chefs and food enthusiasts as facilitators, this program is actively addressing issues for participants and volunteers alike.

Lead volunteer Peter Rouleau, a recently retired chef struggling with anxiety and depression explains that his experience of this initiative has helped him to rebuild confidence after being out of the professional kitchen for 2 years.  “It’s been a little bit of a struggle…” he says, “but being in the spotlight and getting a lot of good reinforcement from the participants has helped.”  He comments on the kitchen, “It’s really a group effort, it’s refreshing to know that there’s a lot of good people out there.  They come and share a meal.  It’s a good atmosphere.“

Brenda Moher, Manager of the Fresh Food Box and Project Manager of this community program says, “everyone needs to eat and everyone has food knowledge and skills but sometimes people face real challenges in putting healthy meals on the table.  The Come Cook and Dine with Us program helps participants overcome some of these challenges in an inviting supportive environment.  It also provides a great opportunity to focus on different ways to prepare and serve the locally grown produce that is often featured in the Halton Fresh Food boxes.”

The weekly menu of nutritious 3 course meals of lasagna, turkey a’la king, butternut squash soup, and lentils and rice, and apple pecan bread pudding were adopted to fit a $5 per meal budget, which is typical of the constraints faced by families on limited budgets.  Outreach by local program Ambassadors also focus’ on priority groups and vulnerable populations through local service agencies.  Each kitchen includes 8 to 15 participants.

We welcome locations across Halton Region to participate in this educational program.  If you are a community centre; food cupboard; social service agency; housing cooperative; community church or a neighbourhood group who would like to host an event please contact us to find out how at info@haltonfreshfoodbox.com or call us at 905-634-8645

 

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