Cooking from scratch: A youth's perspective

Cooking from Scratch with the Good Food Box contents
by 'Canada World Youth,' Kirsten Gelllein

This month's Good Food Box order, at 424 boxes, was our biggest yet!  Luckily the coordinators were very organized, and the volunteer team was motivated, energetic and hard working.  The contents were described by some of the volunteers as some of the most delicious looking yet, including: local fingerling potatoes, beets, butternut squash, carrots, romaine lettuce, cucumber, mushrooms, tomatoes, oranges, bosc pears and bananas!

After a bit of rest I made my way to Friends Meeting House for Cooking from Scratch, a cooking class and communal meal presented by Greening Sacred Spaces, a joint program by Faith and the Common Good and Environment Hamilton.  Darlene and Harriet led our group of twelve to cook up a gourmet meal using the contents of the Good Food Box.  On the menu was: ginger and squash soup, warm beet and feta salad, roasted fingerling potatoes and a mixed salad with homemade croutons and roasted almond slivers.  Getting a chance to get to know more about one another, we spent just over an hour preparing and compiling the ingredients and learning some new cooking techniques and recipes.  Then we got to sit down, take pleasure in each other's company and enjoy the fresh, easy-to-prepare and delicious meal we had created!

One of the 'chefs.'

I had such a great time meeting new people; it's easy to forgot how something as simple as coming together to cook can produce such a wonderful socializing atmosphere.  Incorporating a Cooking from Scratch program into your faith group or other community groups could be a great (and economic) way to get to know each other, learn some new cooking skills, and get a stronger bond to the food that you consume!"