Cooking Leadership Opportunity: Father’s Day Brunch
Father’s day at the Ecovillage is not a day to only celebrate the dad’s in the village, it is a day to acknowledge all men for their individual strengths, intelligence and beauty. A ritual at the Ecovillage is all the women prepare a surprise meal, cook it and serve it to the men on Father’s Day and vice versa occurs on Mother’s Day! All the ladies got together for a special top secret meeting to discuss what we would make. I became really excited about this opportunity because I had just successfully made my first vegan cake and the menu for Father’s Day would have to include vegan, gluten-free and non vegan/gluten-free diets. Last year the men made eggs benedict for the women and it sparked an exciting idea for me – the majority of men LOVE pulled pork so a pulled pork bennie would be a great spin off of the classic eggs benedict! Everyone LOVED the idea! I then suggested to accommodate for vegan diners by creating a menu to place on the table with the list of foods available and catering it to a variety of dietary needs. With some great suggestions from the group I took the lead on researching recipes and created a menu for the event.
The menu included: fruit salad with home made yogurt on the side, gluten free/vegan chive and cheddar buscuit with a choice of (pulled pork, poached egg, prawn, cheese, all of the above) and a side of coleslaw – Delicious!
In order to make the pulled pork, I went to the large freezer with Satiya (resident worker at the Ecovillage), and we looked through the entire freezer for cuts of meat suitable for the pulled pork. Normally pork shoulder and pork butt are the best cuts for pulled pork but we ended up getting a pork leg, some pork tenderloin and some pork loins. While I was by the freezer I helped organize the boxes with Satiya so that it would be easier to locate certain cuts of meat in the future (when meat arrives from the butcher it is initially packed as a whole animal verses similar cuts of meat). This trip to the freezer introduced me to the method that the Ecovllage uses to record meat consumption from the freezers. Once I had my chosen meat I had to weigh it all, mark it on the chart and take it to the kitchen.
All the woman worked the entire night to make the meal. I took lead on the pulled pork in the crock pot, the coleslaw with homemade dressing, and the home made BBQ sauce for the pulled pork. The other girls took lead on the biscuits, and home made yogurt. We all helped with taste testing each other’s food.
The next day we prepared the chillage area in a restaurant style seating arrangement, certain ladies decorated the tables with table cloths flowers and cutlery. Jobs were assigned for serving, and cooking. I stayed in the kitchen with the rest of the cooks and we had a prep line of ladies doing individual jobs to create the meals requested. It turned out to be a great success! Everything was organized, the food turned out so well and it was a fantastic day.
Taking on this leadership opportunity but still working alongside the other women was a wonderful experience and one I feel very proud of. I was a bit nervous in the beginning when creating the meal because I was researching up recipes I had never attempted before or even got a trial attempt with. It was a very experiential moment where I went for some ideas, I was confident in my choices and the teamwork environment made the whole event happen. Sometimes in life you have to step out of your boundaries, try something new and just go for it, without hesitation. What ever the outcome, it becomes a learning experience for the future. You may be quite surprised with the outcome!