Home | Contacts | Classifieds | Archives | Media Kit | Email Us |
Laughter, socializing, and healthy meals are just a few of the perks for members of the Cuisines et vie collective Saint-Roch.
“It lifts my spirits,” says Angela Pierre, a member of the organization for five years, who takes part in group meal-making once or twice per month. Pierre says she has met a lot of people there and enjoys making meals in a group.
“People often stay at home in solitude,” says the organization's vice president Laurenicia Bricourt. The collective kitchen helps combat that, she said. “People come together, cook together, we dance together and laugh together.”
The organization's open house was March 24, and was held in its new location in the basement of the William Hingston Centre. With the expansion of the francisation school in the building, the collective kitchen was given a new room downstairs.
“You're probably looking for the kitchen,” said the group's administrator Marah Romanous, upon seeing this reporter look around the new space during the open house. “We don't actually have a kitchen in our office. It's a barrier for us.”
“We've pursued this for a long time with the city,” said Romanous. She said the cooking groups have to use the kitchen space of the local daycare and the CLSC since it hasn't had any success getting a space with a kitchen.
About 20 different cooking groups meet per month. In advance of each cooking session, a facilitator finds a time that works for all groups members, determines which recipes people want to try, and helps coordinate who will buy which ingredients.
The cooking sessions last up to four hours and usually about five healthy, substantial recipes are produced together – all in large quantities so that members can bring the meals home, often for their families. Members pay the equivalent to what they take, at a cost of usually $1 per portion, which is then redistributed to those who have bought ingredients, like meat. “It's a big savings,” said Romanous. Staples like rice, flour, sugar, spices and canned tomatoes, she explained, are provided by the collective kitchen, primarily through the large foodbank, Moisson Montreal.
The collective kitchen's open house also coincided with a Quebec-wide day to celebrate collective kitchens in the province, and to increase their popularity.
Cuisines et vie collective Saint-Roch also organizes trips outside of Montreal for its members, educational workshops, and yoga. Its entire membership, for all the activities it offers is about 300 people.
The organization also does hands-on cooking workshops, which include lessons about nutrition, with students at Barclay and Barthélemy-Vimont elementary schools.
Anyone interested in joining the organization can go to the new office in room 15-A in the basement of the William Hingston Centre, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., or call 514-948-3631. The staff speak French, English, Arabic, and Spanish, and cooking groups are held in various languages. The cost of a yearly membership is $5.