Culinary market run by at-risk youth officially opens in Calgary
Among the first smells you encounter when you walk into Wood's Homes' new culinary market in Calgary includes fresh pasta, sauces and cinnamon buns right out of the oven.
It's a new market in the city that employs young people who are at-risk, homeless or otherwise vulnerable and prepares them for jobs in the culinary industry. A head chef guides all the youths, aged 15 to 29, and all of the homemade food is available for purchase.
"What the market does is provide you with a basic life skill on customer service and how to run a store and how find a job in the outside world," said 18-year-old Pranta Barua.
He joined the Wood's Homes culinary program about a year ago and is now days away from starting his culinary education at SAIT.
"It's really a good cause for troubled kids, kids who are just kind of lost and now need a start," he said.
Wood's Homes is a children's mental health centre that has locations across the province and it supports 20,000 people every year. All of the people employed at the new market – located at 1008 14th St. S.E. – are enrolled in the Youth Culinary Arts Program (YCAP).
"I do not think I would have been anywhere close to anything good without the people and the mentorships I've had here. The journey has been long and this place is the place that got me to that point of going to school," Barua said.
Not only are the youths learning how to cook, counsellors also help them find housing, employment and mental health supports.
"They're young people that you and I know. They can be anybody. Some of them are struggling with their own mental health, some of them may be struggling with addiction, some are struggling with gaining meaningful employment," said Dean Soenen, a program director at Wood's Homes.
"I think young people are wanting a sense of something they belong to and that interests them. And I say magic happens in the culinary program when you have food.”
From fresh desserts to frozen, ready-to-cook meals such as lasagna and soups, the food is all made in-house by the youths in the culinary program and is available for the public to buy.
The market is open weekly Wednesdays through Saturdays.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., four sources said.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Improve balance and build core strength with this exercise
When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, you may tend to focus on activities that move you forward, such as walking, running and cycling.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.