Poems from the Kitchen with Billy Nguyen & Abdulsalam A. Sh.

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About

There are many ways to define culture: the identity of a neighbourhood, the heritage and traditions of an ethnic community, a collective of shared beliefs and values, an expression of art. At the heart of all of these is the sharing of stories.

Cultures all around the world hold their histories in their cuisine. Preparing and eating food is a means of expressing love, communicating with those around you, reminiscing on memories — just one bite can tell a whole story.

Poems from the Kitchen is a culinary workshop series that explores the social significance of food and pushes the boundaries of storytelling. It features chefs and home cooks from diverse communities leading cooking demonstrations, paired with spoken word presentations by poets focusing on different aspects of community, identity, culture, ability, and inclusion. Participants will have the opportunity to experience culture in different ways, as well as learn about cultures perhaps unfamiliar to them. Each workshop includes a facilitated dialogue from primary artist, Johnny D Trinh, exploring the connection points between cultures, neighbours, and all the ways that we tell stories on this land.

Chef Billy Nguyen is a rising star in the culinary community, and is making a huge impact after becoming the runner up of Top Chef Canada Season 9. Billy is the head chef of Pizza Coming Soon, and their upcoming restaurant Sodalite. Billy celebrates queer, asian, trans identity through an exploration of cross cultural cuisine. This workshop will be a demonstration of fusion food and ways to make it successful.

Abdulsalam Abo Alshamat is a Syrian-Palestinian spoken word poet and photographer. His poetry delves into themes of exile, displacement, home, and sometimes love. Before resettling to Canada in 2021, Abdulsalam lived in Malaysia for nine years, finding refuge in the world of metaphors and storytelling. There, he performed at events such as the George Town Literary Festival. Since calling Turtle Island home, Abdulsalam has shared his work in various cities, reached the finals of the 2023 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam (CIPS) in Vancouver, and featured at the 2024 Saskatchewan Festival of Words.

This series is presented by BC Culture Days in collaboration with Vancouver Poetry House, Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre, Kickstart Disability Arts & Culture, and Community Arts Council of Vancouver.

Open to ages 13+

Pre-registration required.

*Masks are encouraged for this event and will be available on site.

Links

• Register Here anc.ca.apm.activecommunities.com

Organizer

BC Culture Days

BC Culture Days is administered through the Society to Bridge Arts and Community (Bridge Society), a registered charitable organization that has a mandate to promote awareness of arts and culture by establishing bridges between the general public, the private sector, arts organizations, and individual artists. Bridge Society staff work together with a volunteer provincial task force, municipalities, and numerous community arts and cultural organizations to coordinate plans for the annual Culture Days celebrations in British Columbia.

Vancouver Poetry House is the largest spoken word organization in Canada. VPH is dedicated to bringing poetry from diverse oral and literary traditions to Vancouver and British Columbia. VPH oversees three programs: Vancouver Poetry Slam, a weekly community stage with a headlining performer; WordPlay Poets, an outreach program that offers workshops and performances in schools and communities around BC; and Verses Festival of Words, Canada’s largest, annual spoken word festival.

Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre is a community cultural hub. It is a dedicated facility for the development and delivery of the arts in everyday life: an objective aligned with the mandate and vision in the Vancouver Board of Parks, Recreation and Culture’s Arts Policy. Opening individuals to an art experience is an integral part of any healthy, inclusive community. MACC works with artists to empower communities to be creative through all arts disciplines. At MACC, we are excited to support projects that focus on nurturing the creative voices of all participants, and building on their personal experiences and backgrounds to realize a collaborative creative outcome.

Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture is a multidisciplinary professional Disability Arts non-profit committed to showcasing the artistic excellence of artists working within the field of Disability Arts and Culture and supporting disabled artists in BC and across Canada as they continue to push the boundaries of what Disability Arts and Culture can do in this world.

Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival is presented by the Community Arts Council of Vancouver (CACV). Offering opportunities for exhibition, performance, connection and learning to visual and performing artists facing social exclusion and other barriers, the Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival is Canada’s first and only festival for Outsider Art. The artists may be self-taught or trained: they are all devoted to their creative practices, and come from a point of view that is outside the mainstream art world trends.

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