Few things can bring people together like a good, hot meal. As the organizer of the annual West End Food Festival, Gordon Neighbourhood House executive director Paul Taylor knows this all too well.
This year’s festival runs from Sept. 15-20 and features close to 40 different food-related events, seminars and workshops, most of them free to attend.
“It’s important for us to make these classes free,” says Taylor. “We use food to facilitate connection in our community… so [these events] need to be accessible.”
Thanks to support from the West End BIA and Vancity, Gordon Neighbourhood House was able to offer micro-grants of $200-300 to members of the community to fund the many programs and workshops being provided to the public free-of-charge.
Classes include kombucha and fermented food workshops, urban gardening and foraging, seminars on saving seeds – even food poetry.
On Sept. 18, Gordon Neighbourhood House will be hosting a panel discussion in their ongoing Vancouver Food Conversations series, this time focusing on local agriculture and its impacts on migrant workers
Taylor says he sees food as way to facilitate meaningful conversations about the many social issues affecting the city and his neighbourhood in particular.
“Coming together around food makes it much easier to discuss difficult subjects like housing, welfare rates,” he says.
• For more information about the West End Food Festval, visit WestEndFoodFestival.Wordpress.com
