Introducing Mungy and Christie!

We are so excited to welcome UBC Teacher Candidates Mungy and Christie who will be working with us for their three-week Community Field Experience course. Here’s a little more about them!

Mandip Dhaliwal (Mungy)

Hello friends! My name is Mandip Dhaliwal, but you can call me “Mungy”. I am a proud father of two beautiful boys Midas (3.5) and Maxis (1.5), both of whom love to raid the family fridge. I’m currently wrapping up my Teacher Education Program at UBC and I am so very grateful joining the Growing Chefs team to gain some valuable community field experience. Food is such an important part of my culture and an excellent way to learn about other cultures from across the world. 

Before applying to the Education Program, I was a cook/chef for over 10 years. I was very fortunate to work in the culinary world which allowed me to travel across this beautiful country. I have worked in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, and many parts of Vancouver Island. However, no matter where I work, I have always been connected to giving back to the community. I’ve had the opportunity to work with local chefs and food distribution companies, to organize charitable events in and around my community. Food Insecurity is a global issue that we can all help combat by reducing waste, improving agricultural yields, and working towards defeating climate change. 

A few fun facts about me are that I love ketchup. Ever since I was little it has always been Heinz for me. The history of the condiment and its revolutionary conception have always fascinated me. One of my bucket list items would be to visit the Heinz factory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Christie Ou Yang

Hello everyone! My name is Christie Ou Yang and I am currently an elementary Teacher Candidate from UBC completing my 3-week Community Field Experience (CFE) with Growing Chefs! I am so lucky to have this opportunity as the whole world is trying to navigate through online learning. Food has been a huge part of my life and my culture! I am very passionate about sharing knowledge and skills about cooking healthy, eating healthy, and living healthy!

Food is a big part of Asian culture. We not only eat for nourishing purposes, we also eat to celebrate the big and little moments in life. Coming from a Taiwanese background, I grew up eating a variety of Chinese and Asian dishes from other regions in Asia. I am very proud of the varieties and complexities Asian cuisine has to offer and have transferred this passion into a mini Asian Food Map project during my practicum.

However, to be quite frank, as much as I have tried various dishes in my life, I didn't really know where food on my plate came from. After moving to Vancouver, I started to learn more about different kinds of produce of each season and the local food systems. I enjoy shopping at local markets or farmer’s markets to get fresh produce straight from the farmers and local providers. I love cooking at home and creating healthier versions of the dishes I love. I am also passionate about sharing healthy living tips and experiences with people to build positive relationships between food and the self.

Friends of Growing Chefs: James from the Vancouver Master Gardeners Association

Last summer, we partnered with the Vancouver Master Gardeners Association (MGA) to provide a series of ‘Gardening Q&A’ blog posts. This Spring, we are grateful to have the master gardeners join us again in sharing their knowledge to create kid-focused gardening resources and activities, assisting our teachers with classroom growing support, an exciting new webinar series, and more! We are so excited to work with them again this growing season, to bring our Growing Chefs community the information they need to grow their own local, nutritious food.

To kick it all off, we want to introduce you to James Spears, a Master Gardener who will be taking the lead in coordinating our collaborative projects, and engaging other master gardeners and students-in-training to share their knowledge with us. We feel so fortunate to have James working closely with us, he is a super cool guy with extensive experience growing food in his year-round garden where he gets most of his inspiration and key ingredients to cook delicious meals from.

Hi James! Tell us a bit about yourself!

I tell my gardening friends I’m really a cook, and I tell my cooking friends I’m really a gardener. Any season, I like to wander through my kitchen garden and decide what’s for dinner. My “day jobs” were as a journalist, photographer, and lawyer prior to retirement; during the late 60s and 70s I had an acre of garden in Langley and rented an organic plot in Richmond before establishing my Kitsilano Kitchen Garden in 1983. It has been a year-round kitchen garden since, with a list of 60 herbs and veggies that I have enjoyed, not necessarily in the same year.  

Thanks to many trips to France, I have sampled roughly 400 French restaurants (not including breakfast) and can remember two really bad meals, and many, many good, inexpensive meals in restaurants without expectation of attaining a Michelin star.  

Why did you want to get involved with the work that Growing Chefs is doing? 

Good, local food, and the knowledge that is needed to excel in the kitchen. 

What are you eating these days?

I am eating fresh leeks, chard, kale, parsnip, onion, cilantro, lettuce, kiwi, salad burnet, chives, daikon radish and carrots. Lots of winter squash. And of course rosemary, thyme and other herbs. The beets have just finished; it seems I didn’t plant enough!

What's your favourite meal to cook?  

I have given a number of garden club talks on: "Minestrone Soup Reverse Engineered” in which most of the ingredients are available in all seasons. 

Hint: Basil is important, and summer-only, but frozen pesto is a great substitute. 

What is your earliest food related memory?  

Too many good meals to answer, but I am old enough to say that my parents, and grandparents, took it for granted that they would grow big kitchen gardens. So I don’t remember a time when a supermarket or grocery store was a prime source of veggies. Meat and cereals? That’s another story.

Current produce obsession?

Tromboncino squash (pictured below)

*Also visible for the sharp eye in the photo below:  Arugula, parsnip, artichoke, parsley, kiwi, pole bean, onion, fava bean, pepper, and leek.  

You’ve never heard of Tromboncino squash? Learn all about it at James’ webpage ‘Tromboncino 101’ romboncino.ca/.

Virtual Volunteer Spotlight - Meet Rebecca Marshall

When Growing Chefs realized we weren’t going to be able to physically be in the classroom for a while, we quickly began brainstorming how we might be able to connect volunteers with classrooms. It was very important to us that we continue to build connections between local food champions and students, so we asked our volunteers if they’d be interested in connecting virtually.

We weren’t disappointed! Our volunteers were eager to adapt with us by helping to create our virtual Growing Chefs experiences. They have been swapping recipes, filming video lessons, and sharing their knowledge and passion with our learners online, rather than in the classrooms. In the fall we took this one step further by creating our new Vegeta-pals program, where chefs, farmers, and others became virtual pen-pals, communicating directly with a local classroom.

Today we are featuring one of our Victoria-based volunteers who registered to volunteer in the classroom with us last spring. When our programming went completely virtual, she was one of the first to sign on to our new Vegeta-pals program to share her passion for good food with students. Meet Rebecca!

Tell us a little about yourself

Hi! My name is Rebecca Marshall, and I am a professional cook-apprentice working towards my Red Seal certification. Even after cooking for other people all day, I still love to come home and create a nourishing beautiful meal for myself and my family.

Why did you get involved with the work Growing Chefs is doing right now?

I've found that I learn and reaffirm knowledge best by helping others through the material. Growing Chefs was a fantastic opportunity to explore and deepen what I knew of our food system and to share it with young potential chefs. I'm happy to be part of a program that I know I would have enjoyed when I was a kid!

What advice would you give to a child that wants to become a chef?

Try lots of different food! What a fun thing it is to be able to travel the world in your very own kitchen.

Can you share a highlight from being a part of the Vegeta-pal program this year?

I had a delightful surprise when I was assigned my Vegeta-Pal partner. I was at that time working on the second level of my program at Camosun Culinary and my assigned partner was Chef Steve Walker-Duncan, who was the Program Chair - his office was just down the hall from my classroom so it was easy as pie to get together to do our videos! Steve is a fantastic role model and a dynamo when it comes to teaching and cooking and I was so thankful to have such an enthusiastic, talented partner who infused our videos with his great energy!

Thank you to our volunteers!

It’s National Volunteer Week, and while we are always incredibly grateful for our amazing team of volunteers, this week in particular, we want to give them an extra special shout out for helping make our organization what it is. This year we are feeling particularly grateful (and even a little emotional) as we reflect on what our volunteers mean to us at Growing Chefs!

Let’s start by thanking our amazing team of 200 plus volunteers that were trained and ready to bring our hands-on gardening and cooking program into 58 elementary classrooms across B.C. this spring. What a cool group of chefs, farmers, gardeners, nutritionists, educators, and community members you are! I can’t tell you the number of times that a Growing Chefs! staff member says, “I just talked to the most awesome/knowledgeable/passionate volunteer”. Thank you for giving us your time and for being so excited to share your energy with kids. 

When we learned that our teams would not be in the classroom this spring it was definitely disappointing, but we knew we had a group of volunteers that could help us create something new. Our staff team got to work on brainstorming other ways to teach kids, help meet the new needs in the community, and support our friends in the food industry. As always, our volunteers have stepped-up in whatever ways they can to work with us during this shift and are at the heart of everything we are doing. Here is what we have been working on together:

A Virtual Spring Program
more info at growingchefs.ca/whats-new

We are proud to be offering our Spring Program virtually with Growing Chefs! At Home, so families can incorporate food literacy into their home learning. What makes our classroom program so great is the wealth of knowledge, skill, and passion for healthy food that our volunteers bring with them into the classroom. As we have moved to offering lessons virtually, many of our volunteers have come forward as guest bloggers, are virtually inviting us into their home kitchens and gardens by creating lesson videos, and sharing their knowledge so we can still bring their vibrance and expertise to families and kids.

Your energy brings our curriculum to life. Many volunteers and supporters are sharing our work on social media, and sending us words of encouragement. These small things make a big difference to our work and help spread the word about the work we are doing. Thank you for working with us in this new way and please keep those ideas coming!

A New LunchLAB: Chefs for Families Program
more info at growingchefs.ca/lunch-lab

This past fall we started a pilot project in collaboration with Fresh Roots called LunchLAB. In LunchLAB, students grow their own food, supplement that food from local farms, and learn to cook for themselves and up to 185 of their peers twice a week.

Fresh Roots and Growing Chefs!, working with the Vancouver School Board and a fantastic team of collaborators and supporters (including Italian Cultural Centre and Ono Vancouver), quickly pivoted our innovative LunchLAB educational in-school meal program to offer students and their families delicious, healthy, chef-prepared meals out of school. These meals not only provide much-needed nourishment, but meaningful employment for chefs and kitchen professionals who would otherwise not be working.

This quick move to get healthy meals to those in need couldn’t have happened without the outstanding supporters and volunteers who have rallied with us to help us prepare, package, and deliver these chef-prepared meals twice a week. We are incredibly grateful and inspired by your support of this move.

 Supporting You

Growing Chefs! has been supported for the last 15 years by phenomenal volunteers that have made our organization what it is today. We are especially grateful to have so many past and current volunteers from the local food community that have shared their passion for food with so many kids.

As many of the people who support us are now finding themselves faced with unprecedented challenges, we are working to ensure we support this incredible community that has long supported us. We are actively sharing your work on our social media channels so that our followers know how they can help you as well. Please reach out and let us know if there are other ways that we can help!

Happy National Volunteer Week! 

TREK and the Community Action Project

Hey, we’re Fiona, Kate, Roko, and Jada. We’re from the TREK program at Prince of Wales Secondary School. TREK is an outdoor leadership program for grade 10 students. In TREK we are encouraged to take action in our community, which is what we’re doing with Growing Chefs! We are so excited to continue learning about local foods and cooking within the community.

Each Wednesday morning for the next six weeks, Growing Chefs! will host a small group of students from the TREK program. They will support our charity through a variety of volunteer tasks and activities, and in turn, we will provide fun, behind-the-scenes learning experiences about charities in general, and Growing Chefs!

We’ve asked these teens to share a little more about themselves:

What is your favourite vegetable? 

Fiona: Cucumbers

Kate: Carrots 

Roko: Bok Choy 

Jada: Cucumbers 

What was your first food memory? 

Fiona: Eating different meals that our homestay students would cook when they were staying with us.

Kate: Eating is multigrain toast from COBS that i would eat everyday from breakfast. 

Roko: Having large sandwiches that had ham, salami, turkey, bacon with mustard and lettuce in elementary school.

Jada: When I was younger and I remember the first time I was connected with food was when at age 6 I used to go berry picking with my mum and sister. 

What outdoor activity makes you feel connected to the planet? 

Fiona: The outdoor activity that connects me to the planet, is anything near the water- I've grown up swimming and also just enjoyed being outside. 

Kate: Every morning I can see the sun rising behind the mountains on my walk to school.  

Roko: Camping because it disconnects me from the online world.

Jada: Backcountry camping/backcountry camping because I feel at peace with myself and I enjoy being away from the world of social media so I feel more connected with our planet. I also love the accomplishment of being able to say I did the hike.

What family recipe makes you feel warm and fuzzy? 

Fiona: The family recipe that makes me feel warm and fuzzy is our Scottish Caramel Shortbread which my granny, my dad and I all make- it makes me feel connected to my roots.

Kate: Vaniljekranse is a Danish family recipe. I used to make them every Christmas with my mormor. The cookies are like rings and you make them with a meat grinder. They’re so yummy!!

Roko: My grandma's fried chicken and it's way better than KFC.

Jada: Every new years eve I help my mum make a traditional Dutch food called Oliebollen.

Meet Brad Bodnarchuk of Half a Dozen Hospitality!

Growing Chefs! relies on so many individuals who contribute their time and money to ensure children have access to our programs. In Brad Bodnarchuk’s case, he contributes both, and more! Brad, of Half a Dozen Hospitality, is a restaurant consultant, podcast host, father, and jack-of-all-trades. Between the hours he spends with our program teaching kids about yummy vegetables and healthy food systems, and organizing delicious fundraisers to benefit our charity and others, we are humbled by his ongoing support of our mission and organization. Here’s your chance to get to know Brad!

What about Growing Chefs! resonates with you? 

I’ve always been super intrigued by food and people, so right off the bat, this program fulfills that for me. Taking this another step further, I truly love having the ability to work with and teach children. As a father myself, I take a ton of pride in sharing what I know about food with my daughter; it has been the same with the kids I’ve been lucky enough to interact with at Growing Chefs! Giving back to the community and helping share my passion for food with these kids has grown my passion for food even further. 

What is your favourite Growing Chefs! lesson? 

That is a really tough one, since each lesson seems to have it’s own unique and special memory attached to it. If I had to pick one, it would have to be the first lesson when we help the kids plant seeds in the soil. There is something so cool and symbolic about that process and seeing how engaged the kids are with this lesson makes it really special. I feel that showing them how easy it is to do something such as growing peas or lettuce opens their eyes to the real possibilities of fresh and healthy food.

Do you have a garden at home? 

We are so lucky to have some great outdoor space in East Vancouver that gets a ton of natural morning and afternoon sun that has helped us to grow herbs, lettuces, tomatoes, strawberries, and blueberries. It is a true luxury in the summer months to be able to hop outside to harvest some of your very own food that you planted just weeks before.

What's your favourite vegetable? 

Easily the potato. So many different types that you can prepare in so many different ways. I don’t think I will ever get sick of potatoes. 

What's your favourite seasonal recipe? 

Seeing as it’s November at the moment, you can still get some pretty spectacular local beets. I am a sucker for what I call a Beet Poke Salad. Essentially, you are replacing the raw fish you would traditionally see in a Poke bowl with roasted beets! The flavours are incredible and it is probably one of my favourite dishes to make guests whenever we host a dinner - it’s usually a hit. 

Earlier this year your business, Half a Dozen Hospitality, hosted a dinner to benefit Growing Chefs! Tell us a little more about the dinner and/or the work you do? 

That dinner was such a great time! Admittedly, I had no real idea how it was going to turn out. At the time, the Half A Dozen Hospitality Dinner Series had never been done before so our Growing Chefs! dinner was the first of its kind. The premise for the dinners is pretty simple: we pair a local chef with a local farm, and host anywhere between 40 - 60 people for an incredible 6-course meal. The idea came to me as I was lying in bed one night! I thought about creating a platform to connect the awesome people I consult with in the hospitality industry with the community on more positively impactful level. I decided to commit to executing 6 dinners throughout 2019 - basically one every 8 weeks - and see how much money we could raise for different local charities. With each dinner, we take all of the profits and donate them to a local charity that has a food component to their program. Growing Chefs! was a natural fit for our first ever dinner, and we hope to work with you again in 2020. 

Anything else you'd like to share? 

Honestly, I’ve just been really impressed with the kids and their willingness to try almost anything… and also, really eating their vegetables! For me, growing up I wasn’t nearly as adventurous, nor did I want to eat a plate of vegetables, but these kids are asking for seconds and thirds! I think this is so great and is going to serve them well as they grow. 

To anyone that has the time and the ability to volunteer to help Growing Chefs! or a program like it, I would strongly advise you do it. You will learn more about your community than ever before and you will, no doubt, take so much joy from seeing the smiling faces of the people that you have had such a positive impact on.

Brad, thank you so much for your time, passion for food, and great ideas! We can’t wait to work with you more in 2020!

From Farms to Forks 10: Meet Chef Shobna Kannusamy

On October 6th, we are hosting our 10th annual From Farms to Forks harvest kitchen party at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. Our guests will wander from kitchen to kitchen to watch chefs in action, meet growers, and enjoy delicious tasting plates - each paired with a different wine from Mission Hill Family Estate.

From Farms to Forks pairs some of the province’s BEST CHEFS with B.C.'s FINEST GROWERS AND PRODUCERS. From Farms to Forks is Growing Chefs’ biggest fundraising event of the year and we hope to raise $70,000 this year to support our 2019/2020 Classroom Gardening & Cooking Program.

Photo Credit: Mavreen David Photography

One of these featured chefs is PASTRY CHEF SHOBNA KANNUSAMY of Soirette Pastry Boutique who is paired with Sapo Bravo Organics. She will be serving:

Roasted Butternut Squash and Pear Macarons

Soirette is a magical jewel-box pastry shop in Vancouver specializing in macarons, cakes, and other desserts.

What is your favourite seasonal vegetable?

“English Peas.”

What is your favourite local ingredient?

“Cherries.”

What advice can you give to a child who wants to become a chef?

“Always follow your heart!”

What is the one kitchen tool you couldn't live without?

“My immersion Blender”

What is your favourite food memory from when you were a kid?

“Mum's Creme Caramel.”

Why do you believe programs like Growing Chefs! are important?

“It introduces kids to the wonderful variety of whole foods and how awesome it is!”

Thank you Chef Shobna, and thank you Mavreen David Photography for capturing these beautiful photographs for us!

See you at #FFTF10!

From Farms to Forks 10: Meet Chef Karen McAthy

On October 6th, we are hosting our 10th annual From Farms to Forks harvest kitchen party at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. Our guests will wander from kitchen to kitchen to watch chefs in action, meet growers, and enjoy delicious tasting plates - each paired with a different wine from Mission Hill Family Estate.

From Farms to Forks pairs some of the province’s BEST CHEFS with B.C.'s FINEST GROWERS AND PRODUCERS. From Farms to Forks is Growing Chefs’ biggest fundraising event of the year and we hope to raise $70,000 this year to support our 2019/2020 Classroom Gardening & Cooking Program.

One of these featured chefs is CHEF KAREN MCATHY of Blue Heron Creamery who is paired with Hazelmere Organic Farm & BRAD HENDRICKSON of Biota Fermentation. They will be serving:

Jalapeño Poppers
Blue Heron garlic scape cumulus cheese, Biota fermented jalapeño, savoury granola crisp

Blue Heron Creamery produces plant-based, cultured and aged products. They sell 100% dairy-free cheeses, butters, yogurt and preserves

Photo Credit: Mavreen David Photography

What are your favourite seasonal vegetables?

“In spring, asparagus and nettles. In summer, tomato and B.C. kelp. In Fall/Winter, Brussels sprouts.”

What is your favourite meal to cook for yourself?

“Eating peas, radishes, fresh lettuce, tomatoes and more straight from the garden.”

What advice can you give to a child who wants to become a chef?

“Be willing to learn. Be willing to work hard. Be willing to challenge yourself and be challenged. Drink a lot of water.”

Why do you believe programs like Growing Chefs! are important?

“Connecting youth to how food is grown and produced is fundamentally important, and likely at some point to be revolutionary. The disconnect in urban populations around how food is produced and transformed is mind-boggling. Programs like Growing Chefs! provide an important opportunity to engage youth at a stage when curiosity is still rich and imagination can be stimulated.“

Thank you Chef Karen, and thank you Mavreen David Photography for capturing these beautiful photographs for us!

See you at #FFTF10!

From Farms to Forks 10: Meet Bartender Amber Bruce

On October 6th, we are hosting our 10th annual From Farms to Forks harvest kitchen party at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. Our guests will wander from kitchen to kitchen to watch chefs in action, meet growers, and enjoy delicious tasting plates - each paired with a different wine from Mission Hill Family Estate.

From Farms to Forks pairs some of the province’s BEST CHEFS with B.C.'s FINEST GROWERS AND PRODUCERS. From Farms to Forks is Growing Chefs’ biggest fundraising event of the year and we hope to raise $70,000 this year to support our 2019/2020 Classroom Gardening & Cooking Program.

In addition to chefs, two incredible bartenders are also participating in our event including award-winning BARTENDER AMBER BRUCE of The Keefer Bar who is paired with Long Table Distillery and Earnest Ice Cream. Along with the dessert course, Amber will mix:

Briar Patch Fizz with Long Table Gin
Earnest vegan blackberry juniper ice cream

Photo Credit: Mavreen David Photography

What is your favourite seasonal vegetable?

“Yams!”

What are your favourite local ingredients?

“Kelp and honey!”

What is the one kitchen tool you couldn't live without?

“My veggie peeler.”

What advice can you give to a child who wants to become a chef?

“Taste, taste, taste! Expanding your palate will help you find new and exciting flavours and combinations.”

Why do you believe Growing Chefs! is important?

“Cultivating our next generation of chefs will enhance and strengthen our local food culture and identity.”

Thank you Amber and thank you Mavreen David Photography for capturing these beautiful photographs for us!

See you at #FFTF10! Cheers.

From Farms to Forks 10: Meet Chef Ken Nakano

On October 6th, we are hosting our 10th annual From Farms to Forks harvest kitchen party at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. Our guests will wander from kitchen to kitchen to watch chefs in action, meet growers, and enjoy delicious tasting plates - each paired with a different wine from Mission Hill Family Estate.

From Farms to Forks pairs some of the province’s BEST CHEFS with B.C.'s FINEST GROWERS AND PRODUCERS. From Farms to Forks is Growing Chefs’ biggest fundraising event of the year and we hope to raise $70,000 this year to support our 2019/2020 Classroom Gardening & Cooking Program.

One of these featured chefs is CHEF KEN NAKANO of Vancouver’s Shangri-La Hotel who is paired with Cherry Lane Farms. He will be serving:

Smoked Yarrow Meadows Duck
Belle de Boskoop confit, Vadouvan pumpkin espuma, puffed granola

Photo Credit: Mavreen David Photography

When did you realize you wanted to become a chef?

“The lessons learned in my youth while foraging for wild foods with my family surfaced and inspired me to pursue a career that allows me to express myself by creating and recreating flavours from my various memories and experiences.”

What is your favourite seasonal ingredient?

“Matsutake mushrooms. I love them!”

What are your favourite local ingredients?

“Springtime local Bracken Ferns and Butterbur.”

What advice can you give to a child who wants to become a chef?

 “Taste everything; don’t be afraid to try different foods.”

What is your favourite meal to cook for yourself?

“Okonomiyaki. It is very comforting, easy, and delicious.”

 What is your favourite food memory from when you were a kid?

“Osechi-Ryori. The traditional foods prepared to celebrate New Year’s Day.”

 Lastly, what is something people may not guess about you?

“I am an avid motorcycle enthusiast!”

Thank you Chef Ken and thank you Mavreen David Photography for capturing these beautiful photographs for us!

See you at #FFTF10!