Community Kitchens
Loving Spoonful’s Community Kitchen programs convene people around good food. Children, families and adults learn healthy food skills and build community. As you know, good food brings people together, so building programming around good food is only common sense.
We collaborate with partners across the City to ensure that our programs are dynamic and tailored to the unique needs of our community. Different programs run at different times.
Here is what is currently running:
Open Kitchen
Open Kitchen is a fun, delicious, and healthy drop-in cooking workshop. Participants learn how to cook on a budget, try new recipes and experiment with fresh ingredients. Classes feature cross-cultural cooking, cooking with local doctors, and seasonal cooking. All are welcome to join our Open Kitchen family! Sign up for the Open Kitchen newsletter below.
This program is funded by United Way KFL&A.
Good Food on a Budget
Good Food on a Budget is a one-off online workshop developed for youth and young adults that gives an introduction to good food, meal planning and healthy cooking. Participants explore what “good food” is, as well as barriers and solutions to healthy cooking and eating.
Cooking Connections
Cooking Connections utilizes good food as a vehicle to bring together participants living with mental illness and/or substance use challenges to learn anti-stigma strategies, reduce social isolation and build capacity and confidence.
Our partners at Providence Care take the lead on participant recruitment and provide support through the duration of the program and for six months following the program to ensure participants utilize their individualized social inclusion plan. Partners at Queen’s University take the lead on evaluation and support program development, while providing expertise on scale up and sustainability. With this project, we aim to demonstrate scale up, and our partners at The Table in Perth, Ontario will take on leadership of Cooking Connection’s in their own Community. Additionally, we will also support a scale up in a remote community In Kingston and area.
For more information on the Cooking Connections program, please reach out to our Community Kitchens Manager, Tibrata, by email at: tibrata@lovingspoonful.org. If you, or a client you support is interested in taking part of the Cooking Connections program in Kingston, please contact cookingconnections2022@gmail.com to start the intake process today.
Thank you to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for making Cooking Connections possible.
Wiisinidaa! Come Eat!
Wiisinidaa! Come Eat! Program is delivered in partnership with Tipi Moza (Iron Homes). The aim of this program is to help move community members out of poverty and into possibility. Clients at Tipi Moza have the opportunity to participate in weekly cooking workshops to build their cooking skills, food knowledge and food literacy. Monthly workshops supported by Knowledge Keepers will also be offered as an opportunity for participants to learn ways to prepare traditional, country foods and create a space to share culture and language.
Thank you to the Community Investment Fund for supporting this program.
Open Kitchen Newsletter Sign-up
Join our Open Kitchen community and stay connected through our weekly newsletter. It includes recipes, cooking demonstrations, links to our online workshops, tips and more!
Want to learn more about our Community Kitchens?
Contact our Community Kitchens Manager, Tibrata Gillies at tibrata@lovingspoonful.org or call our office.
Thank you to our supporters:
"After taking part in this program, I feel confident to start cooking for myself at home again. Thank you!"
PARTICIPANT, "LET'S START COOKING"
"I was in the Cardiac Rehab program at Hotel Dieu when heard about 'Manly Meals'. I immediately enrolled with the goals of getting off my butt, meeting new people, and learning that there's more to nutrition than salt, fat and sugar. It proved to be a valuable experience. Those five Thursdays demystified the kitchen for me. And along the way, I was introduced to a wider range of food items, notably vegetables, than I ever thought I could stomach. My great many thanks to Loving Spoonful for offering 'Manly Meals' and to chef Allan Watt for being such a warm and patient instructor."
PARTICIPANT, "MANLY MEALS"
