Virtual club for teen chefs launches in four NWT communities
After a cooking program in British Columbia became a huge success among teenagers, the Northwest Territories decided to introduce such a program themselves.
British Columbia-based food business trainer Mandi Lunan co-founded the Kootenay Teen Chef Club four years ago in partnership with the Trail and District Chamber of Commerce and a local farmers market. The club helps participants ages 12 to 18 prepare meals of their choosing and connect with other young chefs online.
“We were just talking and (Lunan) told me what she was doing and then I thought, ‘Well, let’s see if we can do this here,'” said
Janet Dean of the Territorial Agrifood Association said Lunan told her about the BC project when she realized they could try a similar club in the Northwest Territories.
“It was the same thing – these kids from all over the region had no contact with each other or knowledge about fresh, local food,” Dean said.
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“She wanted to promote it and had great success in the first year and said maybe there is something to it.”
The NWT Teen Chef Club has now secured funding for a first season, which will run this summer through September.
According to the Ministry of Health and Human Services, the NWT version is a “largely self-run club” modeled after the Kootenay program. It will run parallel to farmers’ markets in Yellowknife, Fort Smith, Hay River and the Inuvik Community Greenhouse.
Andrew Wind, a spokesman for the ministry, said the GNWT has donated $35,000 to the Territorial Agrifood Association to support the program, part of which will go toward the salary of a project manager and staff time at each participating farmers’ market.
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“The goal is to expose teens to locally produced products and increase their understanding, awareness and interest in local food systems, culinary entrepreneurship, food science, culinary arts and agriculture,” Wind said in an email Thursday.
Each month, Dean said, program coordinator Linnea Azzolini will work with Lunan to decide on a theme. Participants will then decide what recipes they want to make based on how much fruit and vegetables are available at local markets.
“They get a gift card to the farmers market in Yellowknife or a gift card to the greenhouse in Inuvik. We also give them a gift card to their local grocery store if they need something special to make it special,” she added.
The chefs have a month to prepare each dish. Dean said this schedule is designed to give the teens a flexible schedule to submit their dishes.
The participants document the trip via video or photo.
Virtual training and regular meetings with the BC team are available to chefs.
Next year, the group will move on to a second level with “more complicated scenes and more unusual ingredients,” Dean said.
“One of the things Mandi said is that sometimes participants are so inspired that they prepare a dish every week. We hope they do that because it means they take responsibility for cooking in the family, but we don’t want to put pressure on them.”
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Although the application deadline for Yellowknife has now passed, the application window for Inuvik, Fort Smith and Hay River remains open until the communities reach a minimum of 10 participants. As of Thursday afternoon, TAA had received 20 applications.
Coordinator Azzolini, born and raised in Yellowknife, is working on a degree in environmental science with a minor in Indigenous studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has returned to the city for a second year as a summer student to assist her professor with research on Nordic food sustainability.
“I’m really enjoying it so far. Honestly, it’s great to be able to interact with the community and also with much younger kids,” she said.
Azzolini admits that the program’s virtual concept can sometimes be difficult for some people to understand.
Although the team has not received requests from residents to address the unreliable internet connection or other technical obstacles that may arise with phone calls, she said resources are available to facilitate communication.
Each participant receives a gift bag containing items such as rice, chickpeas, salt and pepper, pasta, diced tomatoes, olive oil, onion powder, garlic powder and thyme.
“Many parents love having their children participate in cooking, and the kids are excited to learn to cook in such a fun and collaborative way and then present their dishes to an audience,” says Azzolini.
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“It also helps fill the gap for some low-income families who would like to participate in the club but can’t afford the non-perishable foods. They can use those all summer long, as well as the vouchers we give them each week to buy the fresh ingredients.”
Dean hopes that the program can become an opportunity for young people to unleash their creativity in the kitchen.
“I also hope that they take away an understanding of ingredients other than just the ingredients they grew up with… we’re trying to get people to eat local produce,” she said.
“A program like this lets the kids get a little creative because when their parents were alive, we didn’t have gardens up here. There weren’t many of them. So this is a chance for them to see what’s going on and maybe try bok choy because their parents don’t buy that at the grocery store, they can pick it up at the farmers market – and just realize that local food can still be really good and interesting and tasty.”
To learn more about the NWT Teen Chef Club and how to apply, you can email Linnea Azzolini.
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