Cooking

The kitchens at FoodShare are a hub of learning and energy every day. Whether preparing meals for the Good Food Café, healthy lunch program, Field to Table Catering or our Power Soups program, staff, interns, externs, students and volunteers work happily, side by side to meet the daily demands of a busy kitchen.

At FoodShare, we pride ourselves on creating a kitchen atmosphere that is welcoming and inclusive. People of every age and background work together to produce healthy, delicious, affordable, culturally inclusive food with as little stress as possible. It is no surprise that many of our youth interns go on to successful careers in the food service industry armed with the great skills learned at the elbow of Jésus Gomez, kitchen coordinator and teacher extraodinaire.

Teaching is an important component of the work that the kitchen does, with a variety of programs developed with community partners that look to increase skills for people who face barriers to employment. George Brown College, Pathways to Possibilities, Toronto Public Health and the Toronto District School Boards, are all groups who work in partnership with FoodShare to create cooking programs aimed at those who wish to re-enter the work force or further their culinary education at George Brown.

In 2011, The FoodShare kitchen won an “Industry Partner Recognition Award” from George Brown College for providing “an outstanding externship environment by showing leadership, guidance and direction to students in our program.”

All of our programs are based on the idea that food has the power to inspire, nurture, build health, fulfill deep social and cultural needs and bring people in families, communities and other groups together. FoodShare’s cooking programs try to re-build the food skills that are quickly being lost in Canadian society, as people abandon the family meal tradition and turn increasingly to fast foods and eating on the run. Our kitchen space is a hub of cooking, training, food production and good will.

For more information about any of our kitchen activities, contact Alvin Rebick, Kitchen Senior Manager: alvin@foodshare.net, 416.583.5416.