OHEIB 9th Annual Student Meet & Greet
Student Meet and Greet 2010
The Cara Demonstration Kitchen & Common Room of the Ted Rogers School of Management was the location for the 9th Annual Student Meet and Greet, January 28, 2010. Clare Jones, co-chair of OHEIB introduced the speakers and OHEIB.
First to speak was Jackie Gallagher, Corporate Home Economist with General Mills Canada. After graduating from Brescia College at Western University, Jackie, unlike friends who applied for internship, wanted to work in a test kitchen. Her first job was with Thompson J. Lipton's on their 1-800 line answering product questions. After 2 years, Jackie moved to Pillsbury doing similar work for 3 or 4 years before moving into the test kitchen. General Mills bought Pillsbury and with it, came more products.
At General Mills, with colleague Margaret Flood, they provide culinary and technical information for their products and represent the consumer at home. They test products - product tolerance testing, develop package directions, develop recipes, do sensory testing and competitive product evaluations. They also do product orientation to new employees (the newbies cook up some of the products) as well as staff team building exercises. Connected to the retail test kitchen is a product presentation room where they present their products to clients, large grocery stores. Cereal is the big business at General Mills, but they also have Betty Crocker, Hamburger Helper, Green Giant, Old El Paso, and Pillsbury line of dough products (cookie, pizza, etc), to name a few. The job is varied, interesting and always challenging.
Rosemarie Superville is a freelance food stylist. Rosemarie attended Ryerson and in her fourth year did a placement at Ad Agency where she first heard about food styling. This appealed to her more than internship and dietetics. After graduation, Rosemarie began catering and did so for a few years while developing contacts, joined all the associations and worked on a freelance basis in some of the large food companies to get experience and to get known. While there are a few food styling courses available today (George Brown has a one week program), Rosemarie essentially learned on the job and used her growing network of colleagues to ask questions. A project begins with a call from either a client or photographer. A meeting, in person or conference call, provides the details. She then shops and does some food prep at home before packing up and carrying her kitchen in her car. At the studio, the magic happens. Rosemarie explained the different types of 'shots' - editorial vs packaging, and print vs TV. Digital photography has in some ways made food styling easier (not as many takes or stand-in food) and faster. However with downloading and emailing, it also makes it available to occasional offsite clients. With more than 30 years of experience, Rosemarie provided some advice - make and keep up your contacts, market yourself (most food stylists have their own websites), be organized, patient and tolerant, keep smiling and keep your cool. It's all about making the client happy.
Judy Fricker, Community Kitchen Coordinator with North York Community House (NYCH). North York Community House is a Social Service agency that provides programs and services to residents in northwest Toronto. The main office is located at Allen Road and Lawrence Ave. Their mission statement sums it all up: "To assist newcomers settle, integrate and become vibrant members of our community; to help residents improve their economic conditions, and to help build strong neighbourhoods." Some facts and figures: North York Community House started in 1990, 20 years ago, as a small agency with 2 staff. Today, NYCH is in 60 locations with 90 staff, (55 full-time). In 2009, NYCH served 23,000 people and are funded federally by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, City of Toronto, Metcalfe Foundation, Trillium, Ministry of Health, Ontario Early Years Centres, Toronto Community Housing Company, corporate sponsors and are a United Way member agency. A Community Kitchen is a group of people who come together to cook healthy, nutritious, affordable meals. Members cook in bulk quantities, preparing a meal to take home to their families. Community Kitchens address the issues of Food Security-that everyone has a right to nutritious, affordable, safe & culturally appropriate, locally and seasonally grown foods. The Community Kitchen offers the opportunity to learn and share skills, make new friends, engage in conversation and learn about community resources from each other. The creation of a meal becomes a social activity that benefits everyone's health and social well-being. Community Kitchens come in many different forms. At NYCH, kitchens are offered in a variety of languages: Tamil, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Somali, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Spanish, Albanian, and English. The participants (newcomers) learn how to access familiar food from their own culture and learn other styles of cooking. Some kitchens may be vegetarian only, some may only use local ingredients perhaps from a Community Garden, and some may teach specific skills like baking, preserving and freezing foods. When Judy began at NYCH 4 years ago, the first project was to create a curriculum for the Community Kitchen Leadership Training Program. The 30 hour training program is open to community members who have an interest in becoming Community Kitchen leaders, who want to facilitate their own Community Kitchen and get some valuable work experience in the Social Service sector. The training includes facilitation and leadership skills, community kitchen models, finding a location, outreach, nutrition, budgeting, menu planning, food safety, community development, and sourcing community resources. After 30 hours of in-class and practical instruction, they graduate as Community Kitchen leaders. Judy also coordinates the "Cook and Talk" programs, also offered in many languages and multicultural groups. Facilitated by trained individuals, the group prepares a nutritious meal, which they eat onsite, while learning about community resources and services. Guest speakers give presentations on such topics as Safety & Violence Prevention (Toronto Police Service), settling in Toronto, Parenting, Nutrition (Toronto Public Health), Women's Health Issues, loss of friends and families (Bereaved Families of Ontario) and 211 (the Find Help line). Judy also coordinates the Women's Circle program, similar to Cook and Talk, offering a healthy snack, and guest speakers. To support these programs are many responsibilities: payroll, making arrangements for on-site childminding, hiring and training of facilitators, lining up guest speakers, organizing and equipping the main kitchen and other site kitchens, ordering food from the NYH Food Bank, recruiting and training volunteers, attending team and coordinators meetings and inter-agency meetings. Also summarizing data, writing mid-term and final program reports, and developing networking relationships with agencies/groups dealing with food accessibility issues. Judy talked about the rewarding aspects of her job - working with a great team, 2 other coordinators, one who runs "Get Moving!" a program of physical activity and healthy eating, and a Community Development and Community Engagement Coordinator. They share ideas, resources and are supportive. Her manager allows creative input, is open to new ideas, and lets her staff work quite independently. More rewarding aspects:
- Meeting peoples' needs - the positive effect of good nutrition, changing eating habits, reducing isolation, socializing, learning, seeing folks get access to resources in their community
- Seeing the development human potential through the training and getting confidence as a facilitator. Trainees take their Canadian experience and get jobs elsewhere.
- Exposure to many cultures and variety of foods
- Meeting professionals from other agencies and learning about their areas of expertise
- Getting involved with other agencies
- Being active on an inter-agency Food Security group which supports food programs in the Lawrence Heights neighbourhood
- Attending professional development workshops as well as in-house staff workshops
- Staff planning days, and team building exercises within NYCH
- Seeing the expansion of services in their agency and being a part of that planning process
- Catering, event planning and organizing trips (to farms to pick produce)
Bruce Thompson is a Freelance Chef and Nutritionist. Bruce worked as a professional chef for more than two decades, in all the 'hot spots' - London, Paris, Sudbury and Toronto. While he loved it, it was physically demanding, stressful and the hours were not well suited to family harmony. He thought a logical progression from being a chef was to study Food & Nutrition. It seemed a surprise to the Ryerson administration that it was not a recognized career path (it is now, just take a look at programs at George Brown College). As a mature student, he admitted that there are advantages to not having a career path mapped out for yourself because it allows you to be open to new possibilities. His experience post graduation was to apply for every job available and then wait by the phone to hear back from prospective employers. This led to several interviews during which he was able to hone his interview skills and improve his résumé. He had an interview at Ontario Pork and while there were no jobs at the time, they created one for him about 3 months later. For ten years, Bruce was the resident chef and nutritionist at Ontario Pork. He developed industry and media liaisons, created recipes, worked at trade and consumer shows, and much more. He is now freelancing, applying the knowledge and skills accumulated during his varied and lengthy career. His advice to students is to volunteer wherever the opportunity arises - food and consumer shows, trade shows, to network and to join associations. He emphasized the importance of keeping in touch with professors after graduation and told students "take heart, it will all come together, eventually." His parting thought was 'a little humility goes a long way and to always keep an open mind. Think for yourself and think independently".
After a Question and Answer session, Ilona Maziarczyk, OHEIB co-chair, thanked the speakers and introduced OHEIB members and their positions. She also thanked Ryerson School of Nutrition and Food for helping with the meeting and the program committee. Thank you to the members who spoke to the students after the meeting, answering questions and offering advice.