Fred Victor Embraces Plant-Based Baking
Veg Food Bank executive director Matt (bottom left), Chef Amy Symington (right) with the Fred Victor Women’s Bakery students and program managers Jude and Alma (top left).
In April 2024, Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank partnered with Fred Victor's Women's Bakery, and chef Amy Symington, to introduce plant-based baking into the program's curriculum!
Fred Victor is one of Toronto’s leading housing and shelter providers.
The Women’s Bakery is "a program for women seeking empowering training and employment opportunities," because "the growing number of women in Toronto without good jobs is a major factor contributing to the increase in women experiencing homelessness."
When Veg Food Bank first reached out to The Women's Bakery about a possible collaboration, their response was surprisingly enthusiastic!
It turned out that they had been wanting to include plant-based baking in the course, but weren't sure where start. So... together, we started planning next steps to make it happen!
Chef Amy got to work choosing recipes and working on course content, including an introduction to plant-based baking techniques and ingredients, as well as general discussion about the benefits of plant-based foods for our health, the planet, and animal welfare; and we scheduled the Women's Bakery's first ever plant-based training day!
"It really was an incredible day and we had overwhelmingly good feedback from the participants."
Jude Hammond, Senior Manager of Employment and Training Services
"Using baking as a tool to foster employability and entrepreneurship and equip women with practical and transferable skills for the working world," the Women's Bakery program is a three month (12 class) course that teaches everything from knife skills to cake decorating.
And now includes a class covering plant-based ingredients and techniques!
For this first plant-based workshop, the participants made butterscotch squash coffee cake, chocolate hazelnut cheesecake, cinnamon bun cookies, focaccia bread with caramelized pears and onions, and lemon squares!
At Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank, we're really proud of this collaboration and the fact that the Women's Bakery wants to keep it as part of their core curriculum.
We love partnerships like this - like our work with the City of Toronto's shelters - where we provide plant-based training in collaboration with organizations who can help cover the costs.
So we're super excited that Fred Victor wants to continue working together.
As one of Toronto's leading housing and shelter providers, Fred Victor serves over a quarter of a million meals every year, and our hope is to collaborate with their food service department to provide plant-based culinary trainings for their chefs.