WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13TH AT 7:30 PM (PST)
Catching Fillings - For the Love of Dumplings
Four Season Foraging
FOUR SEASON FORAGING
Wednesday, October 13th at 7:30 pm (PST)
Spend time with Robin Kort of Swallow Tail Tours, Lori Snyder, Indigenous herbalist & educator, and Steph Ganea of Seeker’s Club to learn the ins and outs of foraging safely, ethically, and sustainably year round!
$75 ticket - Includes $25 tax receipt, reference materials, dish ingredients and recipe, and wine. Pickup on October 12th from 4:00-7:00PM at the Italian Cultural Centre, 3075 Slocan St, Vancouver.
$20 zoom-only ticket - Includes virtual access (no beverages/ingredients).
Guests will receive the ingredients and recipe to prepare a dish designed by Chef Devon Latte of The Acorn, and a bottle of wine from Mission Hill Family Estate.
Maple + Sherry Glazed Vancouver Island Chanterelles from Lance "Wildcraft" Staples, Caramelized Chanterelle Purée, Toasted Haida Gwaii Wakame. Finished with Harissa Olive Oil from Victoria Olive Oil Co.
Special Guests
Photo Credit: Food Network
Lori Snyder
Lori Snyder is a Métis herbalist and educator who shares the wisdom and traditions of her Indigenous roots. Tsuu T’ina, Anishinaabe, Cree, Nakoda, and Nipissing Nations are mixed with her Scottish, French, and Celtic ancestry. She shares knowledge with people of all ages, reminding us of the practices of reciprocity with all that exists.
My favourite local ingredient is: Any fruit or vegetable that grows locally, like salal berries.
The best advice I can give a child who wants to become a chef is: Try not to eat sugar so you can educate your palate and really taste the wonderful world of flavours.
My favourite meal to cook for myself is: Roasted vegetable lentil cumin soup.
If I could have any superpower it would be: The ability to clean up the ocean.
I believe programs like Growing Chefs are important because: Food is the gift of life, and anyone who shares that love is important.
Chef Robin Kort - Swallow Tail Tours
My favourite seasonal vegetable is: Tomato.
My favourite local ingredient is: Sea Urchin.
The best advice I can give a child who wants to become a chef is: Play with your food!
My favourite meal to cook for myself is: Congee with wild mushrooms is my comfort food.
My favourite food memory when I was a kid is: Picking berries with my Grandma and making Saskatoon berry pie.
I believe programs like Growing Chefs are important because: Having a healthy relationship with food and knowing where it comes from is just the right thing to engender in a kid, both for their own health and to show respect for the earth.
Steph Ganea - Seeker’s Club
My favourite seasonal vegetables are: Perfectly ripened heirloom or cherry tomatoes.
My favourite local ingredients are: Chanterelle or Lobster mushrooms.
The best advice I can give a child who wants to become a chef is: Help in the kitchen as much as you can! If you’re curious about an ingredient, ask, or research it yourself. Ask if you can experiment with one new ingredient or recipe a month. Try to grow a garden. Learn about your local wild edibles to really take your cooking skills to the next level.
If I could have any superpower it would be: Definitely flying. It would make getting to the best foraging spots a breeze.
Chef Devon Latte - The Acorn
My favourite local ingredient is: The bounty of local wild foraged mushrooms and greens!
My favourite food memory when I was a kid is: Gardening with my mom, grilling in the summers with my dad!
The best advice I can give a child who wants to become a chef is: Start cooking as much as possible in your younger years, read plenty of books on technique. Understanding food is the most important part of cooking!
I believe programs like Growing Chefs are important because: This program is amazing. Having the younger generation understand what it takes to grow food, even in urban environments, is extremely important. In this new world of ultra-take out, cooking at home is becoming more and more rare. The act of showing and teaching kids to grow and cook food, how delicious and nutritious it really is, it's priceless!
It's Back! From Farms to Forks Year 12!
For Immediate Release
Vancouver + Victoria, BC:
Growing Chefs’ From Farms to Forks is returning for its 12th year this October! Like our palates, this event has evolved over the years and has grown from a one-night event into a series of events that are accessible across Vancouver and Victoria-- and virtually for those across B.C. and Canada!
This series of events is a celebration of local chefs, restaurants, and food producers while highlighting the importance of community and connection surrounding food. For the safety of all including chefs, restaurants, and guests, From Farms to Forks will remain online this year but each online event will be jam-packed with energy, education, and eats!
The aim is to raise $65,000 for Growing Chefs edible education programming and initiatives throughout the upcoming school year supporting B.C. kids and their families. This is an opportunity for foodies around the province to show their love for the Industry while supporting the next generation of food lovers.
With five online events plus an online auction and 50/50 raffle there are multiple ways for food lovers around B.C. and Canada to get involved throughout the five-week fundraising event. The online auction and 50/50 raffle will run from Friday, October 1, 2021 until Sunday, November 7, 2021 that is open to everyone.
Tickets for the five-week event go on sale on Wednesday, September 1, 2021 at 9am. Tickets are limited.
The 2021 Lineup of Events are:
Sunday, October 3, 2021 at 8:00PM - Culinary Kick-Off & Secret Menu takeout dinner*
Join us for the kick-off party and enjoy menus from a small selection (shhh it’s a secret) of Vancouver and Victoria restaurants with special guests popping into the event to say hello! Part of the series pass only.Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 7:30PM - Four Season Foraging*
Spend the evening with Robin Kort of Swallow Tail Tours and other foraging experts and educators to learn the ins and outs of foraging safely, ethically, and sustainably year round! Part of the series pass or individually priced.Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 6:00PM - Catching Fillings - For the Love of Dumplings (Cooking Class)*
How do dumplings connect to us, our cuisines, and our cultures? Let Chefs Karima Chellouf, Matthew Murtagh-Wu and more guide you through a dumpling-folding class as they share their techniques, their stories, and their love of dumplings! Part of the series pass or individually priced.Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 8:00PM - Trivial Charcutes Local Food Trivia*
You’ll be served up 12 courses of delicious local food trivia hosted by Growing Chefs’ own trivia buff and Program Director Amanda Adams! Halloween costumes are encouraged and there will be lots of treats to win! Part of the series pass or individually priced.Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 10:00AM - Choose Your Own Brunch Adventure (Family Cooking Class)*
Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but Brunch is an event with this Family Cooking Class which allows the kids in your life to get their hands dirty and start their day with food, fun, and family! Part of the series pass or individually priced.
*Please note these events may include a drop-off or pick-up of partial ingredients/beverages from a central location in either Vancouver or Victoria.
Passes for access to all five events of the Food Series are $250 per person or $450 per couple (and include a $200 or $400 charitable tax receipt, respectively). The Secret Menu takeout dinner for October 3rd is an added $50 per ticket which goes directly to the restaurant. All pass holders will receive a Culinary Cache filled with tasty treats and products with a focus on preventing food waste and food preservation from local food producers and businesses. The Culinary Cache is limited to the first 100 pass holders- so get your tickets early!
Prices for individual events vary. Individual event tickets range from $20 (for virtual access only) to $75 (includes ingredients and/or beverages).
Tickets and additional information will be available on www.growingchefs.ca.
We’re grape-ful to have Mission Hill Family Estate Winery back this year as our wine sponsor.
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For additional information please contact:
Media Contact
Kathleen Beveridge
kmhbeveridge at gmail.com
604.999.1934
Development & Communications Director, Growing Chefs
Jaydeen Williams
jaydeen at growingchefs.ca
604.710.1677
Family Cooking Class: Summer Gazpacho
Join us for our ‘Family Cooking Class: Summer Gazpacho’ with Chef Morgan and learn how to make a cooling, delicious summer soup.
Chef Morgan has planned a fun and exciting “choose your own adventure” style gazpacho recipe and live cooking class for kids and families (grown-up supervision recommended). Join us as we learn how to make a delicious and nutritious cold summer soup that you can easily customize to your family’s personal tastes. Learn about seasonal fruits and vegetables and find out what the difference is between a baton and a batonnet. There will be plenty of hands-on opportunities to learn and practice kid-friendly kitchen skills during this event.
Family Cooking Class: Summer Gazpacho
In support of Growing Chefs. Where kids’ connections to food take root.
$25 | July 28, 2021 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM PST
Knives for little hands!
Looking for a beginner-friendly knife? Check out the Kussi Kids Knife from House of Knives.
"The Kussi Kids Chef Knife was designed for kids with the help of kids and is great for all beginners in the kitchen, no matter their age! Crafted from German quality steel for great edge retention, the blade shape and length are just right. The blade is wide enough to allow for some knuckle clearance—perfect for learning the basic rock and cross chop techniques. Designed with safety in mind, the rubberized handle ensures a non-slip grip, even when wet! The rounded blade tip and safety choil make sure that little fingers don’t slip onto the blade." - House of Knives
Use promo code GROWINGCHEFS when shopping at houseofknives.ca and 10% will be donated to Growing Chefs!
Get your kids and grownups into the kitchen! Can’t wait. Hope to see you there.
Family Food Challenge
Growing Chefs is happy to share the Family Food Challenge with Whole Foods Market and Healthy Family Living Vancouver in support of Growing Chefs.
From June 12th-19th, join the Family Food Challenge and qualify to win over $3,000 in prizes, including a Springfree Trampoline for your family! Registration is FREE and open to all BC families starting June 1st! The first 100 families who register receive a $10 Whole Foods Market gift card.
And for every single family who registers, Whole Foods Market, Nature’s Path EnviroKidz, and Que Pasa will donate $25 to Growing Chefs (up to a maximum of $6,000).
How to Participate:
Complete up to 8 simple challenges over 8 days, and post your photos in Healthy Family Living Vancouver's Facebook Event for your chance to win big! Do the challenges at your own pace – all in one day or spread them out, it’s up to you!
The more challenges you complete, the more prizes you’ll qualify to win, and the more entries you’ll earn for the Grand Prize Draw that includes a Springfree Trampoline to help keep your family active all summer long!
Registration Perks:
$10 Whole Foods Market gift card (for the first 100 families who register);
Coupon for $10 off your next purchase of $50+ at Whole Foods Market;
Chance to win over $3,000 in prizes, including a Springfree Trampoline, and healthy treats from awesome brands available at Whole Foods Market stores, including Once Upon a Farm, Patience Fruit & Co, Nature’s Path EnviroKidz, Que Pasa, siggi’s, Stonyfield Organic, and Nora’s Plant-Based,
Choose Your Own Adventure E-Cookbook For Kids (PDF) from Healthy Family Living Vancouver;
Complimentary access to a Growing Chefs online cooking class for the whole family!
We would like to send a big thank you to Healthy Family Living Vancouver and Whole Foods Market for putting together this fun event. And to Once Upon a Farm, Patience Fruit & Co, Nature’s Path EnviroKidz, Que Pasa, siggi’s, Stonyfield Organic, and Nora’s Plant-Based for sponsoring the event.
We cannot wait to participate and to see the photos of your families having fun with the healthy challenges.
Once Upon a Thyme - Food Trivia
Looking for a fun way to support Growing Chefs’ spring edible education programming? Check out our Once Upon a Thyme - Food Trivia event next Tuesday, April 27th at 7:00 pm PST.
Once Upon a Thyme will be an exciting, interactive, virtual food trivia game designed for adults. This trivia night's theme will be the story behind food (On the Origin of Pea Seeds, if you will). At this event, you can learn more about where food comes from, plus, top players will be eligible to win some great prizes from our favourite local producers! Zoom-only tickets are $15 each, and tickets that include a 4-pack/6-pack of local beer are $28. Those who purchase Trivia + Beer Tickets will be required to pick up their 4-pack/6-pack of beer from select local breweries before the event.
Participating breweries include Bridge Brewing Company in North Vancouver, The Parkside Brewery in Port Moody, and Strange Fellows Brewing in Vancouver.
Prize sponsors include Lonetree Cider, Lonsdale BridgeDeck, Mogiana Coffee, RISE Kombucha, Sea Cider Farm & Ciderhouse, and Whistler Brewing Co.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Simon Rao is a Graphic Design student at LaSalle College Vancouver. Growing Chefs is lucky to benefit from Simon's creativity and dedication in the marketing designs for this event. Thank you, Simon!
A Prize Pack as Sweet as Honey!
Image by: Kar Harvey, an illustrator and writer who lives on the unceded and ancestral home territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tseil-Waututh people. She is Tsilhqot’in and Syilx and grew up on territories of the Semiahmoo and Kwantlen Nations.
It’s February! A month that is typically abuzz with love - for sweethearts, family, and community.
This month we kicked off our Bee Sweet campaign to celebrate all of our amazing monthly donor program, the Champion Radishes! Have you heard of our Champion Radish program? For the month of February and March, we invite you to join the club!
Join the club this Feb/March and be entered to win the “Bee Sweet Prize Pack” valued at over $250, full of B.C. goodies. Current Champion Radish Club members can also win by referring a new member, or increasing their gift!
The deadline to enter, March 31st.
The prize draw is on April 2nd.
A big thank you to our generous prize pack sponsors:
Keep an eye out for more posts about some of our amazing Champion Radish members.
Photo credit: Mavreen David Photography
Please note: The gift basket contains items that are not captured in this photo :)
Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival
We’re writing to amplify the 11th Annual Vancouver Hot Chocolate Festival run by City Food Magazine! Vancouver’s best chocolatiers, pastry shops, bakeries, cafes, gelato, and ice cream makers are coming together, again, to create delectable hot chocolates to warm your bodies and cheer up your soul during Vancouver’s’ damp and gloomy Winter.
The initiative started in 2011 and was the first city-wide initiative in the world to use the hot chocolate beverage as a way to support small, local businesses. The initiative also donates a portion of proceeds to three charitable partners, including Growing Chefs; The Downtown Eastside Women’s Job Training Program of the PHS COMMUNITY SERVICES SOCIETY - run by East Vancouver Roasters; and Fresh to Families - Farmers Market Nutrition Coupon Program for low-income families, run by Vancouver Farmer Markets. This past year has been especially hard on local businesses and the Hot Chocolate Festival has allowed donations to their charitable partners to be optional for 2021.
The Hot Chocolate Festival encourages all participants to follow covid-19 safety protocols. And has modified the festival to respect BC Health Authority rules and regulations, including encouraging social distancing, mask-wearing, and offering takeout options. Some vendors will also be offering DIY hot chocolate kits that you may purchase to take home or mail to friends who will not be with you this year. For a full list of covid-19 measures, click here.
If drinking hot chocolate isn’t sweet enough, the Hot Chocolate Festival will also be having a photo contest on Instagram with $975 in gift certificate prizes available from participating vendors. You could be enjoying sweet treats for months to come if you win. For details on the contest, click here.
Our Growing Chefs team members and volunteers will be making their way across Vancouver, Burnaby, and White Rock to try a few of the hot chocolate creations. Stay tuned on our Instagram for updates on what we try!
Thank you to all the vendors who are participating in the festival. For a list of vendors and flavors, click here. And for a virtual map of vendors, click here.
We’d also like to extend a big thank you to Daily Hive, BC Food + Wine Radio, Made in Print, and Vancouver Farmers Markets for sponsoring the festival.
And of course, a huge thank you to City Food Magazine for putting on the Hot Chocolate Festival and including Growing Chefs as a charitable partner for the 4th year. We’re so grateful.
List Of Vendors
Click on vendor names for a link to their available flavours.
🌱plant-based options available
LADURÉE 🌱
Stirring Up Fun!
Calling kids of all ages! A fun family cooking class awaits!
Stirring Up Fun happens this Sunday, November 8th. This class is going to be so cool. Grab your kid-sized aprons (and your kids!) and master your family’s cooking skills with Chef Alain Chow of the acclaimed Vancouver restaurant, Kissa Tanto. Consistently ranked as one of Canada’s best restaurants since opening its doors in 2017, Kissa Tanto is basically… a big deal!
stirring up fun - Family cooking class | november 8, 2020 | 3:00 PM
$50 INCLUDES ingredients from Whole foods market | $20 ZOOM ONLY
Chef Alain will walk your family through some accessible cooking techniques to help you make a delicious, nutritious, and vegan (but so good!) pasta dish based on Kissa Tanto’s famous Tajarin Pasta. How can stock infuse your pasta sauce with flavour? What is nutritional yeast for? Answer these questions and many more this Sunday.
Photo by Scout Magazine
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Our longtime friends, Whole Foods Market is sponsoring out From Farms to Forks Food Series, and also providing the ingredients you’ll cook with! The team at Whole Foods have carefully selected ingredients from their stores to help recreate restaurant-quality food at home.... with your kids! Sound too good to be true? We promise, it’s not! Ingredient packages will be available for pick-up at two convenient Whole Foods locations, with everything you need for the meal (except a little oil and salt) already assembled. Easy peasy!
Speaking of Whole Foods, Growing Chefs is currently the beneficiary of the fall 2020 bag donation program! All BC Whole Foods locations are collecting 10 cent donations for Growing Chefs for every bag you don’t take home. Don’t forget--pack a reusable bag, save the environment, AND support food literacy in your community… all in one.
Now, don’t see the word vegan and opt out! We’re telling you… Chef Alain has packed nutrition and flavour into this dish. And we purposely chose a cool vegan dish to teach you something new. You and your little chefs will learn how to use products you might not encounter every day and make something you eat all the time more nutritious.
And, there’s more! A musical guest. No kidding! The maestro Matt Kennedy (who happens to be a Growing Chefs board member on top of being an incredible musician) will delight you with tunes for all ages following the cooking demonstration! Enjoy restaurant ambience in your own home, with a chef-coached meal and musical entertainment… you’ll basically be fine dining!
Matt Kennedy is a Vancouver-based singer-songwriter and member of several acoustic string bands including fan favourite "Farmteam". Matt sings and plays guitar and mandolin.
Photo by Mavreen David Photography
Get your kids and grownups into the kitchen! Can’t wait. Hope to see you there.