Getting Back to Our Roots With Food Traditions

Every culture has food traditions. Food is part of how we celebrate, comfort, make friends, communicate and so much more. Over the next few months the Growing Chefs! Staff and Board will be sharing the food traditions that we have at home. The first tradition we would like to share is from our Executive Director, Helen Stortini. 

Helen Stortini - Growing Chefs! Executive Director: For my family, every Saturday night is pasta night. No one’s sure exactly when the tradition began, but my dad, John, recalls it starting with his three of his older sisters, Rita, Mary, and Valeria back in the 1950s in Northern Ontario. As the youngest of seven siblings, my dad’s sisters were much older and had families of their own by the time he was a school-aged boy. By then, it was just my dad and my poppa Giovanni at home—my grandmother Anna passed away when my father was very young. My poppa often worked nights so Saturday evenings found my dad crashing dinner at my one of my Auntie’s homes. Each of his sisters had their own (delicious) variation of a red sauce and meatballs. My mom, although not Italian, learned to make her own version of this sauce after my parents married and, in my entirely unbiased opinion, she makes the best, softest, most delicious meatballs I’ve ever eaten. Saturday night pasta carried on through my childhood, my teens, and continues to this day for my parents back in Sault Ste. Marie. Every Saturday morning, my mom gets up early, puts on a pot of sauce, makes those special meatballs, and then with my dad’s help, rolls out fresh pasta. 

The Stortini siblings, circa 1971

In the last month, as my family has tried to connect more often with video calls during these isolating times (and are so grateful to have the privilege to do so), nearly seventy years after the Stortini Sister’s Family Pasta Night started, we’ve forged a new tradition and taken our family Pasta Night online. Every week, my mom and dad in the Soo, my sister, brother-in-law, and niece in Austin, and my son and husband here in Vancouver, gather around our tables and log online to dine. The menu in each home varies as we incorporate local and seasonal fare from our respective regions. Past menus include lasagna, tagliatelle with mushrooms, spaghetti with clams, and of course, red sauce and meatballs. But it’s always pasta. In these uncertain times, we may feel farther apart than ever, but we also feel closer than we’ve been in ages.

John with sisters Rita, Mary, Nita, and Val, circa 1999

Fun Fact: Stortini is actually a pasta shape and translates to “little crooked ones”. They are wee elbow shaped noodles that look like a tiny macaroni.  

We would love to learn about the food traditions you have in your home (especially traditions that involve vegetables!). We hope you will comment below and tell us all about it.

Growing Chefs! At Home: Lesson 4

Welcome to our fourth lesson on “Mindful Eating”. Chef Farah is back, and this week we will go over the benefits of mindful eating and how to incorporate this technique into your everyday life.

This is the fifth video in a series, following Lesson Three last week, where we learned all about nutrition. Keep an eye on our social media platforms and website every Tuesday for new lessons!

When was the last time you thought about how you eat? For many of us, it is so common to eat on the go, in front of the TV or during a meeting. This seemingly unimportant detail, can place a huge toll on our body, impacting everything from our digestive health to our relationship with food. On the flip-side, eating mindfully, or with a “conscious awareness”, allows us to be present, focus on what we eat, and connect with our food. We are more able to enjoy the flavours, and listen to our body’s cues on when we are full. This skill of slowing down is important for those of all ages, allowing us to develop a healthy relationship with food and positive eating habits. 

Below is more information on the benefits of mindful eating, tips on how to incorporate this technique into your daily life and a 5-minute video with Chef Farah going through a Mindful Eating Meditation. If you wish to do this exercise on your own, please click here for a PDF version of our sample script.

1. Recognize Hunger Cues

Did you know it takes us around 20-minutes to notice if we are full? Our body releases a hormone called “ghrelin” (or gremlin as I like to call it), which is what tells us we’re hungry; and “leptin” which tells us that we’re satiated. Rather than binge and emotional eating, mindful eating encourages us to eat slower and better tune into the brain-gut connection so we can better tune into these.

2. Better Digestion and Absorption of Nutrients

Even when doing something we perceive as passive, like watching TV or eating on the go, our body is more prone to be in the sympathetic, or “fight or flight” mode, as opposed to the parasympathetic, or “rest and digest” mode. When we are in the sympathetic mode, our body uses all of our energy for our external organs, compromising our abilities to digest. Eating mindfully encourages us to be in our parasympathetic state, where our body is more focused on taking in nutrients.

3. Engage the Senses

As we take the time to eat more slowly, we are able to reconnect with our senses; savouring each flavour, aroma and texture of what we are eating. Rather than focusing on the many distracting thoughts we may have, we are able to be present, and show gratitude and appreciation for what’s in front of us. Our digestion begins with our smell, and taking the time to chew properly is so important in how our body recognizes and assimilates food.

4. Respect Individual Eating Habits

Nowadays there are so many fads and diets out there, and nutrition research is constantly changing. We label food as “good” or “bad”, “healthy” or “unhealthy”, and one minute something is beneficial for us, the next it is not. It is time to move away from these stereotypes, and understand that what works for one person, might not work for another. There is no “ideal diet” or body shape, and although there are many recommendations on how we can be eating, it is important to listen to your individual body. We all have our own beliefs around food, and bringing awareness to this can help shift these.

Now that we know all the incredible benefits of eating mindfully, below are some suggestions on how to incorporate mindful eating with the whole family. 

Eat Communally, In a Distraction Free Zone: Make it a priority to have all family members sit down together, eating in a distraction-free zone. During this 1-2hr window, avoid the usage of any technology (TV, phone, radio, etc.). Encourage positive and light conversation, and use this as an opportunity to connect and engage over the enjoyment of food. Before eating, have everyone say one thing they are grateful for that day. 

Have a Conversation: Take the time to chat about the foods you are eating. Notice the colours, tastes, textures and sounds. Chat about the foods you are eating, and how they benefit us. Encourage everyone to tune in and see how they feel, and eat only until they are full. Consider asking questions such as “How hungry am I? How do I feel when eating this meal?”. 

Make it a Game: For younger children, fill an ice-cube tray with different types of foods. Have your child pick what they want to eat. It’s amazing how intuitive children can be, and they will pick what they want to eat that day, based on what they feel their body needs. For older children, see who can eat the slowest, challenging to put the fork down after every bite.

Resist Boredom/Treat Eating: Rather than using processed foods as a treat, mindlessly snacking, or eating just because, try and tune to see what is really going on. Find other ways to stay occupied and promote favourable behaviours.

We hope these suggestions help and would love to hear from you! Feel free to write us a comment or share on social media how eating mindfully goes for you.

You can find all of our new online content here on our website. We will also be announcing and releasing more fun interactive activities on our social media channels. Thank you for joining us again in our virtual classrooms this week!

When it comes to helping families, there can never be too many cooks in the kitchen!

COVID-19 has required the entire world to re-examine how communities operate. Here’s how we fit in.

Those of us in the local food scene already informally work together and share common goals, so teamwork is not new for Growing Chefs! and Fresh Roots. We’ve been in cahoots for a couple of years now. In fall 2019, we launched LunchLAB, an innovative and educational school meal pilot program. 

In LunchLAB, students learned to grow their own food, supplement that food from local farms, and with the support of their teacher and chef-in-residence, learn to cook for themselves and hundreds of their peers twice a week. Through LunchLAB, we wanted to provide:

• meals that strengthen local food systems and support local farms; 

• meals that provide non-stigmatizing access to those that need it most; 

• meals that are nourishing, safe, healthy, and delicious; 

• meals that kids and youth want to eat. 

With the closure of schools due to COVID-19, Fresh Roots and Growing Chefs!, in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Centre, 
Ono Vancouver, and the Vancouver School Board (VSB), redesigned LunchLAB to become LunchLAB: Chefs for Families. This new program provides healthy, delicious, chef-prepared meals to families in need.

Please see the end of this blog to learn more about the collaborators’ involvement, because there’s no way we could do this all on our own!

Times can be tough for Vancouver families right now, and even tougher for those families who may have already been struggling. We are offering families, identified by Youth and Family Workers at the VSB, healthy, chef-prepared meals that provide nourishment and dignity at this uncertain time. Both Growing Chefs! and Fresh Roots believe food can be a catalyst for positive change and a source of joy and inspiration, even during a crisis.

Before, LunchLAB was serving up to 440 lunches per week. Now, we’re at 5,500 meals! That’s more than a 1000% increase! These meals are made available for pick up or delivery two days a week to 260 local families. Created by professional chefs and composed of restaurant-quality dishes, the menus are carefully and thoughtfully crafted to bring comfort and enjoyment. 

And they’re not just healthy, they’re absolutely delicious, and kid-approved!

Plus, we’re happy to be able to provide meaningful, paid work for chefs and kitchen professionals who would otherwise not be working. Growing Chefs! and Fresh Roots is currently providing more than 180 hrs/week of employment for our chef teams from Ono Vancouver and the Italian Cultural Centre. A huge THANK YOU to both the Italian Cultural Centre and Pacific Restaurant Supply who have donated the use of their kitchen facilities and equipment for the chef teams to prepare and portion the meals. AMAZING!

It’s also super important to us that we support the entire food system including local sourcing and diversion of food waste. Thanks for working with us and thank you for your donations Cropthorne Farm, Discovery Organics, Gordon Food Service, Nature’s Path, and Yen Bros Food Service.

And it’s not just food that the community is contributing. Fresh Prep generously donated cold packs for safe delivery of the meals, Fresh St Market donated paper bags for packing meals, Lyft has donated free rides for families to pick up meals, and Odd Society Spirits donated hand sanitizer for our volunteer delivery drivers. THANK YOU!

Now, We Need Your Help!

Program activities would not be possible without volunteers. If you can volunteer your time, or would like more information about what volunteering looks like, please email Amanda Adams, amanda@growingchefs.ca. 

We also know that not everyone is in a place to make a donation right now, and we understand. But, if you or your employer are, we hope you’ll Order Up* a chef-prepared meal for a family in need with a donation today! Each time you place an order, you provide fresh, healthy, restaurant-quality meals, salad making kits, fresh produce, and pantry staples to local families in need, RIGHT NOW.

$5 Order up an individual serving (every donation matters!)

$20 Order up one meal for a family of 4

$50 Order up three days of meals for a family of 4

$100 Order up meals for one family of 4 for a week

$200 Order up meals for two families of 4 for a week

$500 Order up meals for five families of 4 for a week

* This project is a partnership and contact and donation information will be shared with both charities, Growing Chefs! and Fresh Roots.

The cost of LunchLAB: Chefs for Families is $77,000 per month and donations are required to continue operation. 

Financially Supported By:

• Community Food Centres Canada

• SVP Vancouver

• Vancouver Foundation

• Two generous anonymous family foundations

• Additional individuals in the community

Participating Collaborators: 

• Italian Cultural Centre provides LunchLAB with:

  • In-kind use of their entire facility and equipment to prepare, portion, and distribute the meals 

  • Leadership, expertise and culinary talent from their Executive Chef Jackson Noah, their chefs, staff, and catering division  

  • Community connections and supplier connections for in-kind support and donated food/fresh produce. 

• 
Ono Vancouver provides LunchLAB with:

  • Support developing the new LunchLAB program concept, model, scale, and operations

  • Leadership, expertise, and culinary talent from Executive Chef TJ Conwi, one of the LunchLAB chef-in-residences, and his team of chefs

  • Community connections and supplier connections for in-kind support and donated food/fresh produce. 

• Vancouver School Board provides LunchLab with: 

  • The list of participating families. Each week, the Manager of Enhanced Services and Youth and Family Workers from across the VSB sign up families they feel will best benefit from participating in the meal program. 

Program Contacts:

• Helen Stortini | Executive Director, Growing Chefs!

helen@growingchefs.ca | 778-858-0909

• Alexa Pitoulis | Interim Executive Director, Fresh Roots

alexa@freshroots.ca | 778-764-0DIG (0344), ext. 101

Communications/Fundraising Contacts:

• Jaydeen Williams | Development & Communications Director, Growing Chefs!

jaydeen@growingchefs.ca | 604-710-1677

• Caroline Manuel | Communications and Engagement Manager, Fresh Roots

caroline@freshroots.ca | 778-764-0DIG (0344), ext. 108

#LunchLAB #ChefsForFamilies #OrderUp #GrowingChefs #FreshRoots

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! 

Growing Chefs! at home: Lesson 3

Welcome to our third lesson on “What Vegetables Do For Us”. This week, we will dive into the world of nutrition with chef Farah. 

This is the fourth video in a series, following Lesson Two last week, where we learned how to use all five senses and descriptive words to engage with new foods. Keep an eye on our social media platforms and website every Tuesday for new lessons!

During this lesson, we will discuss what vitamins are, explore the nutritional content of various vegetables, discover the benefits of Vitamins A, B, C, E and K, and provide tips on how to incorporate more vitamins into your daily meals. Below is a worksheet that you can fill out along the way. 

We would love to hear about your food adventures! Tag us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter so we can hear about the delicious foods our explorers have discovered.

You can find all of our new online content here on our website. We will also be announcing and releasing more fun interactive activities on our social media channels. Thank you for joining us again in our virtual classrooms this week!

Feel free to print off as many worksheets as you would like! Please find the black and white PDF version available here.

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!

Growing Chefs! at home: Lesson 2

We’re back with our second lesson! Let’s learn about what’s happening in our gardens, and start to explore vegetables with Cayley and Tommy Tomato.

This is the third video in a series, following Lesson One last week, where we planted a windowsill garden. We are launching a new video every Tuesday, following our regular learning trajectory - so keep your eyes peeled!

This week, we’re condensing a couple of the concepts from Lesson Two of our classroom gardening and cooking program. First, we’re going to chat briefly about what’s happening to our seeds underneath the soil - which may be more than you think!

We’re also going to start exploring vegetables, learning about how to use all five of our senses to engage with new foods, and how to use descriptive words to talk about what we think of them. Then, we’re going to invite all of our friends to become vegetable explorers! We’ve included a worksheet below that everybody can use to keep track of all the new delicious foods they try. 

We would love to hear about your food adventures! Tag us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter so we can hear about the delicious foods our explorers have discovered.

You can find all of our new online content here on our website. We will also be announcing and releasing more fun interactive activities on our social media channels (facebook, twitter, instagram). Thank you for joining us again in our virtual classrooms this week!

Print off as many Food Explorer Worksheets as you’d like! There is a PDF version available here.

How to Cook… with Kids!

When I think of cooking with kids, I automatically envision making a cake with my kiddo when she was a toddler (flour everywhere, sticky hands, big smiles, big mess). Anyone who has cooked with kids knows it can be an adventure. If cooking with kids is on your “want-to-do list” in the coming weeks, here are a few tips to maximize the fun and learning!

Growing Chefs! staff member Afton Bell, and her daughter, Penny

Make a plan:

Before you invite kids to cook with you, take a few minutes to make a plan. Decide what tasks are safe (and fun) for kids or how tasks can be modified to suit a child better. For example, a kid can break up green beans by hand instead of using a knife. You know the kids best – pick tasks that suit their age, maturity, and abilities. You can change it up as you go, but a plan it's a good place to start.

Pick your tools:

Select kitchen tools that are the correct size and weight (hint… don’t let kids use your largest kitchen knife). A stool (to stand on) or a small table (to stand at) can be really helpful to ensure that younger children are able to work comfortably and safely. 

Talk about safety:

Talk with kids about safety; including what is hot and sharp and any items that may be off-limits. Chat with kids about how being calm and respectful in the kitchen is essential. If anything feels unsafe; modify or stop the activity. Remember to talk about (and practice) frequent hand-washing. 

Stay in the moment:

Now is not the time to multi-task. Pay attention to what the kids are doing – this will keep things safe and on track. Plus, staying present will be more meaningful for both you and the kids.

It doesn’t have to be Instagram-worthy:

Involve kids in the making of day-to-day (not so Instagram-worthy items). Making toast, opening a can of beans, and scrambling an egg are great basic lessons. These simple meals require almost no prep or pre-planning and still teach valuable skills. 

Expect some spills and embrace the adventure:

Little hands are very capable, but their dexterity and enthusiasm are not always the same as an adult. Expect some muffin batter to land outside the muffin cups and some ingredients to end up in their tummy. Try to enjoy the imperfect perfection of something created by a kid and allow kids (and yourself) to taste, experiment, and create; it is all part of the adventure! 

Have Fun and Enjoy!

Penny, Age 7

Garden Art Show

In Lesson 1 of our Spring Gardening and Cooking Program we talk about gardens and even plant our own windowsill garden. We hope you are planting a windowsill garden along with us at home. If you are, we would love to see drawings of what your garden will look like once it starts to grow. If you haven’t started growing a garden yet, draw us a picture of your “Dream Garden”.

Caregivers: Please take a photo of your child’s drawing (on the below printable or any piece of paper) and add it to the comments along with their name and age by April 10th to be part of our online Garden Art Show. We will feature the art on our website and our social media.

Drawing Inspiration Words: bees, vegetables, worms, flowers, fruit trees, animals, insects, soil, garden tools, sunshine, grass, seeds, watering can. 

Garden Gallary

Growing Chefs! at home: Garden Talk and Lesson 1

Chef Selma and her broccoli friend are here for our first Garden Talk! Are you ready to grow a windowsill vegetable garden together?

How to use this content

This is the second video in a series, following last week's introduction video. We are launching a new video every Tuesday, following our regular learning trajectory.

This week, we bring you a version of the first lesson in our classroom gardening and cooking program. We talk about gardens, seeds, and soil; there are some exploring, writing, and drawing exercises in this lesson, and we will plant a windowsill vegetable garden together. You can expect this lesson to fill about 30 minutes.

Our Spring program is aimed at kids in grades 1, 2, and 3, but folks of all ages will likely learn something new! If it’s possible for an adult to be around during these lessons, that would be great. Our growing chefs might need their help a couple of times. We will let you know in the video when there are good moments to offer some help.

You can find this new online content here on our website, and we will be making announcements about it on our social media (facebook, twitter, instagram). Thank you so much for your patience while we reinvent ourselves and our programs. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or comments.

Getting ready for this lesson

Materials needed for this lesson:

Sheet of white paper

Pencil

Coloured pencils or crayons

Tall container(s)

Shallow container

Soil

Seeds

Watering can or spray bottle

3 small bowls (or one for every type of seed you have)