Growing Chefs!
Growing Chefs’ main focus is getting kids excited about good, healthy food. This excitement is built up by local chefs visiting classrooms where students work with them to plant and tend to an indoor vegetable garden. These chefs then check in every two weeks and lead students through activities that focus on plant growth, local and urban agriculture, sustainability and nutrition. Once the plants are ready to be harvested, students are taught how to cook delicious, healthy meals with what they’ve grown. How amazing is that?!?!?
Growing Chefs was founded by Merri Schwartz. As a professional pastry chef, Merri noticed the wealth of knowledge about food sustainability, nutrition, and local agriculture was seemingly trapped behind commercial kitchen doors. She sought to connect chefs with their communities in order to share that knowledge. The program began with four chefs in two Vancouver elementary school classrooms in 2006 and has continued to grow ever since. As of 2013 this meant that 34 classrooms throughout British Columbia were visited by more than 120 chef volunteers. This translated into 850 students planting, growing, and learning about healthy foods.
Grace Troll, manager of the Edgemont location, started volunteering with Growing Chefs last year. After signing up she was introduced to the program through a training session and was placed at Norgate Elementary in North Vancouver. She describes her first experience:
My volunteer group had an hour and a half slot in the classroom right before recess. We did so many fun activities that got the kids so excited about fruit and vegetables. We had vegetable guessing games, lettuce tastings, we even got the kids to bring their favourite vegetable to school! Not one child did not want to participate, everyone was having fun and enjoyed trying all the new vegetables they haven’t heard of before. When the kids left for recess, I found the majority of children were heading out the door with sugary processed foods which I knew wouldn’t get them the proper nutrition they needed to get through next period. This just made me more passionate about Growing Chefs and teaching children about proper nutrition.
The Juicery Co. started working with Growing Chefs last year. A drink special was put on for a month from which a dollar of each juice sold was donated to the organization. This initial involvement inspired The Juicery to host school tours and invite classrooms into the kitchen to educate them on fruit, vegetables, and healthy eating.
Growing Chefs’ goals and values are very much in line with those of the Juicery’s. We are so thrilled to continue to support them through our most recent endeavour “Dinner on the Pier,” a long table dinner to be held August 20th, 2015 on the Lower Lonsdale Pier. This event marks another step towards strengthening the sense of community and culture in the Lower Lonsdale area, in addition to raising money for Growing Chefs!
Please take the time to check out the Growing Chefs website to find out how you might get involved, as well as to access gardening tutorials, healthy recipes, and more!
To learn more about Dinner on the Pier or to purchase tickets please visit:
