Chinatown House and Flavours of Hope collaborate to launch first cooking demo series with Venezuelan party snacks

Culture Dialogues Through Food

The newly opened coworking and community hub Chinatown House (188 East Pender Street) is set to collaborate with non-profit social enterprise Flavours of Hope to bring together an intimate group of people to experience the first Cultural Dialogues Through Food series on Tuesday, December 11, 2018.

Volume One of the food series features a cooking demo of traditional Venezuelan party snacks, tequeños con salsa guasacaca (cheese sticks with green salsa) and tostones (plantain chips), by chef Marialejandra Reyes Valerio, a talented Venezuelan woman who came to Canada nine months ago as a refugee seeking a safer and better life with her partner.

“At Chinatown House, our mandate is to create space for the community to spearhead activities and really drive what they want to see and enjoy,” says Minna Van, the executive director of West Coast Technology Innovation Foundation, the organization managing Chinatown House’s coworking space and coordinating programming. “Flavours of Hope is definitely a like-minded organization. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with them on this new initiative. With Cultural Dialogues Through Food, our hope is conversations will flow about food in different cultures but also, the people behind the food and why they are here.”

During the cooking demo, Valerio not only will show guests how to make the popular tequeños and tostones with salsa guasacaca, but she will also share stories of her migration experience of food and community life in Canada. As a newcomer to British Columbia, Valerio misses food from her Venezuelan culture and hopes to one day start her own food business.

Guests will get to engage in dialogue about food, culture, and stories and take home a special jar of salsa guasacaca, as well as Valerio’s homemade recipe.

“By creating intercultural spaces and learning opportunities through cooking and eating together, we can build relationships with newcomers and share cultural food and stories with Canadians,” says Trixie Ling, founder of Flavours of Hope, a non-profit social enterprise that supports and empowers refugee newcomer women to earn a living wage and build social connections in communities through cooking and sharing culinary traditions and stories. “We are thrilled to launch this engaging food series at an inclusive space like Chinatown House and hope to make this a monthly event.”

Cultural Dialogues Through Food: Vol. 1 is on Tuesday, December 11, 2018, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Limited tickets are $35 per person and available via Eventbrite.

For a full schedule on current programming and more information, please visit www.chinatownhouse.ca.

About Chinatown House
Chinatown House is founded by an alliance of entrepreneurs, urban designers, cultural curators and nonprofit organizations with the shared goal of building a Chinatown that is vibrant, culturally and financially sustainable and accessible to all. Chinatown House is a space that facilitates community building by hosting panel discussions, artist/mentor/elder-in-residence, and workshops with a mission to sustain ownership of Chinatown’s future by protecting, conserving and growing Chinatown’s creative culture through arts, culture and technology. For more information, please visit www.chinatownhouse.ca

About Flavours of Hope
Flavours of Hope is a non-profit social enterprise launched in March 2018 with the vision of empowering refugee newcomer women to earn livable income and share traditional cuisine and stories to build connections and a sense of belonging in the community. Celebrating diverse food, cultures and stories can help to build more welcoming and inclusive community for newcomers. For more information, please visit www.flavoursofhope.com

About West Coast Technology Innovation Foundation
The West Coast Technology Innovation Foundation is founded by Vancouver’s pioneering coworking company The Network Hub. It was created as a way for The Network Hub to give back to the community and support community initiatives. For more information, please visit www.westcoastfoundation.org

Media release and image provided by Sophia Cheng, Sophia Cheng PR.