Let’s Eat Together! June 2018 This booklet was compiled by:

Jenny Shea Bow Valley Literacy Program Publication Coordinator [email protected]

© Bow Valley Literacy Program, all rights reserved Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 FOREWORD 7

THE STORIES

Camika Stewart Sharing Meals With Family and Friends 9 Daniel Habteyes Ethiopian Tradional Food (recipe) 10 Delio Herrera Plantain (recipe) 12 Fernanda Mella Ortega Empanadas of Chile 13 Fernanda Nieto Typical Food from Southern Chile 14 Irma Herrera Venezuelan Arepas (recipe) 15 Margaret’s Class My Favourite Food 16 Meena Khadka The Glory of Food 17 Monica Kim Very Special Foods for New Year’s Day 18 Naomi Mori Our Cooking Club 19 Nicole Lizama Meals are Beer in Good Company 20 Sabrina Calzadillas My Favourite Food: Porotos Granados 21 Satoe Ogawa Avocado Salad (recipe) 22 Sevan Kahkejian Recipes from Aleppo! (recipe) 23 Tamaki Okabe A Pizza Birthday Party for Rina 25 Toru Suzaki The Art of Sushi 26 Vero Capitan Tradional Foods of Catalonia 27

A Celebraon of Learning 28

Let’s Eat Together! 3

Acknowledgements

As the Coordinator of the Bow Valley Literacy Program, I have the privilege and pleasure of thanking everyone who makes our program and therefore this publicaon, Let’s Eat Together, possible. I encourage you to take your me reading this page and note the contribuons made by a very special part of our Bow Valley community.

The BVLP works closely with the Bow Valley Learning Council and the Board of Directors who serve it. We are funded by Innovaon and Advanced Educaon Alberta.

Jenny Shea was the brave and talented volunteer who offered to step in and take over the producon of our annual publicaon when our program grew too large (a happy problem) for me to connue it. When you read Let’s Eat Together, you’ll understand why we are all so grateful that she was willing to fill this gap. Thank you to Jenny’s parents, Brian and Janet Shea for helping edit the beauful stories we have.

The variety and depth of food wisdom shared in this collecon make it a feast for the palee. We can thank our graphic designer, Monica Kim, for making if a feast for the eyes. We are also grateful for the generosity of our printer, The UPS Store Canmore.

Thirty-seven volunteers worked with us this year: in learning partnerships, learning communies and outreach. We are proud to display their names on a separate page in this book. Thank you to every volunteer and teacher (Marilyn Duncan-Webb, Lesley Randal and Jody Roseneck) who encouraged and supported our writers.

We love our local libraries and the people who make them work for us. The Banff, Canmore and MD of Bighorn Libraries are an essenal part of our learning journey. (Special thanks to Karen from the Canmore Conversaon Group!)

We are part of an amazing network of service providers: Bow Valley College, Selement Services and Temporary Foreign Worker Support Services are but a few of the dedicated members of the Bow Valley Inter-agency community.

Finally, I would like to thank the courageous, determined and hardworking people who parcipate in the learning opportunies we provide. You have accomplished so much this year and you showed grace and dignity in doing so. To everyone who contributed a story to Let’s Eat Together, thank you for sharing a part of yourself with us. Our community is blessed to have you.

Deb Penninga Program Coordinator Bow Valley Literacy Program

Let’s Eat Together! 5

Foreword

Food is a gi. It can be a familiar meal shared with old friends or a new experience with people we have just met. Food is a way to connect; to say thank you or I love you or welcome to my home. It is intertwined with memories and dreams and even though we are all so different, we can always agree on something when we sit down and eat together.

Food is the theme of this year’s publicaon. I love to cook, and I love to talk about food, especially recipes I have never tried. I am so excited to have collected some new and delicious recipes while gathering stories for this book! I have also met the most amazing people, people with an incredible ability to adapt, grow, and succeed. I am honoured to bring you some of their stories and recipes.

The 20 stories in this book are about recipes that reminds us of where we come from and recipes we will keep with us wherever we go. There are stories about trying new tastes and stories about sharing meals with friends and family. I want to thank everyone who took the me to share their story for this project.

Keep on cooking!

J Shea Jenny Shea Volunteer Tutor and Publicaon Coordinator

Let’s Eat Together! 7

Sharing Meals with Family and Friends

by Camika Stewart

When I invite friends over for dinner, my favourite thing to make is Jamaican food - rice and peas, jerk chicken and french-fried chicken with Jamaican style vegetables. All these foods take me up to 6 hours or more. All my family and friends say I should open my own restaurant!

It is so difficult to find Jamaican ingredients in the Bow Valley, so I go to Calgary to shop at a specialty store to get my spices and jerk seasoning. For my family of 4 I would make 6 dishes and for dessert… Jamaican rum cake! I also like to snack on banana chips and Jamaican cheese. If I had my own restaurant I would call it "Seasoning to the Bone" and I would cook Jamaican style food of course!

Let’s Eat Together! 9 Ethiopian Traditional Food Recipe

by Daniel Habteyes

Ethiopian bread, Injera, is not only a kind of bread but also an eang utensil. This spongy, sour flat bread is used for scooping up meat and vegetable stews. Injera also lines the tray on which the stews are served, soaking up the juices as the meal progresses. When the edible table cloth is eaten, the meal is officially over.

Injera is made with teff flour, a grain that flourishes in the highlands of Ethiopia. While teff is very nutrious, it contains praccally no gluten. This makes teff ill-suited for making raised- bread however, injera sll takes advantage of the special property of yeast. A short period of fermentaon gives it an airy, bubbly texture, and also slightly sour taste. Teff is poised to be the next superfood, with 50 percent more protein, five mes the fiber, and 25 mes more calcium than brown rice.

On holidays in Ethiopia, we have injera along with Doro Wat, which means chicken stew, one of the most famous of all African speciales. Ethiopian moms usually cook every meal for the family and they teach girls from very young ages how to cook all kinds of Ethiopian food as well as tradional food. Teaching our tradions is very important because we have 85 tribes and each tribe has a different kind of food, culture and language.

Ethiopia has a different calendar from Canada and most of the world. According to the Ethiopic calendar, the holidays are, for example, the 1st of September which is New Year’s Day and the 29th of December which is Christmas Day. Each year there are 13 months, 12 months of 30 days plus five days in the 13th the month that is called Phagame. Phagame is the month that we reflect and prepare for New Year and it adds a leap day every four years. In fact, right now it’s the year 2010 in Ethiopia compared to 2018 in Canada.

RECIPE

• What do you need?

¼ cup teff flour ¾ cup of all-purpose flour 1 cup of water A pinch of salt Peanut or vegetable oil Mixing bowl A nonstick pan or cast iron skillet

10 Let’s Eat Together! Ethiopian Traditional Food (continued)

• How do you make it?

1. Put the teff flour in a mixing bowl and sift in the all-purpose flour. 2. Slowly add water, stirring to avoid lumps. 3. Put the batter aside a day or more to allow it to ferment. In this time, your injera batter will start to bubble and acquire the slight tanginess for which it’s known. Remember if you find that the batter does not ferment on its own, try adding a teaspoon of yeast. 4. Stir in the salt. 5. Heat a nonstick pan or lightly oiled cast iron skillet until water drops dance on the surface of the pan. Otherwise, your injera might fall apart when you try to remove it. 6. Coat the pan with a thin layer of batter. Injera should be thicker than a crepe, but not as thick as a traditional pancake. It will rise slightly when it’s heated. 7. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface of the bread. Once the surface is dry, remove the bread from the pan and let it sit.

• What’s going on?

If you have ever cooked pancakes, making injera might seem familiar. In both cases, tiny bubbles form on top as the batter is cooked. Keeping an eye on the bubbles is the best way to see how close injera is to be ready without peeking underneath.

These bubbles come from the carbon dioxide activated by the leavening process; the baking powder or baking soda in the case of pancakes and the wild yeast in the case of injera. With no gluten in teff, most of the carbon dioxide from the leavening process rapidly escapes in to the air, leaving the little popped bubbles that contribute to the distinctive textures of these breads.

Usually a pancake recipe tells you not to mix the batter too much and if you do, gluten will develop making them too chewy. Teff contains very little gluten to begin with however, if you mix the batter too much, the result is the same.

• What can you try?

You can experiment by adjusting the ratios of wheat and teff in your recipes or by adding another type of flour altogether. You can also let your batter ferment for more or less time depending on how sour you like your injera to be. To see for yourself how little gluten there is in teff, try kneading some teff flour into a ball of dough. You will get a very different result than when you use wheat flour.

Let’s Eat Together! 11 Plantain Recipe

by Delio Herrera

Plantain is a fruit culvated in many tropical countries. It is eaten everywhere because of its fantasc flavor. You can find a plantain plantaon at 0-1600 meters above sea level. You can eat it ripe (yellow color) or not ripe (green color), but you always have to cook it first. In other words, never eat it raw. If the plantain is ripe you can deep-fry or grill it. If it is not ripe you can deep-fry it. The plantain is different from a banana in some ways:

a) You can't eat it raw, banana yes. b) Plantain is bigger than a banana. c) You can eat it not ripe, banana not.

RECIPE

• Deep-fried ripe plantain

1. Peel the plantain. 2. Cut it diagonally in pieces 1/4 inch deep. 3. In a frying pan, put enough vegetable oil to deep fry the sliced plantain. 4. The oil must be hot but not very hot. 5. Put the sliced pieces into the frying pan separate from each other. 6. Turn over the slices to get them well cooked. 7. Take out the cooked slices and put them on a plate with paper towel.

• Grilled ripe plantain

1. Pre-heat the grill to 350 degrees C. 2. Peel the plantain. 3. Put it directly over the grill. 4. 5 minutes later, turn over the plantain. 5. 10 minutes later, check the plantain. If it's soft, take it off. If it's hard, leave it 3 more minutes.

• Deep-fried ripe plantain

1. Peel the plantain. 2. Cut it in small pieces, 1 inch thick. 3. In a frying pan with vegetable oil that is not very hot, put the pieces of plantain in. After 3 minutes, turn over them until they are a light-yellow color. 4. Take them out and push them flat. 5. Put the flattened pieces into the frying pan for 3 more minutes to get them dark-yellow colour and toasty. 6. Take them out and put them on a plate with paper towel. 7. Put a little salt on top of them.

12 Let’s Eat Together Empanadas of Chile

by Fernanda Mella Ortega

In my country we have many types of “empanadas”. I’m from Chile, which is the longest country in the world, so in each zone it is cooked in many different ways. Empanadas originated in the Middle East, but when the Spanish arrived in America, they changed the recipe and used the ingredients they found in the territory.

If you visit the coast, you can eat seafood empanadas, which are prepared with mussels, onions and fried. You can also find empanadas with cheese, clams and shrimps and they are fried too.

On September 18th we celebrate the Naonal Holiday which is called “Fiestas Patrias”. The “empanada de pino” is cooked in every house in the country because it is a Naonal food. The recipe for this includes onion, ground beef, eggs, milk, salt, white wine, olives and flour, and they are cooked in the oven. The mixture has the named “pirru” from the Mapuches, who are the indigenous people, and was most likely named “pino” by the Chileans.

In the central zone of Chile, people prepare “pear empanadas” or “empanadillas” but they have a sweet flavour, and they include only pear and flour. The empanadas de pino are also cooked in the oven. In my house they are prepared, but I prefer the salty empanadas.

As you can see, you can find many types of this food, with a big variety of ingredients for all preferences, with different cooks. I have eaten in different parts of Chile, but my grandmother’s empanadas de pino are the most delicious in the world!

Let’s Eat Together! 13 Typical Food from Southern Chile

by Fernanda Nieto

The south of Chile has many kinds of typical food. In my opinion, the most important typical foods from the south of Chile are Milcao, Chupe de Jaiba and Curanto. First, Milcao is from Chiloe Island, and it is a mix of mashed and grated potatoes and fried pork meat with parts of fat. It can be fried or baked in the oven. Second, Chupe de Jaiba is a special dish because the Jaiba is a crab, which lives at the boom of the sea and the divers need to catch it. To make the dish, you need to boil and take out the crustacean meat or you can get it at the city farmers market, where the meat is ready for cooking. Next, you put the Jaiba meat in a pan with onions, bread, milk, and cheese. Then, mix and put in a gran plate and bake in the oven.

The most important and favourite for me is Curanto because it has a unique flavor of the world. There are two kinds of Curanto: Curanto al hoyo, which is cooked in a hole on the ground and Curanto a la olla, which is cooked in a big saucepan. Curanto al oyo was created to conserve the food without refrigeraon and it was created by the naves. To make the Curanto, you need to have a bonfire which has a lot of heat and hot stones. Later, leave the bonfire flat and put big Pangue leaves to cover the fire. Then, add mussels, potatoes and different kinds of meat such as chicken, pork and beef ribs. Next, cover with more leaves and soil, wait one hour and everyone can enjoy.

Curanto a la olla is similar to al hoyo, but the difference is that it is made in a big saucepan in your kitchen. In comparison with the Curanto al hoyo it is simple to make and you keep the caldo which is the liquid from the ingredients. First, you need to fry quartered onion and garlic, add mussels, meat, sausage, Chapale, which is flour, and smashed potatoes. Mix and add the secret ingredient, a lile bit of white wine. The cooking me is approximately 40 minutes. Then, you can put the food on a plaer and take some of the liquid in a cup and enjoy with white Chilean wine. As you can see, Chile has many kinds of typical food, which is really a special and unique flavor of the world.

14 Let’s Eat Together Venezuelan Arepas Recipe

by Irma Herrera

Arepas are a typical meal in Venezuela. You can find them everywhere and there are places offering a myriad of stuffing opons. Venezuelan arepas are made with precooked corn meal called PAN. It’s available in the Lan secon of most super markets, also in Lan markets.

There are three kinds of PAN corn meal: white, yellow and sweet. White corn is more commonly used for making arepas.

RECIPE

• What do you need?

2 cups precooked corn meal 2 1/2 cups warm water 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or butter

• How do you make it?

Pour warm water into a large bowl. Stir in salt to dissolve and then add oil or butter. Slowly pour the corn meal and immediately knead the mixture with your hands, making circular movements and breaking with your fingers the lumps that may form. The dough has to be soft, but firm enough. Let rest covered for 5 minutes. If the dough seems dry or cracks when you roll it add a little more warm water. To shape an arepa. take a small portion of the dough and roll it into a ball and then pat it between your hands, flattening it gently until it's about 1/2 inch thick and 3 1/2-4 inches in diameter. Press your thumbs around the outside of the disc to form a nice edge. Cook the arepas in a nonstick pan on medium heat, both sides, until the get toasty and light brown. You can eat plain arepas as a side dish or cut the arepa longitudinally and fill it with any kind of stuffing of your desire. More common stuffings are: cheese, egg. tuna, chicken, beef, pork, jam, salad, avocado and seafood.

I hope you enjoy them like Venezuelan people do!

Let’s Eat Together! 15 My Favourite Food Margaret’s Class

by Daniel Tekeste Tewolde My Favourite food is Pizza. My favourite kind of pizza is meat, but I don’t like pork. I buy my pizza from Aardvark pizza in Banff. I ate pizza in Eritrea. I eat pizza at work every Friday.

by Kusha Devi My favourite food is Rice. This food is from India. My family eats rice every day. We eat rice foe supper. I like Dal with rice.

by Abdelouahed Saaoud My favourite food is Paella. This food is from Spain. I am a chef. I have cooked paellea. Paella has rice, vegetables, seafood and mussels. I also add a spoonful of saffron and serve with a lemon wedge. Before coming to Canada, I cooked paella at the hotel in Morocco.

by Ehklas Fadil My favourite food is Kibbah. It is from Syria. I cooked vegetable Kibbah for my class, I like meat Kibbah beer. Kibbah is easy to cook. Kibbak is made with meat, nuts, parsley, onion, bulgar and spices like paprika and peppercorns.

16 Let’s Eat Together! The Glory of Food

by Meena Khadka Food is one of the most important necessies of life. It is fuel for our body and soul. Healthy food not only makes a fit body, it can also make your mind peaceful. Around the world there are many cultures and each one has different kinds of food, recipes and beliefs about what and how to eat. People prepare meals according to the weather, the occasion, their status and what is available.

Without food we can’t survive. A balance of healthy food is very important. If you don’t eat enough, your body can get weak, you can get sick quickly and if you always think about eang, you are hungry all the me. If you eat too much you can be overweight and lazy. You are more suscepble to major diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases. Good nutrion makes you energec and beauful. Food can also control your body, mind, mood and other acvies.

When you are healthy you feel good and your mind will be peaceful. In some cultures, people believe food affects our emoons. People who eat unhealthy food get angry very fast and can get depressed. Food also represents culture. In some cultures, if you empty your plate that means you need more food. They think they didn’t serve you enough. You must leave some food on your plate. On the other hand, in some cultures if you leave food on your plate its means that you didn’t like it. In some cultures, people must be quiet when they are eang. Talking while eang is bad manners. Yet in other cultures, people discuss important topics at meals. In some cultures, it is very important to eat dinner with family and pray before starng.

What people eat and how they eat indicates their status. In high society every meal is a formal event, and your table manners must be perfect. Food is a very popular way to show people their love and caring. Most people cook lots of dishes to welcome their guests. Not only common people, but royal families welcome their guests with extravagant meals. They serve many kinds of dishes very specially in silver and gold plates. Some food is only consumed by rich people and some food only by poor people. High society eats a variety of imported specialty foods whereas the common folk would just have the basics.

I love everything about food. Cooking and trying different kinds of food are my hobbies. I even like talking about food and recipes. I think we should enjoy our meals and take care of our health.

Let’s Eat Together! 17 Very Special Foods for New Year’s Day

by Monica Kim

I am from Korea and I have been living in the Bow Valley for 2 years. I would like to introduce a Korean tradional dish for the New Year’s day. The New Year’s day is the most important of the holidays for Koreans. Korean New Year generally occurs in January or February, and Korean New Year typically falls on the same day as Chinese New Year.

The celebraon usually lasts three days: the day before Korean New Year, Korean New Year itself, and the day aer Korean New Year. During this me, we cerebrate these holidays in many ways. Normally, people will visit their parents and relaves. Before the celebraon, people clean the house and do some shopping for family. Korean New Year is typically a family holiday. Especially, it is me for a family reunion, which is the most important part of the New Year celebraon. On New Year’s day morning, children and family members get dressed up in “hanbok” (a Korean tradional clothes), and then they perform “sebae” (a bowing ceremony) to their grand parents. Addionally, children oen receive money from their elders aer performing a formal bow with some words of blessing.

On Korean New Year’s day, people prepare a lot of food, and spend much of the day with family. We have many Korean tradional food on New Year’s day. For example, Tteokguk (soup with sliced rice cakes)is a tradional Korean food that is customarily eaten for the New Year. It is usually garnished with thin sliced egg Zidane, marinated meat, and gim.

According to Korean age reckoning, the Korean New Year is similar to a birthday for Koreans, and eang eokguk is part of the birthday celebraon. Once you finish eang your e Tteokguk okguk, you are one year older. Isn’t it surprising?

Another Tradional dish is Jeon, somemes called buchimgae. It is my favourite tradional Korean dish, especially eaten on the Korean New Year's Day. Jeon refers to a dish made by seasoning whole, sliced, or minced fish, meat, vegetables, etc., and coang them with wheat flour and egg wash before frying them in oil.

Jeon can be made with ingredients such as fish, meat, poultry, seafood, and vegetable, and be served as an appezer, a banchan (side dish), or an anju (food served a nd eaten with drinks). Jeon

Every New Year’s day, I make a Tteokguk and Jeon for my family. It tastes good but I miss my mother’s Tteokguk in Korea. To me, it is not just food, it is a part of my childhood. I wish my mother be will always happy and healthy. I love you, mom!

18 Let’s Eat Together! Our Cooking Club

by Naomi Mori

We are Moms in Canmore and we have had a cooking club for two years. It is called “E's Kitchen”. E is my friend's name who is the organizer of the club. We try to meet every month.

E's kitchen usually has a theme for the menu each me. This means we choose one ingredient that should be used in the meals. Or, if it is a holiday season, the theme will be a special menu for Christmas or New Years, etc. Everybody looks for a menu from the theme by the date. Also, the menu had beer be simple and healthy. At the club, we can choose to bring the ingredients and show people how to cook something or we can bring the meals that we have cooked at home. For example, one me we had a theme of cabbage. I had a recipe for cabbage soup. The cabbage should be cut in big pieces then put in a big pot. The recipe said to add sausages, then add any kind of vegetables, then simmer with vegetable bouillon for 30-40 minutes. One me it was a party menu. One person brought a plate of small sushi balls. You can see the sushi balls in the picture. Aer we cook, we taste the meals and share the recipes.

We are all Moms and we are working hard. Also, we are taking care of children so we keep busy every day. Somemes we think, “I don't want to cook tonight,” and it is troublesome to decide the menu every day. If we can share the recipes, we will have more ideas for cooking. It helps us to decide easily every day. Also, it is more fun to try new tastes.

There are many reasons why we have a cooking club, but I think the most important reason is that we love to be together, chat with each other, and cook and eat yummy food!

Let’s Eat Together! 19 Meals are Better in Good Company

by Nicole Lizama

I love food, but I don´t like eang alone. For example, in my house and in my country, I always cook with my mother, because she is a very good cook and I learn a lot from her. We oen cook for our family and use a variety of fresh vegetables, herbs, spices, grains, fish or meat and daily products. All the members of the family meet in my parent’s house, and all the family members and also my neighbor comes to my house and we eat together.

Also, we don’t necessarily get together for special occasions, but oen just to meet. Furthermore, many of my friends somemes visit my house, and we like to prepare pizzas or tacos together while we talk. I have a vegetarian friend and we always share her vegetable recipes. In fact, she showed me a falafel recipe and now it's my favorite! I like to prepare it with chick peas, it can be prepared with beans, but I have never used this recipe.

When I cooked falafel at my parent’s house, all the people liked the food. Especially my father because he had never eaten this new and different food before. He liked it so much it made me feel very happy.

20 Let’s Eat Together My Favourite Food: Porotos Granados

by Sabrina Calzadillas

In my country, we have many typical foods, and my favourite food is “porotos granados”. Porotos granados is a type of hot soup that contains beans, maize kernels, squash, onion, cumin and basil. It is considered a summer stew, because that is when the maize and summer squash are harvested in central and southern Chile.

For the preparaon, you should soak the beans for some hours and then mix the ingredients into vegetable broth. Porotos granados can be served with Chilean salad. This is tomato with onion, and seasoned with oil and salt. The onion is soaked before the preparaon so that the mixture isn’t so strong. This also is a typical salad of summer.

If you go to Chile you should try this food. You will love it!

Let’s Eat Together! 21 Avocado Salad Recipe Recipe

by Satoe Ogawa

I enjoy taking this salad to potluck pares. I love eang but I am not good at cooking!

RECIPE

• What do you need?

1/2 onion 1 avocado 2 boiled eggs 10 boiled shrimps 2 sweet pickles 3 tbsp mayonnaise Dash of salt and pepper Lemon juice to taste

• How do you make it?

1. Chop the pickles and the onion into small chunks. 2. Mix the pickles and onion with mayonnaise and add salt and pepper. 3. Cut the shrimps and avocado and boiled eggs. 4. Mix shrimp and avocado and eggs with the sauce. 5. Add lemon juice to taste.

22 Let’s Eat Together! Recipes from Aleppo Recipe

by Sevan Kahkejian My name is Sevan. I came to Canada on the 28th of September 2016 from Aleppo, Syria. I am a mix of Armenian and Syrian, because of the origin of my father’s family.

Food is very important in our culture. In our culture, the woman is the person that makes food every day for her family. It is considered to be her job because she generally stays and works at home, taking care of the house and the family. That might seem different for many people in Canada, but Syria is a very tradional country. As a Syrian woman it is very important for me to make food for my partner. It is a sign of love, care and respect. It is very unusual for a married Syrian woman to work outside the home, unless it’s a part me job. Usually Syrian men like to have a wife who is beauful and a great cook.

Somemes we don’t worry about health that much, we care more about having great food all the me. Syrians always enjoy their tradional food. Some tradional Syrian foods are kebabs, kibbeh, dolma and freekeh. Two very popular salads in the middle east are tabboule and faoush (mild greens called “Purslane,” radishes, pomegranate seeds, tomatoes, peppers, mint, cucumber, crispy pita chunks with a dressing of pomegranate molasses). Common appezers include hummus, mutabbal, muhammara and baba ghannouj (see the recipe below). Armenian food is spicier than Syrian food. On special occasions like Christmas and Easter we get together with family and friends to enjoy and share many different dishes. Usually we don’t drink alcohol with meals at home but somemes we do on the weekend. We always like to have coffee or tea aer any meal.

Freekeh (green wheat) with chicken and nuts

Here’s a funny expression from Syria that doesn’t translate directly but goes something like this: “If you want a full and happy belly, you should marry a woman from Aleppo.”

Kibbeh (fried patties made of bulgar wheat, lean minced meat, onions and spices)

Let’s Eat Together! 23 Recipes from Aleppo (continued) Recipe

RECIPE

And here’s a recipe for a great dip: Baba Ghanouj

• What do you need?

2 large eggplants One small red bell pepper 1 small tomato ½ cup parsley leaves, tightly packed 2 cloves of garlic, minced 2.5 tbsp. pomegranate molasses (you can make this by simply reducing pomegranate juice) 1 tbsp. olive oil ½ tsp salt ½ cup pomegranate seeds ½ cup walnuts, chopped

• How do you make it?

1. Pierce each eggplant twice with a fork. 2. Broil the eggplants on high for 5-10 minutes until the skin blackens. 3. Reduce the oven temperature and bake eggplants in the oven at 375F for 20-25 minutes, until they are completely soft on the inside. 4. Meanwhile, finely chop the red bell pepper, tomato, and parsley. 5. Once the eggplant is soft, peel off the charred skin. Finely chop the insides of the eggplant or mash with a fork. Alternatively, pulse a few times in the food processor for a smoother consistency. Transfer to a bowl and mix in salt, olive oil, garlic, pomegranate molasses, walnuts, and half of chopped parsley. 6. Fold in half of the chopped tomatoes, bell peppers, and pomegranate seeds, reserving the rest for topping. 7. Drizzle baba ghanouj with some extra olive oil. Top with remaining pomegranate seeds, chopped peppers, chopped tomatoes, and parsley leaves. Enjoy with warm pita bread!

Hummus (a dip of chick peas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic)

24 Let’s Eat Together A Pizza Birthday Party for Rina

by Tamaki Okabe

Food is one of my favorite topics. I love cooking, especially baking sweets. And food is always part of social acvies. My daughter Rina’s birthday was coming up. The children’s party is a big event for me. We talked about different ideas for her party. It is not easy, because each party needs to be special. The party needs an acvity that must be different than last year’s. It should last about two hours, and of course the kids must have fun. This me we decided it would be a pizza party and the children would make their own pizza from scratch.

I decided that I needed a rehearsal party first because I had no idea how much me it would take to make these pizzas. So Rina invited two friends for the rehearsal. We planned which parts of the recipe the children could make and what parts mommy should prepare or help. We decided mommy would cut vegetables, pepperoni, shred cheese and make the dough. The children would do the rest. Aer the rehearsal we started planning for the actual party.

Rina made a “Welcome Board” for the front door. And at party me she greeted her friends, eight altogether. Then we started making pizzas. I put warm water, yeast, sugar and salt into a bowl. It started rising and the children were excited. Then I added flour and mixed these ingredients together to make a big sff dough. Next, I divided the dough into parts, one for each child. The children kneaded the dough unl it was smooth and let it rise for 15 minutes.

Aer that, they punched it down and rolled it out into a circle using a rolling pin. They put their pizza rounds on baking sheets and then added the toppings. I put the trays in a hot oven for 20 minutes. While waing for the pizzas to bake, the children played a game, which Rina planned. When baking was finished everybody looked very pleased. The pizzas looked fantasc and delicious. Everybody enjoyed their meal.

I also bake a special cake for my children’s birthdays. Rina had requested one decorated with strawberries and chocolate. I baked my special sponge cake, made whipped cream icing decorated with fruit, and wrote “Happy Birthday 9th Rina” with chocolate.

The party was a big success. The children experienced making pizzas and they had a great me with their friends. Everybody was so happy and the children le laughing while they waved goodbye.

Let’s Eat Together! 25 The Art of Sushi

by Toru Suzaki

My name is Toru. I have been working at a sushi restaurant in Banff for the past 4 years since I moved to Canada. I am going to explain how to make sushi.

First you have to buy some rice, sushi vinegar, wasabi and fresh raw fish at an Asian supermarket. Second, you cook the rice a lile bit firmer than normal so that it is not too so. Aer the rice is done, mix the rice and sushi vinegar in a bowl very well. Then flaen the rice to the edges of the bowl and wait 5-10 minutes. Aer the rice surface is dry, you should flip it over and wait. Aer 10 minutes, put a wet paper towel on the rice to keep it moist and protect it from dust. Then you have to prepare the fish. With a very sharp knife, cut the fish into porons of 3cm width x 6cm width x 2-3 mm thickness.

The next step is pung the sushi together. First grasp the sushi rice in the palm of your hand. It should not be too hard or too so. It should feel like air is in the rice ball. Then put the fish on the top. Please do not forget to put wasabi between the fish and sushi ball.

Finally, you can eat the sushi all you want!

26 Let’s Eat Together Traditional Foods of Catalonia

by Vero Capitan

There are many kinds of tradional foods in Catalonia. Catalonia is a region of Spain where we have a lot of tradional dishes like Catalonian beans, Escudella, which it is a soup made with some kinds of meat and vegetables, cut cod and beef stew with boletus, etc.

I have a favorite food from Catalonia, and this is Calçotades. In my opinion, it is my favorite dish because you share the food with your family and friends and have a good me with them.

It is a typical dish and it is basically a kind of onion, but it is cooked in a very original way. First of all, you have to make a fire on the ground with vine wood. Then, when the wood is burning, you have to put the calçot on the grill. You need a flame, but no embers. The calçot is burned on the outside, but inside it is delicious and very yummy and the calçots are accompanied by a sauce called Romesco. If you want to eat calçots you need napkins so as not to get dirty, and some people wear gloves to protect themselves from the ashes. I like this tradional food because you can chat with people and you can meet with all your friends in the countryside. Somemes the men prepare the fire and the women take a stroll into the forest.

To sum up, I think that the Catalan cuisine is very rich, nutrious and delicious. My favorite dish is Calçotada but I can choose many more. I love this dish because the food is healthy, but it is also a fantasc occasion.

Let’s Eat Together! 27 A Celebration of Learning

28 Let’s Eat Together! A Celebration of Learning

Let’s Eat Together! 29 Special Thanks to Our Tutors

Catharina Ankersmit Pat Haney Laurel Paterson Judy Archer Monika Helbig Jim Price Mariana Barron Femmeke Holthuis Frances Rawson Zoe Brooker Mary Huerlimann-Chrise Jody Roseneck Mary Buckingham Lynn Katarey Louise Schultz Sue Burford Monica Kim Carol Shea Adrienne Butler Anneli Kocher Jenny Shea Marcia Church Nicole Laliberté Mia Travers-Howard Marianne Engel Bob MacDonell Abigail Ward Marleen Ferguson-Steele Ian McCubbin Jacinta Zolob Jean Finley Don McKay Faye Forbes-Anderson Kazue Merry Kaitlin Hald Sachiho Miller

30 Let’s Eat Together!

Let’s Eat Together! June 2018