A perfect recipe: How Montreal's community kitchens foster belonging
Participants create meaningful social connections and cook nutritional meals adapted to their needs
Food Connections is a series that explores the ways food brings Montrealers together in celebration, adventure and social solidarity. It's a collaboration between the Department of Journalism at Concordia University and CBC Montreal.
This story is the work of a team of students in Concordia's 2019 graduate diploma program in journalism.
Yelena Dudchenko, 39, gazes lovingly at her two-year-old son, Nathaniel, thinking back to how much trouble she had getting him to eat when he was three months old.
"I couldn't find out what was wrong with him," she said. "He was not gaining weight, which was worrying me a lot."
Dudchenko, whose son was born not long after she immigrated to Canada from Kazakhstan in 2016, went in search of support.
After consulting with her doctor and a nutritionist, Dudchenko found her way to a cooking workshop run by Bouffe-Action de Rosemont, a community organization in her neighbourhood that offers classes on nutrition and cooking skills to new and expectant parents.
There, Dudchenko found the advice that she was looking for.
"When I was here, I was discussing the different possibilities, and they suggested that I should try tofu [or] soy milk," she said. "They were giving good advice and listened carefully to all my concerns, so they helped a lot."
There are community kitchens like the ones run by Bouffe-Action de Rosemont all over Montreal. They operate with funding from various levels of government and from charitable foundations, and they're free to participants.
They cater to different groups, but they share one goal: to provide a space for people who are socially and economically vulnerable to come together while they gain cooking skills and nutritional know-how.
Darla Fortune, a researcher and assistant professor at Concordia University's Centre for Research on Aging, is an expert on social inclusion for people at the margins of society.
Fortune says the communal kitchen model works because when "everyone has something to offer, something to share, something to contribute … [it] goes a long way to enhancing belonging."
All the ingredients for shared experience
In Montreal's Plateau–Mont-Royal borough, Cuisines Collectives du Grand Plateau offer community cooking classes in social housing complexes all over the borough, open to anyone over the age of 50.
Lucie Boileau, 61, has been coming for years. She says she enjoys meeting and getting to know other participants as they cook together.
"It's very friendly," says Boileau. "We're a good group."
As they wait for a class to begin, Boileau and other participants chat and laugh, looking over the raw vegetables and cans of food that dietitian Lauriane Provost has placed on the table.
The community kitchen provides all the ingredients.
"I love that," says Boileau "Everything is there, and all we need to do is to cook the meal."
Boileau smiles as she peels potatoes and talks to fellow participants, while others look over a pamphlet about nutritional facts provided by Provost.
Provost teaches two classes per week at the Cuisines Collectives du Grand Plateau. She said one objective of the program is to give a break and a safe space to participants, who may feel bored, stressed or anxious due to conflicts they have with other residents in their apartment building.
New eating adventures
For her part, Boileau says she enjoys learning more about different cultures and expanding her knowledge about foreign cuisines.
"It even makes you interested in things other than cooking," she says."We have people coming from all around the world, so they teach us about their country."
"That's fun, too. For sure, it has opened my mind to other culinary cultures."
Boileau says the courses helped her discover her love for foods that she avoided most of her life.
"I always thought I hated avocados," she said. "I had tasted some many years ago, but they were not ripe enough. So, the idea that I didn't like them stuck with me. And here they told me, 'Taste it!' — and it was completely different. Thanks to that, I love avocados!"
While the classes at Cuisines Collectives du Grand Plateau opened Boileau's palate to foods from afar, the classes at Bouffe-Action de Rosemont taught Dudchenko to prepare foods that she had never cooked in her native Kazakhstan.
"The variety here is much greater, and it's always interesting to try new things. For example, sweet potatoes — this was something out of the blue!"
The classes taught Dudchenko what nutritious foods were available in Canada for her and her family.
"This is like an insight into what the cooking and eating habits here are," she said.
At home, Dudchenko often makes the brownies and baby purees she learned to make at Bouffe-Action de Rosemont.The mother of two young children also found an opportunity to practise French in a safe and welcoming environment.
'Like therapy'
Djamila Graichi, a community organizer with Bouffe-Action de Rosemont, says the classes are a place where mothers can gain confidence and meet others who can relate to the challenges they're facing.
"Having a baby is extremely demanding," said Graichi. "Going out, seeing other mothers, sharing with them, and getting more information — this can calm them and reassure them, too."
"With time, we see these mothers blossoming, opening up, [and] becoming confident in the kitchen," she said.
"It's like therapy for them because they talk about their experiences, their sufferings, their difficulties, and they also find many resources."
For Provost, the most important aspects of her classes at Cuisines Collectives du Grand Plateau are promoting a well-balanced diet and finding the joy in cooking for oneself.
"I try to simplify [instructions] with words that are easy to understand," Provost said. "Some participants are very aware and know a lot about healthy nutrition, and there are others for whom these things are unfamiliar."
"So, we must rally everyone."
MORE IN THIS SERIES:
Food Connections is a series that explores the ways food brings Montrealers together in celebration, adventure and social solidarity. It's a collaboration between the Department of Journalism at Concordia University and CBC Montreal.
This story is the work of a team of students in Concordia's 2019 graduate diploma program in journalism, Alexia Martel-Desjardins, Mina Mazumder and Arielle de Pagter.
