Cultural connections and food security

This article is part of a series that highlights the importance of food security partners, programs and initiatives in contributing to the overall health and wellbeing of TCHC communities. Read and view other articles and video in this series.

What stories could your kitchen tell? Are there recipes passed down through generations? Does a favourite meal bring back childhood memories? Or is it simply the conversations from around the kitchen table that have stayed with you over the years?

Laura Hammond, Executive Director of Birchmount Community Action Council, believes that food carries history, connecting us with our communities and our cultural history. This belief is at the centre of the work the council leads from 1021 Birchmount Road. Inside, the Council’s food distribution system helps local tenants access cultural foods. Outside, the community garden provides a space for cultural connections to flourish as tenants grow their own food.

When Laura talks about the garden, it’s easy to imagine the vibrancy it brings to the community: rows of lush crops, worms wriggling in the dirt, and youth volunteers working alongside older tenants. Laura tells us that this intermingling of generations is part of what makes the community garden so special.

“When we get to have intergenerational programs, the knowledge exchange is priceless,” shared Laura. “So many of our elders have stories of back home. Our youth don't have that, so this is the only home they know.”

These intergenerational connections are a key part of the garden’s story, Laura tells us. After the council formed in 2013, they began looking for ways to help improve tenants’ access to affordable food. Tenants said they wanted access to gardening space where they could grow their own food.

Once the idea was approved, TCHC’s YouthWorx participants helped build the garden. “They did a lot of the heavy lifting, which was great at the time,” reflects Laura. “A lot of the tenants were seniors, so they needed the support to get things, move the soil, and so forth.”

Laura quickly noticed the emotional impact that the build project had on those involved. “It was magical because we started seeing relationships form,” says, Laura. “When we got the youth and seniors together, the seniors opened up and began talking more to the youth.”

Soon, the council began to explore other ways the garden could connect older and younger individuals. “We piloted an initiative with a local school where our tenants taught some of these children how to grow food,” shares Laura. “In return, we grew 500 square feet of cultural foods: okra, eggplants, varieties of tomatoes, cauliflower, amaranth.”

The council gave out bundles of these crops as part of their food distribution efforts. While the cost of living rises, these bundles became a way to help families continue to enjoy cultural meals. 

Conversations with the tenants also provide more opportunities to share knowledge. “We’re excited because we get to hear people’s stories,” shares Laura. It's also the reason the council wants to encourage youth to get involved in their programs

“During the summer is when opportunities flourish,” Laura says. The council offers summer placements for youth from the local community through Canada Summer Jobs. These volunteers design and run programs, introduce new projects, and help look after the garden.

“It’s been a pleasure working with so many youth from the community,” Laura shared. “Something we pride ourselves in is that the youth get compensated, working in their own community, and having others look at them as leaders."

Laura tells us that even when it comes to growing the food there is a knowledge exchange with recipes. As the youth grow crops in the garden, they hear from other tenants about the diverse meals they can make from those ingredients. “It helps to draw a greater, richer connection,” reflects Laura. “It’s one thing to hear it from your family, but when you hear it from an elder in the community, it’s even richer. They’re echoing some of the things you may have heard, but from a different perspective.”

“This program is not just about food," says Laura. It's about passing on knowledge and connecting people to their food, to their culture, to one another.”  

“It's about building community and food is an amazing mechanism to be able to do that with that.”