Features

What is a community kitchen? It's a group of people that meet regularly to cook together. In Vancouver, there's a community kitchen network. Initially community kitchens served as a way to stretch one's budget, but it's purpose is quickly changing. Cooking collectively is a great way to socialize, try out new recipes and learn new skills.

When one mentions cooking schools in Vancouver, one cannot forget to talk about Dubrulle, Canada's largets culinary training institute. They offer comprehensive culinary training courses including professional chef's training, pastry arts and training around the whole restaurant and hospitality business.

Feeling burnt out at work? Are you looking for a career change? Are you passionate about food and cooking? Then culinary training might be for you!

Vancouver hosts a few cooking schools that are geared for the serious chef. One of them is the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts located just at the entrance of Granville Island.

When I reviewed the Gourmet Warehouse earlier this month, I forgot to mention Caren's Cooking School that is on the premises of the Warehouse. Caren McSherry, who established the cooking school in 1978, teaches some of the classes and also has local guest chefs instructing.

I was just looking at some archived material by Stephen Wong (no relation!), a local food writer, when I came across this overview of the Philippine Table. Stephen gives a great overview of the history and evolution of Filippino cuisine. He talks about typical ingredients, and seasonings and flavours that make Filippino cuisine distinct. The recipes he gives also look interesting.

This story, The Million Dollar Nose, from the Atlantic (via Cabinet) about Robert Parker the straight-talking American wine critic is an excellent reminder that those of us who critique food and wine for fun and profit should not take ourselves so seriously! No one is entitled to a good review because of who they are or where they are from! Praise must be earned by the quality of the food or wine in question!

It looks like we will take the foodies walking tour of Florence and perhaps a cooking lesson (if our budget permits) at Divina Cucina on our honeymoon after our tour. In the meantime, her foodies' guide to Florence is a tantalizing glimpse of what we will see on our Italian cooking lesson and restaurant tour!

March is Nutrition Month...a good time to think about what we're eating and how we can eat to be healthy. The Dietitians of Canada have a great Nutrition Month promotion on their site. Check out their Nutrition Challenge to see how you're doing with eating for health. The site also has a great list of practical, realistic tips to help you eat better.

Sunrise Tofu is another local tofu company based in Vancouver. They've been in operation since the 1940's and they've grown to export to as far away as Australia!

Sunrise carries an amazing range of tofu items including various styles of tofu (silken to extra firm) and tofu items (soy beverage, tofu dessert). One of their newest items is tofu baked in various sauces, ready to eat.

Sunrise uses organic soybeans and they pasteurize their products for longer shelf life.

Whoops! It looks like Umberto's cooking school is fully booked for the dates of our honeymoon! So we are looking for an alternate Tuscan cooking school. In addition to Villa di Riboia and The International Kitchen Cooking School, we are considering La Villa Cucina and Mama Margaret & Friends' cooking tour of Tuscany. Mama Margaret is Margaret Cowan.