Top left: Celestine (12 year old aspiring singer) and Maureen Webb (founder of Project Limelight and co-owner of East of Main Cafe)
Top rightt: Amber, Bocuse d’Or Canada Chef Alex Chen and H.A.V.E. Cafe (Hope. Action. Value. Ethics.) students
Bottom left: Student at Potluck Cafe
Bottom right: Students and customers at Potluck Cafe
FOLLOW ME FOODIE: Restaurants with heart
Published: May 23, 2013 5:00 PM
Updated: May 23, 2013 5:31 PM
Hungry to help the Downtown Eastside? Sometimes the heart of a restaurant goes beyond its food.
Ambiance? Good. Service? Attentive. Value? Affordable. Food? Great. Now where is the line about corporate social responsibility? The restaurant world used to be about bringing good food to the table, but tables are turning and social change is important. It is becoming part of the dining experience and sometimes it’s even the priority.
Social responsibility in the context of a restaurant is usually about offering ocean-friendly seafood, sustainable meats, and locally grown produce, but what about helping Vancouver’s DTES? It’s a bit of a stretch away from the kitchen and the traditional concerns of a diner, but important nonetheless.
With gentrification a prominent issue on the DTES, many new restaurants and retailers are feeling the heat outside the kitchen. However, not every new restaurant is aiming to be restaurant of the year — sometimes they simply want to give back to the area they opened in.
When I go out, food takes priority and I want it to be good, but at restaurants like these it is not always just about the food. It might make more sense to donate your time and money directly to the cause, but we all need to eat, and sometimes “helping” can be as easy as dining out. The following restaurants all have positive “hidden” agendas that go beyond their food, and they’re worthy of exposing. – Read the full article.
Read my full “Restaurants with Heart” article for restaurants contributing to DTES.
See more Follow Me Foodie stories from Mijune in the WE Vancouver:
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