By Monica Bettson,

The Stop’s Community Chef

There’s a special feeling I get when I cook for my friends and family around the holidays. As we come together to enjoy new recipes and ones that have been handed down for generations, our conversations take on a new warmth and a spirit of gratitude for one another.

It’s an extra special experience when I cook with my partner’s family. We combine our styles into a Chinese/Canadian cuisine mashup, swapping stories and laughs throughout.

These kinds of shared meals can bind us closer to our friends and families. They make us feel that we have a place in the world, that we’re part of a community that cares for us. It’s a feeling that I try to recreate for people every day at The Stop.

The Stop’s Drop-in at our 1884 Davenport location

When I’m preparing our menus, I always look with a critical eye. Is our food accessible to everyone? Is it representative of the people we’re cooking for? Is it nutritious and tasty? Is it ethically sourced and environmentally responsible?

These are important questions to ask. And when we answer them thoughtfully, we can create transformative experiences for the people that dine with us.

Eating other people’s food (and by that I mean food we have not grown up eating) can be a pathway to being more open to engaging with people that eat, look, speak, or think differently than ourselves. Good food sparks connections, and that’s part of what makes The Stop so special.

This year I took inspiration from one of my partner’s childhood favourites, a Chinese bakery classic: the hot dog bun! Now, I wouldn’t normally purchase hot dogs for The Stop, but we received them as a donation. So we decided to do something special. We made an enriched dough, wrapped the dogs, glazed them with egg wash, and sprinkled them with sesame seeds. I brought a finished bun home to my partner (who’s eaten hundreds in his lifetime) and he gave it five stars!

However, my favourite reaction was from James, a Chinese volunteer in the Drop-in. James is normally very quiet and reserved. But when I brought out the hot dog buns that day, he laughed out loud! Ever since, he’s brought me Chinese recipe booklets every week. Seeing yourself represented through food is important, even if it’s through a humble hot dog bun.

Eating with a diverse cultural palette isn’t going to solve systemic problems, but it is a starting point. We can connect through food, and learn about our respective histories of migration, war, and inequality. When we start to have these conversations, we can start to talk about solutions.

Monica (second from right) preparing a Drop-in lunch with volunteers

The Stop’s meal budget is just $1.50 to $2 per plate. This can be very challenging, but it mirrors what most of our community members experience on a daily basis: making do with food bank hampers, discounted food, and unexpected grocery items.

For many of the people I cook for, this is a constant struggle, and I need to hold that close. At the end of the day, I go home to a full fridge and a salary that allows me to spend more than $2 on a meal. My health, my outlook on life, and my opinion of hot dogs would be much different if I faced the challenges our community members deal with every day.

Whether you’re a Stop donor, volunteer, visitor, or a supporter of our mission, thank you for making this work possible. 

I wish you and your community a very happy holiday season.

Sincerely,

Monica Bettson
Community Chef at The Stop