Introducing Our New Intern: Andria Coulbourn!

Hi everyone! My name is Andria and I am a new student intern working with Growing Chefs for the Fall! I am beyond excited to be working with Growing Chefs, especially as we navigate our new online world and find new ways to keep creating community. Food is a huge part of my life, and I am very passionate about food literacy and creating sustainable food systems. 

Agriculture has always been a large part of my life! My grandparents live in Saskatchewan where they run multiple commercial greenhouses, producing fresh veggies to sell at farmers markets and through local distributors. Since I was young I’ve always spent time in my summers working in the greenhouses. I loved picking tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers but my favourite time was working at the markets. Since I was little I was so amazed by the wonderful community created between the vendors and purchasers at the market. Local agriculture brought so many people together! 

Since spending many summers picking and growing veggies at the greenhouses my interest in food led me to attend UBC to study in the faculty of Land and Food Systems. Land and Food Systems allows me to study interdisciplinary programs to learn all about my focus on international development and sustainable food systems. Through Land and Food Systems I also learned about international agriculture and had the opportunity to travel to Indonesia to take courses at an agricultural university south of Jakarta.

This amazing experience even allowed me to tour various agricultural systems such as tea fields and cassava fields. More locally, my courses have also taught me all about food literacy, which further encouraged me to pursue education in my future and hopefully teach in elementary schools. I am currently in my fourth year at UBC and I am really looking forward to bringing the knowledge I learn from Growing Chefs and what I’ve learned in the classroom together to help create food literacy and more sustainable food systems!

In my spare time, I love going on walks, watching the sunset at the beach and of course curling up to watch a movie with lots of snacks!

A Growing Team at Growing Chefs! – Introducing Farah

Hello! My name is Farah, and I am so excited to be working with Growing Chefs! as the new Fundraising and Operations Assistant. If there’s one thing I love, it’s food! Whether growing, harvesting, cooking, or educating, I love engaging with food in all its stages (although I’m admittedly better in some areas than others!). Joining the Growing Chefs! team was a no-brainer for me as it combines all my passions into one!

What initially sparked my interest in the food movement was my love for animals and the environment. In my extremely large extended family I was dubbed “the hippie”, and whilst everyone else was more interested in materialistic items, I was always the one in the dirt and chasing after dogs. Growing up as a first generation Canadian in Toronto, a city with many food deserts, food security and social justice issues became huge interests of mine. I even became a vegetarian at the age of thirteen after learning about factory farming, and this all started my quest in advocating for more just food systems.

Despite this, it actually took me many years to appreciate my family’s amazing cooking or being in the kitchen. Growing up in a household that experienced generations of displacement and colonialism, there was always this battle between retaining culture and adopting Western values. I constantly pushed away from my heritage; so much so when I moved out of my parents house I worked at two restaurants so I wouldn’t have to cook! It wasn’t until I developed an autoimmune condition and started reconnecting with my family roots, that my passion for connecting people with the communal and cultural components of food really sparked.

So what brought me to Vancouver? Many years ago I got bit by the travel bug when pursuing my undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies. A backpacking trip around Europe, and an internship in Tanzania, inspired me to keep moving. I spent time working for various non-profits, research projects and social enterprises relating to sustainability and food security. Whilst managing a permaculture farm and education centre in Nicaragua, I met an incredible R.H.N who had recently graduated from a Holistic Nutrition program in Vancouver. I had already been self-studying nutrition, and her knowledge inspired me to move here for school a year and a half ago. Little did I know, this seemingly small encounter would spark a huge change; finally settling down the wanderer in me. To this day, I am constantly blown away by all the amazing organizations in Vancouver and feel very fortunate to be in a city with so many people working towards creating accessible food systems.

Apart from food and nerding out on nutrition, I also love yoga and Ayurveda. I have completed two 200-hour YTT’s and in the process of finishing up a 300-hour training. When I’m not on the mat, staining my roommate’s kitchen utensils with turmeric or behind a book, you can find me out in nature, enjoying the beautiful sunsets, beaches and mountain views Vancouver has to offer!