Newcomers Cooking Together

Newcomers Cooking Together is a community-based cooking program administered by Access Alliance. In response to community requests, the program has evolved to include tailored sessions for specific communities and life stages, including youth, adults, seniors, LGBTQ+ communities and clinical clients with known risk factors for heart disease.

Newcomers Cooking Together is supported by health promoters, youth workers, registered dietitians, dietetic interns, volunteers, and participants to deliver over sixty weeks of programming a year. At its roots, the program serves as a means to support newcomers living in Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods to make a healthy transition to the Canadian food environment while maintaining cultural food traditions.

Newcomers Cooking Together fosters skill building, health education, and community making. As Access Alliance expands to embrace all individuals in the communities we serve, we see Canadian-born individuals who face barriers to health alongside those new to our city and country sharing in a meal and some learning – a testament to food’s power to connect us.

To register or find more information about Newcomers Cooking Together, contact us or call our main number at 416-324-8677.

Cookbooks

Cookbooks produced by Newcomer Cooking Together groups are a collaborative effort between the dietitians, participants and volunteers. We explore the importance of a theme, photographs, telling a story and what makes a meaningful cookbook. Creativity is emphasized and that is why no two cookbooks are the same. Every year a new group of volunteers shadows us in the kitchen and works with the participants to help create a cookbook that best fits the group’s personality. Here are some cookbooks produced in past years:

• AccessPoint on Danforth_(PDF 3000 KB)
• AccessPoint on Jane (PDF 969 KB)