The Organizers

Meeru Dhalwala

I am the co-owner of Vij’s and Rangoli Restaurants in Vancouver. I manage both kitchens, source our foods, and create all of the recipes on the menus. I have also written two Indian cookbooks. Since having children, I have become increasingly aware of the environmental issues facing our world. After my initial years of cynicism, I have come to the conclusion that as long as I do the best I can, I must have faith in a positive outcome.

I recently read an article which mentions the philosopher Roger Scruton and his comment that today’s environmental problems arise from “the loss of equilibrium that ensues when people cease to understand their surroundings as a home.” Joy of Feeding is all about sharing our different homes, within the same community, with one another. One of the most loving things we do at home is to cook, to feed and to nurture. And in my view, it’s only through encouraging this love that we will encourage ourselves as a community to go green. The first and easiest way to go green is to pay attention to what we eat and how our food is grown, as all of us must eat to live.

Nicole Fetterly

I am a Registered Dietitian working in private practice and for Choices Markets. I am also a wife and mother of a 3 year old girl and, our newest addition since the last Joy of Feeding, a 7 month old boy.

I feel extremely lucky that my career as a dietitian and my love of family intersect so well in the kitchen. Occasionally, the meals we make at home are gourmet, but more often they are down-to-earth, based on organic, fresh foods that are as close to nature as possible and grown as locally as possible.

There’s not a day that goes by when my daughter doesn’t say “Momma, I want to help you,” and she perches on a chair to help with meal-making. Then we sit down at the table together for breakfast, most days, and dinner every evening as an essential way to connect, not just about our daily activities, but also about the joy and importance of food, cooking and family.

Mary MacKay

I am the Head Baker and co-owner of Terra Breads, a Vancouver bakery-café specializing in sourdough-based breads made from natural starters and baked in stone-hearth ovens. When developing recipes for the bakeries I source natural, local and sustainable ingredients for the bakery. I feel a strong connection to farmers that take care to nurture the land and raise food in a sustainable way.

For the past 7 years, I have been on the board of the Chefs Table Society, a collaborative dedicated to supporting innovative and sustainable programs that will inspire, educate and nurture chefs, producers and local food industry. I am also a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, an organization of women chefs and culinary professionals whom raise funds for scholarships for aspiring women in the culinary industry.

As a mother, I want to pass on my love for cooking to my two girls so they will grow up having the same respect for what they eat and what it takes to produce the foods they will enjoy.

Joy of Feeding is an opportunity to celebrate the pleasure of cooking, taste a variety of heritage foods that have been nurturing families for generations and to inspire future generations to carry on the tradition of cooking at home.

Amy Frye

I am the Director at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm. I grew up grew up helping in the kitchen and lending a hand in the garden on my grandparents’ farm in Minnesota. It’s true that, as a kid, I didn’t always find joy in shelling peas or cutting green beans to freeze, but the joy and pride in eating a meal prepared from home-grown ingredients always made it worthwhile. I have fond memories of running through the corn fields, baking bread with my grandma and feeding hay to the cattle. My early experiences have instilled a deep sense of respect and appreciation for those individuals who choose to grow food for a living.

My interest in food and agriculture was rekindled while completing my undergraduate degree in Iowa. I then pursued this interest at UBC, where my research focused on the tensions and opportunities experienced by farmers operating along the urban edge, the increasing importance of direct marketing to agricultural viability in this context, and how these factors affect decisions about farmland preservation.

I have been at UBC Farm since 2006 and am fiercely passionate about and dedicated to this unique and special place. The amazing community that surrounds the UBC Farm continually inspires me. I am thrilled to be part of Joy of Feeding, which helps support many of the great projects that happen here.

Amy Robertson

After 6 years of service and a year off, I have returned to the board of the Vancouver Farmer’s Markets. I’m also on the board of Glen Valley Organic Farm Co-op where my husband and I raised our three children in the early 1990’s. I am an avid cyclist, swimmer, basket weaver and gardener, as well as a certified doula and foster parent.

I have been an advocate of the local food movement at both the community level and in my home. The source and quality of the foods we choose is crucial when it comes to our health and a strong local economy. The more I participate in community events related to local eating and sustainable farming, the more I can promote the difference between intellectualizing local eating and actually using one’s hand to cook with local, sustainably grown foods. Without cooking, we can’t complete our passion and appreciation for food.

Marcia Thompson

Marcia Thompson

Food and food rituals have been a source of great happiness in my life. Daily I cook for my loved ones, and my husband and I have made family dinners with our children a priority since they were young. Big traditional meals, surrounded by family and friends, have been a source of joy and beautiful memories throughout my lifetime. The food, always delicious, feeds both my body and my soul. A roast turkey dinner, with all the trimmings, makes me feel connected to my past and guides me in carrying on traditions with my own family.

I look forward to experimenting with the wonderful “home cooking” recipes in this booklet. Thanks to all of the Joy of Feeding cooks for volunteering your time and talents, and for sharing your family’s favorite foods with us.

Julian Bond

I am Julian Bond, Executive Chef of Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts located for the last 16 years at the head of Granville Island. It is a proud feeling to have dedicated myself to teaching culinary arts whether it be in a restaurant kitchen, or as a chef instructor at a culinary school or in my own home for my four children. I believe it is a valuable life skill brought to life differently in a variety of cultures on a multitude of cooking levels.

This is my third year working with some very lovely and talented cooks at ‘Joy of Feeding’ and each year it is me who comes away learning new recipes and methods. Once again I am looking forward to opening my professional culinary kitchens up to this year’s equally talented home cooks.