Community Kitchen Roundtable

This free, two hour roundtable is an opportunity to meet other community kitchen leaders, to share and hear about other kitchen activities, challenges & successes.  Come to our Vancouver office to participate in person or particpate remotely via teleconferencing.   No long distance charges for those calling from within BC.

We are now posting an overview of what is discussed in our Roundtables – visit the blog category “Around the Table” to see notes of previous meetings.

Date/Time:  Thurs, May 23, 2013,  10:00 am – 12:00 pm   

To register:   Please register for this free event at: http://ckroundtable.brownpapertickets.com/

Location: Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society, 1150 Raymur Ave. (Click here for directions)

For more information:  Contact Shona Lam at shonal@foodbank.bc.ca or 604-216-2326

Demo for Dietitians Workshop in Vancouver

Demos for Dietitians workshop includes:

• All the tools you need to immediately start your own cooking classes and demonstrations
• Education from two registered dietitians with over 800 hours of food demonstration experience and extensive culinary backgrounds
• Activities and discussions on assessing audience, recipe selection and class planning
• Hands-on knife skills training
• A live demonstration of basic culinary skills including caramelizing, browning, deglazing, roasting, and sauteing and instruction on how to teach this skills
• A unique teaching environment and catered lunch
• A 130-page manual, activity workbook, and recipes hand-picked for your classes

Date:  June 7, 2013

Time: 9 am to 4 pm

Early bird price: $195

Location: Choices Market Kitchen,  Kitsilano

Spaces are limited. Register today at: http://demosfordietitiansvancouver2013.eventbrite.com/

For more information, please contact: info@demosfordietitians.com

 

Vancouver School Food Network

This past week, Fresh Choice Kitchens put together 6 bins of kitchen equipment for the Vancouver School Food Network (VFSN). The VSFN will arrange the loan and distribution of these bins to schools in the Vancouver School Board (VSB). Each bin provides a classroom with kitchen equipment for 6 cooking stations.   Funds to purchase the equipment came from Hain Celestials’s donation to Fresh Choice Kitchens, a VFSN member.

VSFN helps teachers and other school staff start, maintain, and teach in school gardens and about local food. VSFN’s mission is to build the capacity of school communities to engage learners to be more food literate. VSFN is a network of school, community, and health agencies and programs who are working towards healthier and sustainable school food systems in Vancouver. This work includes education about, modelling of, and support for growing, preparing, eating and appreciating healthy, sustainable foods, and managing waste.

Members of the Vancouver School Food Network includes:

• Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA)
•  Evergreen Foundation
• Fresh Choice Kitchens, Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society (that’s us!)
• Fresh Roots Urban Farm
• Growing Chefs
• Project CHEF
• Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) 
• Think&EatGreen@School
• UBC Landed Learning Project, including SOYL (Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership)
• Vancouver Coastal Health
• Vancouver School Board

Hundreds of teachers from the VSB have taken advantage of the knowledge and resources of Network organizations through the network’s professional development workshops. This school year, the VSFN is offering monthly after-school workshops for teachers who want to engage their students in food production, processing, and eating to explore topics of food, health, and the environment.

To see photos of these kits, visit the Fresh Choice Kitchens’ Flickr page 

Brent Mansfield, from UBC and Diane Collis from Fresh Choice Kitchens show one of the school cooking kits. Both Brent and Diane are members of the Vancouver School Food Network. Funding for the kitchen equipment came from Hain Celestial’s donation to Fresh Choice Kitchens.

Notes from the May 2012 Community Kitchen Roundtable

We held our last Community Kitchen Roundtable on May 31, 2012.   View the notes on this meeting.  In this Roundtable, attendees discussed the following topics:

• Funding for Community Kitchens (CKs)
• Strategies for Conflicts
  • e.g personality issues, mental issues (inappropriate behaviors), boundary issues
• Getting food for CKs (accessing food)
• Ways to save money
• Participant issues
  • drop- off rate (e.g. Only 50% staying); no shows; late people
• how to gain momentum & get new participants
• Leadership
  • mentoring new leaders
  • determining readiness of facilitators
  • hiring

Our next roundtable will be  Thurs, Oct 4, 2012, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm . Partcipate by coming in to our Vancouver office or attend via teleconference!

Safe Canning Basics Demonstration in Vancouver

Date/Time:   Thursday, June 13, 2013 – 9:00am-4:00pm (please bring a lunch)

Location:   Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society,  1150 Raymur Ave, Vancouver BC

This one-day session for canning instructors/leaders will review the basics of both boiling water bath (BWB) canning and pressure canning.  Learn about old and new canning equipment, tools and current canning products on the market. Get the latest information on safe canning practices.

The workshop will consist of a Powerpoint presentation, demonstration and discussion.   Due to time limitations, please note that there will be no hands-on component.

Bring your canning questions and comments and a lunch!

Presenters:     Diane Collis, Manager  and Darlene Tanaka, Training Co-ordinator,  Fresh Choice Kitchens

Cost:      $45  (Includes Bernardin cookbook & canning toolkit)

To Register: Contact Darlene Tanaka at 604-216-2325, darlenet@foodbank.bc.ca  or complete & send in the registration form available in Word or or in Adobe (pdf).

Registration is limited to 15 per class and payment is required upon registration.  Register at least at least 3 days before the workshop to secure your spot.  Cancellations must be done at the latest, 72 hours before. No refunds for no-shows.  Please bring a lunch.

Spread the word about this event with our poster.

FoodSafe Level One Course

We all have questions when it comes to food safety. What should we be concerned with when handling food in our kitchens? What’s safe and what isn’t in our day-to-day work in the kitchen?

Come learn the basics about safe food handling in a friendly classroom environment. This is a provincially recognized course taught by qualified instructors. It is suitable for individuals who have a grade 8 or higher reading comprehension level.

Dates/Times:  Sat,  March 9,  2013, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm (view poster)   Revised date

Location: Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society, 1150 Raymur Ave. Vancouver, BC

Cost: $50.00 – $95.00 (sliding scale)

To register: Contact Darlene Tanaka, at 604-216-2325 or darlenet@foodbank.bc.ca or complete and send in the registration form in Word or in Adobe pdf.

Please note: Lunch is not provided, so please bring a lunch.  Registration is limited to 20 per class. Payment required upon registration.  Register at least at least 3 days before the workshop to secure your spot.  Cancellations must be done at the latest, 72 hours before. No refunds for no-shows.  The workshop may be rescheduled if registration numbers are not met.

Income related gap in Canada’s health is growing

A Canadian Medical Association poll conducted by Ipsos Reid poll found that there is a widening health gap between Canadians in different income brackets.  The heath indicators included eating habits:

The eating habits of Canadians earning $30,000 or less were more likely to be described as “OK” or “not very healthy,” 33 per cent, than those earning the most, 23 per cent.

About half of those surveyed, 45 per cent, said there is too much to know about healthy eating.

In terms of eating habits, those earning the least were much less likely to say they ate five servings of fruits and vegetables every day or often, 50 per cent, compared with 66 per cent among those earning the most.

-CBC News, Aug 13, 2012

For more information, take a look at:

“Wealth equals health,” Canadian doctors say CBC News, Aug 13, 2012 http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/08/10/health-income-cma.html

“Income-related gap in Canadians’ health is growing survey suggests.”  Canadian Press, Aug 13, 2012 http://www.canada.com/health/Income+related+Canadians+health+growing+survey+suggests/7082212/story.html

CMA poll finds “worrisome” gap in income-related health status.   Canadian Medical Association. Aug 13, 2012 http://www.cma.ca/index.php?ci_id=204846&la_id=1