Ukrainian Christmas, served up in Cantonese
The Vancouver Second Mile Society throws a curve into typical Yuletide fare
Chinese seniors usually don’t eat a lot of perogies. But they got their chance to do so Tuesday at the Vancouver Second Mile Society, which served up a special Ukrainian Christmas lunch.
“(The) food is good,” said Harry Lee, 78. “I like this (cabbage roll), and this (kielbasa). Excellent. Thank very much whoever thought of this, thank them very much. OK?”
The lunch was conceived by volunteer coordinator Judy Chartrand, who was looking to do something different at the Downtown Eastside seniors centre.
There are several turkey dinners in Vancouver’s poorest neighbourhood at Christmas. But Ukrainian Christmas is celebrated according to the old Julian calendar, which means Christmas Day is Jan. 7, not Dec. 25.
So she decided to throw this year’s Christmas dinner a couple of weeks later, when people might really need it. And to serve Ukrainian food, not turkey.
“Everybody’s kind of turkeyed out,” she reasons. “So (serving) all the Ukrainian foods — the cabbage rolls, perogies, sausages and stuff — we thought would be a good thing.”
Ukrainians traditionally have a big meal on Christmas Eve, so at about 11:30 a.m. Chartrand and several volunteers started serving the chow. The food was all gone in an hour, after approximately 100 seniors were served.
The food went down well with a table full of elderly Chinese ladies, who quickly devoured the meals served in Styrofoam containers. But trying to interview them proved fruitless — they spoke little to no English.
James Pau explained they are typical of many Chinese seniors in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside.
“Some think (all) Chinese people are rich,” said Pau, 69, who has been volunteering in the neighbourhood for four decades.
“Actually no, many are poor. Especially this group — they have very little or no education at all. They’re from Mainland China mostly, from the southern part.
“Now the Chinese (immigrants) come from the north, where they speak Mandarin, but this group is mainly from the south, where they speak Cantonese.”
In any event, Pau said it was easy to see why the ladies enjoyed the Ukrainian food.
“It’s similar to Chinese cooking,” he said. “Perogies are similar to Chinese dumplings.”
The Vancouver Second Mile Society has been working with seniors in the Downtown Eastside since 1958.
“For the drop-in centre we have over 500 members,” said Steve Chan, the executive director. “About two-thirds are of Chinese descent.”
On a typical day, about 100 people will drop in at the Society’s 3,000-sqft space at 509 East Hastings. Several hundred more seniors are served through the Society’s Chinese Outreach and Neighbourhood Helpers programs.
“I come here all the time,” said Harry Lee, who manages the Shon Yee Benevolent Association across the street. “This is like my home.”
“The Second Mile Society is very important to the seniors,” said Pau. “Not only the Chinese, there are Caucasians, white people, too.
“They enjoy it as a recreational centre, a community centre. They come here to play mah-jong, to participate in bingo.”
The Ukrainian meal was sponsored by realtor Bob Rennie, who knows Chartrand through the art world (Chartrand is also an artist). Most of the food was purchased, but Chartrand made the cabbage rolls herself.
“I grew up in the Downtown Eastside, but my mom is from Manitoba (which has a large Ukrainian population),” she explained.
“So she always had cabbage rolls in our meals, that was something we grew up with. I probably made around 200 cabbage rolls, over four days.”
She laughs. “I had to burn some nice scented oils for a few days to get rid of that smell.”
The Second Mile Society is very important to the seniors. Not only the Chinese, there are Caucasians, white people ,too.… They enjoy it as a recreational centre, a community centre. They come here to play mahjong, to participate in bingo.” JAMES PAU DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE VOLUNTEER