On April 13th, we were joined by Lauren McCallum, Montgomery's Inn Museum program officer. Lauren's talk focused on the Montgomery's Inn Culinary Arts Project (MICAP), one of several programs that target children and youth, supported in part by this Rotary Club. Launched as The Food Project in 2013, the program has since expanded and is geared to students from grades 7 to 12 who learn how to shop for fresh produce at a Farmers' Market, make pizza in an outdoor brick oven and roast chickens over an open fire. Students are placed in small groups and work with student mentors and staff leaders to learn about food preparation and safe food handling. Guest chefs and soon-to-be graduate chefs from Humber College provide mentorship. Currently, the program offers 3 sessions for up to 24 students: two that run for 13 weeks each and a third (summer) session that runs for 6 weeks. Some students return annually and may become mentors to other participants.
The program provides learning opportunities in categories including nutrition, plant parts, cooking skills, culinary terms, the history of Upper Canada, and bread-making. Field trips expose students to various aspects of the food industry. Bread-making has a long history at Montgomery's Inn with its indoor and outdoor ovens, and provides a point of commonality through which to share and compare historical and cultural experiences. Montgomery's Inn recently participated in Dishing Up Toronto, telling migration stories through food. MICAP asked "What bread reminds you of home?" to capture the myriad of migration stories that relate to Montgomery's Inn and its program's participants. Rotary Toronto West has partnered with Montgomery's Inn on a number of projects.
In keeping with our vision of "igniting potential in youth", we hope the success of MICAP continues for many years to come.