The young and old joined forces last Thursday at Northlands Parkway Collegiate in Winkler for a unique intergenerational project.
A group of seniors spent the morning in a cooking class with the school’s culinary students, and it culminated with them sitting down together then for lunch.
The initiative offered a few benefits including teaching the seniors a bit about nutritional choices as well as just making community connections.
“It’s exciting to see, and they seem to be working together fairly well,” said Cathleen Bergen, resource co-ordinator at the Winkler senior centre, which spearheaded the initiative. “And we have quite a few people who joined this group who haven’t joined the activities at the senior centre before, so it’s exciting to see some new faces.”
“It’s a great way that the older adults can connect with the younger generation and vice versa … and it’s a chance to learn some new skills and possibly even make some new friendships,” said Joyce Bergen, who was among the senior centre participants.
“There’s not many opportunities for connection unless if they have grandparents … sometimes families can be so far spread apart these days. Maybe they’ll get a chance to connect with the older generation that they have never had before now.”
Adults aged 55 and older were invited to the school to take part in either a cooking class with chef Paul Henderson or a baking class with chef Shelley Patel and their students.
It was seen as a great opportunity to bridge the generational gap while learning something new through the initiative, which was funded by a Health Together Now Increasing Community Belonging grant from Southern Health-Santé Sud.
The menu featured such healthier choices as lentils with chickpeas along with a healthy chicken dish and starches that included quinoa, couscous and risotto as well as cabbage, carrots and green beans for vegetables.
Part of the learning process as well was learning how to cook things in the most healthy way, noted culinary arts instructor Paul Henderson.
“A lot of times, the diets that people have are just what they’ve learned,” said Henderson. “They were open-minded enough to come, so we wanted to teach them a little bit about nutrition, and we’re showing them some alternatives to some of the regular stuff.
“When we think protein, we think meat, but there’s lots of other alternatives,” he continued. “So we’re doing some recipes that may be unfamiliar to them, but it opens up their minds on it.”
“I just thought it would be a new adventure. I’m retired now and looking for different things to do that I haven’t done before,” said Bergen. “I’m participating in some of the activities at the senior centre … so I called a few friends.
“I like nothing better than getting up a six in the morning and making a batch of muffins, and then I go and bring them to people … I love to be in the kitchen,” she said. “I grew up with a grandmother who I often worked with and with my mother who did a lot of cooking.
“I think this is a wonderful idea,” she continued. “I think we can learn from each other. There’s a lot of things that they’re learning being new to this … and the recipes all looked wonderful.”
Grade 11 student Lorena Giesbrecht also enjoyed being paired up with someone and how they connected and learned from each other.
“I’m seeing a lot of resemblance to how my mom cooks, so that’s really fun to see,” she said.
“I hope that this can help them try out different things for their diets and be healthier … I hope this can maybe help them make different choices.”
