Dine Out for Restaurants for Change - Oct 18

Top Canadian chefs cook up a storm for Restaurants for Change Oct. 2017 National fundraising event supports community food programs in low-income neighbourhoods across Canada

On October 18, 2017, 92 restaurants in 19 Canadian cities will join together to donate proceeds from dinner service to Community Food Centres Canada, supporting community food programs that build health, hope, and belonging in low-income communities across the country. Funds raised will directly support local Community Food Centres that bring people together to grow, cook, share, and advocate for good food for all.    Participating in the event is easy: Diners visit www.restaurantsforchange.ca to find a participating restaurant near them and make a dinner reservation for October 18. More than a dozen chefs from participating restaurants across Canada flew to Toronto on September 17 and 18 to learn more about the issues of food insecurity, poor health and social isolation that affect low-income Canadians, and how Community Food Centres Canada is using food as a tool to build healthier and more inclusive communities. They then launched the Restaurants for Change campaign with a packed event at Baro restaurant, where they cooked their favourite dishes from their menus—dishes that Canadians can order when they go out for dinner on October 18. Pictured above from left to right: Ben Kramer (Ben Kramer Pop-up at Kitchen Sync, Winnipeg), Glen Manzer (Creative Restaurant Group, Calgary), Lora Kirk (Ruby Watchco, Toronto), Erin Vrba (Creative Restaurant Group, Calgary), Duncan Ly (Foreign Concept, Calgary), Nick Saul (President and CEO, Community Food Centres Canada), Kevin Gilmour (Fat Pasha, Toronto), Tyler Shedden (Planta, Toronto), Bettina Schormann (Earth to Table Bread Bar, Hamilton and Guelph), John Vettraino (Backhouse, Niagara-on-the-Lake), Blair Lebsack (RGE RD, Edmonton), Jeff Crump (Earth to Table Bread Bar, Hamilton and Guelph), Anthony Rose (Rose and Sons, Toronto), Renée Lavallée (The Canteen on Portland, Dartmouth), Tim Steele (Drake Hotel Properties, Toronto), David Gunawan (Farmer’s Apprentice, Vancouver). Photo credit: Gabriel Li. Restaurants for Change 2017 is made possible by generous participating restaurants and sponsors: 2017 restaurants Calgary Alforno Bakery & Cafe, Bonterra Trattoria, CHARCUT Roast House, Cibo, Cucina Bistro, Deane House, Foreign Concept, Mill Street Calgary Brewpub, NOtaBLE ~ The Restaurant, Posto Pizzeria & Bar, River Café, Royale Brasserie, Scopa Neighbourhood Italian, Teatro Ristorante, The Nash, Vendome Cafe Edmonton RGE RD Halifax/Dartmouth Agricola Street Brasserie, Battery Park BeerBar & Eatery, enVie A Vegan Kitchen, The Brooklyn Warehouse, The Canteen on Portland Hamilton Earth to Table: Bread Bar, Papa Leo’s Restaurant Guelph Artisanale French Country Cooking, Earth to Table: Bread Bar Kitchener The Berlin Alexandria The Quirky CarrotMontreal Garde Manger, Hopkins, Le Bremner, Monkland Taverne, Park, Porco, Restaurant L’Orignal Niagara-on-the-Lake Backhouse Ottawa Atelier, Clover food | drink, North & Navy, Union Local 613 Perth Fieldhouse Pickering PORT St. John’s Mallard Cottage Stratford The Hub at 27 Marketplace Bayfield Black Dog Village Pub & Bistro Toronto Actinolite, Alo, Bar Begonia, Bar Isabel, Baro, Barque Smokehouse, Bar Raval, Beast, Beaumont Kitchen, Big Crow, Cafe Belong, Carmen, Dailo Restaurant, Drake Commissary, Drake Hotel, Drake One Fifty, Edulis, El Rey, Fat Pasha, Flock 97 Harbord Street, Harry’s Charbroiled, Isaan Der, Kanpai Snack Bar, Madame Boeuf, Mamakas Taverna, Maple Leaf Tavern, Peter Pan Bistro, Piano Piano, Planta, PrettyUgly Bar, Rasa, Richmond Station, Rose and Sons, Rose and Sons Swan, Ruby Watchco, Tennessee Tavern, Union Vancouver Burdock & Co, Farmer's Apprentice, Jamjar Commercial Drive Wellington Drake Devonshire Winnipeg  Ben Kramer Pop-up, Chew, deer + almond, Forth, King + Bannatyne, Promenade Cafe and Wine 2017 sponsors Lead sponsor: Garland Canada. National media sponsors: Global TV, Food Network, Cooking Channel. Media sponsors: Toronto Life, Avenue Calgary. Community partners: Culinary Tourism Alliance,Terroir.  In-kind partners: J Sutton Communications, Open Table, The Siren Group Inc.

My food Hero is....

I was asked to participate in sharing MY FOOD HERO by the Community Food Centres  along with my fellow Food Revolution Ambassadors, in a blog post and the only person I could think of was my mother Jeannette.  My mother was born with the name Esther but for some reason she didn't like that name and changed it to Jeannette.  My mother was born in Poland and moved to Belgium and during the war she was take to a concentration camp.  Luckily my mom was a very strong person and even though she was only a teenager she survived.  My mother never had proper formal education and worked from home as a seamstress.  She would work all day and then at 4 o'clock she would start dinner and try and have a full meal on the table around 5pm.
It wasn't always perfect because some things she learned from her mother and some things she learned from friends and other things she just winged it.  My parents have a world of ethnic influences, my dad was born in Greece and had Spanish decent and they met in Belgium but were married in Jerusalem.  

My mom picked up food influences from all over,  French, she made great french fries,  Jewish, she made the real deal Chicken soup, and other things that I just thought were normal until my friend pointed out that we ate things they didn't know about like Artichokes which my mother cooked in a pressure cooker and then made a vinaigrette sauce that my brother and I added our touch to, they were a favourite of my whole family.  
I was the one in the kitchen stirring the pot, getting the ingredients, measuring things and peeling things.  Little did I know in helping out that I was actually learning something and even though my mother didn't have a formal chef education little alone a proper education since she missed a lot of schooling and had to work after the war.  But she somehow learned some proper cooking techniques.  She taught me how to whip egg whites and to fold them into chocolate to make a chocolate mousse.  She taught me how to char eggplant and red peppers to make baba ganoush and a roasted red pepper salad.  She taught me how to bake cookies and cakes and to cook without a recipe.  She didn't know  how to cook everything,  her vegetables were over cooked but I didn't mind it when it was cauliflower in a cheesy bechamel sauce that was baked in the oven with a bread crumb topping.  She never mastered spaghetti and meatballs, the meatballs were ok but cooked in the sauce it made the sauce greasy and then it would slip off the pasta.  Sometimes her steaks were like shoe leather.   But the things she got right are almost ingrained in my brain.  The only thing I can't remember how to make exactly are her sugar cookies.  They were thicker and lighter than regular ones and she used the dough to make apple pie which I also tweaked once I learned some techniques from watching chefs on TV.

I learned how to cook from taste and how to balance seasonings and what works with what.  I am grateful that I don't have to struggle on how to cook in the kitchen and my only struggle is the time and energy to cook now.

My mom did another thing that has stuck with me for life that has probably had the biggest influence on my Food Blogger life and that is introducing me to different ethnic cultures through food and entertainment.  She took me to a cultural event every year that had different ethnic community groups showcase their culture in all kinds of churches and centres around town.  I sampled Filipino food, my first Falafel, Spanokopita, and all things related to different cultures.  That gave me a great appreciation and curiosity for different foods and flavours of the world.  I just wish I could travel to some of the places I would love to explore.

My parents were working class people that came to Canada with no money and worked hard to feed us and always made sure we had a full refrigerator full of food.  Most of it was fresh meat and vegetables with hardly any processed foods.

This holiday season, I'm celebrating #myfoodhero, my mom, Jeannette, and you can celebrate your food hero with a donation to Community Food Centres Canada to support the work bringing the power of food to low-income communities. I hope you'll consider making a donation in honour of your food hero, too. 

www.myfoodhero.cfccanada.ca and #myfoodhero in your posts. 
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