Community Experience

Culinary learners prepared 2,000 meals for the Shepherds of Good Hope and the Ottawa Food Bank, during their mid-term break.

“As volunteers (students and faculty), we are proud to participate in the Solidarity Kitchens program for the third year. This initiative allows us to create meals that we believe will have a meaningful impact and provide support to individuals and families in need,” said David Fairbanks, Professor and program coordinator, Bachelor of Culinary Arts and Food Science (Honours).

In partnership with Tablée Des Chefs: The Solidarity Kitchen – Next Generation Edition project (SKNG), the students cooked a vegetarian recipe: chili with tofu from the Soykei farm. With this recipe, the Solidarity Kitchens – Next Generation program aims to be inclusive, making the meal accessible to as many people as possible, while promoting local products.

In addition to mobilizing students to produce portions of food, the activity also aims to raise awareness of the problem of food insecurity among the next generation of professionals, so that tomorrow’s chefs can become agents of change in their communities.

Since the project’s inception in 2003, the next generation of chefs has prepared more than 1.6 million portions for distribution to food banks across Canada. Find out more about La Tablée des Chefs here.