It’s not often that a culinary student gets to make 2,000 meals in just one day. And it’s certainly not every day that they get to do it for one of Ottawa’s best-known charities, the Ottawa Food Bank.
But that’s exactly what students and faculty at Algonquin College’s School of Business and Hospitality’s Culinary Arts programs did during their Mid-Term Break Week this past February.
The students spent an entire day preparing meals in partnership with Longueuil-based Tablée Des Chefs: The Solidarity Kitchen – Next Generation Edition project, to feed vulnerable people in the area who need emergency food assistance.
The full-day, assembly line-style meal preparation used 96kg of vegetables, 22kg of potatoes, 20kg of pork, 20 kg of shredded cheese, 15kg of liquid eggs, eight boxes of legumes, eight kg of oats, and eight boxes of tomatoes.
As Algonquin College Chair of Culinary Arts Cory Haskins explains, the donation wasn’t just a great learning opportunity for student, it was also just the latest in a series of community-minded projects conducted by the college’s School of Business and Hospitality.
A ‘culture of giving back’—and of learning at Algonquin College
Haskins says the school’s well-established giving culture has been carefully cultivated over years. “The students and faculty want to be doing this,” he explains. “It’s an environment where giving back is celebrated and supported. And when that happens, people want to participate.”
Culinary professionals are community minded in general, Haskins says—”a unique breed” who often get involved in community assistance events throughout their careers.
“And so part of our goal is helping create a culture of giving back to the community, and an understanding of the importance of it and how rewarding it can be.”
The Tablée Des Chefs-Ottawa Food Bank initiative was also a unique learning opportunity for students, who were able to put the school’s five restaurant kitchens and two bake labs to work to produce meals at a scale they had never been exposed to previously.
Building on a foundation of giving and community
The Ottawa Food Bank donation was the most recent example of a rich history of charitable programs by the school, its faculty, and students.
Students regularly create healthy dishes for other charities and organizations in Ottawa, such as the Shepherds of Good Hope and Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre.
After initially partnering with the Shepherds of Good Hope during the Covid-19 pandemic, the school’s culinary students now cook hundreds of meals for its patrons each week. The soup kitchen provides the raw materials; meals are then prepared, frozen, and shipped by the college back to the charity for consumption.
Along with being another opportunity for students to cook meals on a large scale, students also conduct regular field trips to the soup kitchen to see the results of their efforts. “They get to know who it is that they’re serving,” Haskins explains. “They get a chance to see who the clientele is, and why it’s important to donate.”
The culinary school also regularly donates meals to the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre whenever it has surplus items, and to Algonquin College’s Mamidosewin Centre for other students in need.
‘Always looking to find ways to help’
So why go to all the trouble of creating hundreds—or thousands—of meals, instead of just cutting a cheque or donating unprepared food?
Number one, says Haskins, is that the mission of the college is to transform hopes and dreams into lifelong success. And part of that success is “helping guide the students to become future leaders in whatever area they want to go into. And that includes giving back to the community, and being caring and compassionate.”
As for the future, Haskins says Algonquin College always has its ear to the ground looking for new ways to get involved in the community through donation programs or other initiatives. “We’re always looking to find ways to help, support, and collaborate with the community,” he says.
“We’re always looking to make those connections. Because they are mutually beneficial: Our students get to learn, and our partners get to reap the benefits.”
