MPNH Senior Donna Takes Part in the Community Asian Culinary Arts Training
Story By Ella Tse, Community Programmer at MPNH
Nourishing community through generations of skill and care
Donna Cho has been volunteering as a cook for various community-based organizations in Metro Vancouver for over 40 years including Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House, Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, Kitsilano Community Centre, Douglas Park Community Centre, Scouts Canada, the Salvation Army, and most recently, Tenth Church.
Much of her experience comes from working in restaurants over many years, plus what she learned from her mother. Whether she’s preparing weekly lunches, cooking at special events, teaching cooking classes, or planning and shopping for dinners, Donna brings a wealth of experience and ingenuity to the kitchen.
This November, MPNH programming developed jointly with Vancouver Community College, focused on empowering community cooks like Donna, and increasing their capacity to create culturally appropriate meals for folks in their communities.
Through an MPNH United Way BC (@unitedway_bc) social meals grant, we were able to partner with Vancouver Community College (@myvcc) to customize a four-part training series for 9 community cooks working or volunteering with local senior-serving organizations in Vancouver.
The hands-on training was led by Sonny Ho, Department Leader of the Asian Culinary Arts Program at VCC. Through demonstrations, knowledge sharing, practice, and tasting (of course!), Sonny deepened participants’ knowledge and skills on Chinese cuisine.
To be offered this opportunity was my dream come true and I now really want to complete the full Asian Culinary Arts Certificate Program. Cooking is something I take a lot of pride in, and it fills me with joy to see people enjoy the food I make – that's why I like volunteering as a cook. - Donna
Stay tuned to see how participants bring the dishes learned to life in their communities - from braised fish with oyster sauce, to beef stew with daikon, to soy sauce chicken. We look forward to continuing to nourish community members through food literacy, food empowerment, and good food!