On October 15th, the eighth Community Cooking Class of 2026 was held at the Picnic as part of the Weeks of Welcome at UBCO, where attendees learned how to make a Lentil Bolognese pasta. Held on Wednesdays and Thursdays each week, the classes help students learn to cook beginner-friendly, budget-friendly, and primarily vegetarian dishes. They are supervised by UBCO-student co-facilitators who develop the recipes, and each takes a turn as the instructor for a particular session. However, its broader mission of community-building sets it apart from a traditional cooking class.
What we now know as Picnic was founded by a research group called Voice and the Campus Wellness and Education Unit, which aims to assess campus well-being and take action on common student concerns through surveys and community forums, where students are encouraged to share their perspectives on key issues. Their data collection and analysis occur in phases, and they are currently in their sixth phase, or Voice 6. This research, alongside help from campus partners, has helped create campus initiatives and resources, such as the weekly Community Cooking Classes, in an effort to resolve those issues.1
Casey Hamilton, a registered dietitian and Wellbeing Strategist at UBCO, is part of the Voice research team and a co-founder of the Community Cooking Classes. When asked about the inspiration behind the program, Hamilton mentioned the results of Voice 5, stating: “Students wanted more ways to cook together; food is not only something you eat for survival, it's something you do because that’s how community is built. They also wanted a place for building food skills and access to a dietitian.” She continued: “Voice participants talked about the food environment and how most of their food experience on campus felt transactional, which is not supportive of mental and social wellness.” Hamilton emphasized the link between comfort in cooking meals and mental and social wellbeing, and this became the foundation for the Picnic, which would eventually host the Community Cooking Classes.
The format of the classes is also beneficial for beginners, as they’re assured that the classes are a low-pressure environment. Hamilton mentioned that to get newcomers to ease into cooking, they begin with a mini-orientation and a skim of the recipe before getting into the kitchen. It gave students a chance to ask questions and bond with each other.
When asked about the importance of pairing practical cooking lessons with discussion portions before and after the cooking lesson, Hamilton said: “When you’re in the moment cooking, it’s hard to learn something other than the task at hand”. She added: “People share tips and tricks with each other; depending on the student/living circumstances, everybody’s got different access [to food and cooking equipment]. [So it’s] a chance for people to share their perspective.” So those moments before and after the cooking were essential for knowledge sharing as well. Adriano Gomes da Silva Tam, one of the co-facilitators of the October 15th session, highlighted that the one-on-one aspect of the cooking lessons makes the job very rewarding, stating that: “The teaching is secondary,” also mentioning that it was a chance for him to: “Build relationships and engage with the community."
The co-facilitators are the ones mainly responsible for finding and developing recipes. Thien-Nhi Vu, one of the co-facilitators, shared that: “We try to stay vegetarian and stick to a theme and budget every week.” This was to accommodate as many students as possible, but she also described that the actual cooking sessions end up being low-stakes. Kenzie Yurkoski, another co-facilitator and the lead of the October 15th session, also shared that they scale the recipes they find and also keep an archive of past recipes. She also mentioned the importance of keeping lessons casual for beginner cooks, stating: “You think the information you have is universal; I've learned a lot from other participants; you're not only teaching but learning about others.”
When asked about the recurring challenges of maintaining a program like this, Hamilton shared that the kitchen is not equipped with enough appliances (they have an oven, but it is only for baked goods), which limits the types of recipes they can make; however, they manage well without the extra equipment. She also added that capacity has become an issue and that they do not have enough space to meet the high demand or run more frequently. When registration opens every Monday at 8 AM, the tickets are typically gone within two hours.
Hamilton and the co-facilitators shared that the program wants students to take away more than just building confidence in the kitchen. On the night of October 15th, students left the Picnic not only with a hearty and nutritious Lentil Bolognese dish but also with new friendships.
