Food and Tourism, May 29, 2023

In this inaugural Voc Talk café by Après-Cours, we discussed how the food programs have an inherent cultural bias, and we wondered how this affects student learning. Western European (re: French) eating habits are the assumed norm in the program, however we all come from diverse multicultural, socio-economic backgrounds and have different experiences with food culture. Because of this, we wondered if students missing this presumed knowledge struggled more to learn culinary skills as laid out in the program.
There was a great discussion about how students with different culinary cultures are an asset. Our cohorts are very diverse, and we have to adapt to their needs. Some of the key takeaways were:

Establish a culinary base rooted in technique, then use that as a canvas to build upon. This helps cross culinary cultures.
Put the student in the centre of the learning when choosing activities, recipes. It is about their learning journey, not the instructor’s expertise.
Everyone has a bias, but as long as we are aware of it in context, we can be part of the solution.
Include the students experiences in the learning process by having them:
- situate new learning in relation to their culinary knowledge
- contribute to class learning with their expertise
- suggest possible evaluation recipes
Technology integration can help! Some ideas:
- Use a sports technique: film the student and have them analyse the film for ergonomics, processes, and cooking techniques
- Students appreciate their instructor filming a demo, or casting it to a large screen for viewing
- Have student collaborate in a document that they can use as a resource afterwards

This meeting was on May 29, 2023. It was hosted by Robin Long, Provincial Vocational Training Education Consultant and Marc Vézina, Education Consultant, RÉCIT-Vocational Training, English School Boards.