Recipes for success

Two young Prince County chefs honoured to attend Kids Food Nation

Two youngsters from Prince County recently got a boost to their budding cooking careers.

Erica Gallant, 11, of Kensington and Raya Cann Boisvert, 8, of Arlington attended the annual Kid Food Nation gala on Oct. 21 at the Fairmount Château Laurier in Ottawa.

The girls got to spend plenty of time getting to know the 24 other participants from across Canada, try all kinds of new food and listen to inspiring speeches from distinguished chefs and others in the food and health industry. And, of course, they also got to cook.

“The event was really fun, I met a lot of people there, and we tried a bunch of new food I hadn’t really tried before. It was really fun and cool,” said Erica.

“We learned a lot about healthy eating and how to prepare healthy food.”

Kid Food Nation is an eightweek program run at Boys and Girls clubs in communities across Canada. Participants create a unique recipe and winners are chosen from each province to attend the national gala in Ottawa.

Raya created a dish dubbed “Raya’s Macaroni Madness”, which is a low-fat version of a pasta salad full of her favourite veggies.

Erica created “Erica’s Eggciting Omelet”, stuffed with lots of peppers, tomatoes and cheese.

“I just like to make eggs, and I thought it would be fun to try something different. It is special because my mom and I make it together,” she said.

Raya said she enjoyed “meeting new people, from other provinces,” at the gala.

Her dad, Will Cann, said it was a great experience for her and the whole family enjoyed taking it all in. It definitely sent a positive and healthy message to a lot of kids.

“I think it showed her that she can do anything. It also showed that cooking is important and it’s important to teach children to eat healthy,” he said.

“They make a big deal out of it and I think it’s good for her to see that. It’s good for her self-confidence.”

In addition to getting to take in the gala and everything else associated with their prizes, the girls will be featured in the 2018 edition of the Kids Food Nation cookbook.

Kids Food Nation is partnership between PC Children’s Charity, the government of Canada, Corus Entertainment Inc.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Raya Cann-Boisvert, 8, of Arlington created Raya’s Macaroni Madness for her contribution to the Kids Food Nation contest. She was one of two Prince County kids who won the right to represent the Island at the annual awards gala.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Erica Gallant, 11, of Kensington created Erica’s Eggciting Omelet for her contribution to Kids Food Nation. She said the event, which was held in Ottawa, helped her to learn about healthy eating and how to prepare healthy food.