What's cooking, Canada?

Grab your apron and spatulas, because on this episode of Now or Never we're following our noses into kitchens across Canada, to get a taste of what first-time cooks, fed-up moms and out-of-work musicians are doing to find their mojo in the kitchen.  

It's the Now or Never Cooking Show!

Hosts Trevor Dineen and Ify Chiwetelu attempt to make the viral #bakedfeta pasta dish taking over the Internet - with, um, mixed results. 

A year ago, 21-year-old university student Ashyana-Jasmine Kachra didn't even know how to boil noodles. But when the pandemic hit and she moved back home, she started experimenting with recipes left behind by her late grandmother. How cooking has helped Ashyana grieve and connect with her Khojan roots.

In the northern Manitoba community of Thompson, there is one pizza to rule them all: a gooey, smokey, meat-laden legend known as "Thompson-style pizza." When Jacky Colombe got laid off, he decided to try his hand at his hometown's legendary pizza to cheer himself up. Now it's turned into a booming business where people across Canada are clamouring for a slice. 

Since Kathryn Gwun-Yeen Lennon gave birth to her baby 14 days ago, her mother Wai-Ling Lennon has been cooking up a storm, making vats of ginger soup to help Kathryn heal and build up her energy. It's part of an ancient Chinese tradition where new moms rest for 30 days, while being plied with nourishing food. For Wai-Ling, it's a chance to be there for her daughter in a way she never got to experience herself, when she was a young mom living far away from home.

Moyra Boone is not a professional chef. She doesn't use measurements. And she likes to cook while wearing an enormous wig and belting out karaoke requests. But that hasn't stopped thousands of people from watching her cook from her home in Sackville, New Brunswick, multiple times a week. How "The Singing Cook" has created a community for people in need of comfort and laughs amid the pandemic.  

For most of her adult life, musician and mom Helen Austin considered cooking a chore. But when COVID hit and she could no longer tour with her band Big Little Lions, Helen turned her artistic passions to the kitchen.
 

Originally aired in March, 2021