Students Learn from Local Farmers and Cook Indigenous Mexican Fusion with Métis Chef, Jenni Lessard

Mount Royal Collegiate, Saskatoon, SK
Grant term, 2024-2025

The grant was used by our school, Mount Royal Collegiate. We are a smaller school located in Saskatoon. Our student population of 813 is primarily made up of students from low-income families, Indigenous students, and newcomers to Canada. The grant had such an amazing impact on our school and my program.

The grant was used for my Food Studies Program at the school. This program has students from grades 10, 11 and 12, whose primary focus is increasing healthy eating and food literacy. As an inner-city school, our programs budget is minimal as many families are unable to pay the cost to take the course, but we never turn students away.

This grant allowed me as a Foods teacher to truly do what I wanted to with the program. We used the money to acquire locally produced meat. We got Bison, Poultry, and Beef. All meat was farm-raised and students got to see the difference between fresh meat and meat you buy at the grocery store.

Each farm we bought the meat off of I had the farmer come and talk to each class about their product. To tell their story and have students see the people behind the food they eat. This improved their Food Literacy as they gained a better understanding of the processes that go into farming and hopefully gained a deeper appreciation for the product.

We ended the year with an immersive culinary experience for all our Foods students. We had Chef Jenni Lessard come in and help students plan, prepare and serve a free lunch to our entire school community. Chef Jenni is a Métis chef who is well known across Canada. The focus of our meal was an Indigenous Mexican fusion. We prepared Bison Birria Tacos (refried lentil for veggie/Halal option) with a bison consommé and a Saskatoon berry Roja salsa.

This was paired with a charred squash and corn, pinto bean and wild rice salad. Dessert was a Flor de Jamaica with lake mint gelatine, a Mexican whipping cream, and paired with Hibiscus tea. The entirety of this meal was prepared from scratch over a two-day period by about 50 students, down to the 850 homemade masa tortillas. The feedback from students was amazing! Students and staff alike were amazed by the final product, and students loved working alongside an amazing chef and truly producing a special meal. “There was truly a buzz in the building of anticipation around the free meal. All week, staff and students talked about how great it was going to be,” remarked a staff member.

A handful of students came to me after and said the experience inspired them to look into a career in culinary. For many students, this was the first time they worked with some ingredients. One student shared, “What an amazing experience, I loved seeing a meal come together from just ingredients to one cohesive meal.”