Cooking with all the right ingredients
April 23, 2006
The community and the camaraderie that have developed have been really beneficial. Cooking brings people together.
Centre 507’s weekly cooking class serves up an opportunity for participants to hone their kitchen skills and enjoy a tasty hot meal.
The Friday afternoon cooking class is part of the Centre’s Life Skills Management program, which also offers workshops in areas such as anger management and employment skills.
“I don’t have an oven or anything, so I don’t get any home-cooked meals. And cooking is fun,” says participant Barkley Pollack.
What started out for some as being mainly about getting some food has developed into a recipe for having fun while mastering some skills.
“It’s about making your own meal and being successful at that. It’s a huge self-confidence booster to be able to succeed,” says program coordinator Sonja Prakash.
“The community and the camaraderie that have developed have been really beneficial. Cooking brings people together.”
Participants have savoured the chance to make everything from beef stroganoff to chicken and dumplings – usually dishes with a good dollop of protein. They carefully follow the recipes and learn things such as how to handle raw chicken. They also share tips with each other.
Gilbêrt Brooker, who has worked in restaurants, brings his own utensils, sharing tips on chopping safely and singing the praises of a curved wooden spatula.
Sonja didn’t anticipate how successful and well attended the classes would be when they were launched last fall. Gerald Desjarlais has been to most of them. He makes sure the little radio in the kitchen is tuned to a station that plays tunes they can sing along to.
“It’s something we need. It’s mainly men here (at Centre 507), and men are not as domesticated, if you know what I mean,” laughs Gerald, who has made some dishes again at home. “This is my way of learning recipes instead of just having hamburger or something that’s already made”.