During the coronavirus pandemic, we were told to stay inside and in turn, became home chefs.
Now, Okanagan College has found a way to mark this time in history with a COVID-19-themed cookbook.
“For a lot of people, the pandemic has been really difficult for a lot of our students — they suffered financially,” said Roen Janyk, library department chair at Okanagan College.
“So I hope that this can be a positive experience that comes out of such a depressing time and will lift some people’s spirit.”
The initiative is spearheaded by the library department at the college and project managers are putting out a call to students, staff, and the community at large for their favourite recipes.
“Of course, we have had a sourdough bread recipe and a chilli recipe, we have had some dessert recipes pie recipes and I look forward to seeing some of the other creations,” said Janyk.
The proceeds of the cookbooks sold will go to the Okanagan College Students’ Union and to an initiative that prevents food insecurity for students called OC Serves Up, where students of the Culinary and Pastry Arts department give free lunches to students signed up as part of their practice.
“There are a lot of regulars that rely on these programs because the cost of living here in Kelowna is obviously not the cheapest or the other costs associated are high so this goes a long way with the students to be able to manage while they are here attending college,” said Reinhard Foerderer, Culinary and Pastry Arts chair.
A few of the culinary arts students will be submitting recipes of their own, first-year student Ryan Doyle will be sharing his recipe for vegetable spring rolls.
“You can turn a bad day into a good day with a good plate of food,” said Doyle.
The deadline for submissions is Sept. 30 and they are also asking for submissions from community members to submit a recipe all you have to do is visit their website www.okanagan.libwizard.com/f/COVIDcookbook