RMC, CFB Kingston, and Local Caterer Contribute to Charity Event
The Loving Spoonful is a local charity organization within Kingston, Ontario that delivers fresh fruits and vegetables to over 40 meal programs, pantries, shelters and 18 Fresh Food Market Stands across the city with the help of restaurants, caterers, grocery stores, local producers and community gardeners. According to the organization, “Despite the program’s success, there are still some who have the idea that the donated food might be bad or tainted in some way. The UnWasted Dinner was designed to combat this notion by partnering with local chefs to create a beautiful five course plated dinner out of… surplus foods from the community.” This year’s event was hosted by CFB Kingston’s Warrant Officers’ and Sergeants’ Mess on 12 July 2018, and was headed by Harvest Catering, a local catering company that supports the mess in its non-public (NPF) functions, and Chief Warrant Officer Jeffery Aman, the Base Chief Warrant Officer (BCWO). While the event involved volunteers from Loving Spoonful and local restaurants and hotels for the service and various fundraising activities, Harvest Catering, RMC, and CFB Kingston volunteers contributed to the work behind the scenes. This included receiving of the surplus food, developing the courses for the services, and the meal preparation. These tasks, of course, would be difficult, as the cooks would not know the ingredients that they would have to work with until the day before the event.
The menu, when finalized, consisted of a five course meal. The following is a list of the courses and the cooks that made them:
- Soup – Broccoli and Cheddar / Jalapeno Turkey Bacon – Aviator Nikki Dionne;
- Salad – Roasted Beet Salad with Blueberry Balsamic Dressing – Private Nick Curzon;
- Appetizer – Beef Skewers with Honey and Teriyaki Sauce – Corporal Jim Filion;
- Main – Roasted Chicken with Onion Compote / Pulled Pork on a Fresh Crustini Bun – Aviator Nate Simpson and Chef Shawn Watson; and
- Dessert – Mixed Plum Crumble with Fresh Fruit – Master Corporal Pierre Berube-Couture.
Notably, only one of the cooks, Master Corporal (MCpl) Pierre Berube-Couture, possessed their Qualification Level 5 (QL-5). This speaks volumes about the immense talent and motivation that these junior cooks possessed – not to mention the mentorship given by MCpl Berube-Couture and Shawn Watson of Harvest Catering. Overall, the event was a success, challenging CAF cooks to operate outside of their comfort zone and helped in raising both awareness of the Loving Spoonful and the funds they require to provide services.
For more information about Loving Spoonful, visit: https://www.lovingspoonful.org/
More photos of the event are available at: https://viaram.sproutstudio.com/gallery/unwasted-dinner-2018