Join us at the farmers markets!
Let’s continue to celebrate diverse and unique flavours from all over the world – find us at the Vancouver Farmers Markets this season!
Get a chance to discover your new favourite comforting sweet treats and savoury snacks, made with traditional recipes originating from Palestine/Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Morocco, Syria, and Iran. We can’t wait to see you there!
Watch 'Flavours of Hope: Nourishing Community, Cultivating Change' on CBC!
Flavours of Hope is a non-profit social enterprise that envisions newcomer women flourishing and experiencing belonging through cooking, storytelling, community-building, and entrepreneurship.
When you support newcomer refugee and immigrant women through Flavours of Hope, you help to build strong relationships, connections, and economic opportunity. All donations made through our website are tax deductible.
Flavours of Hope equips and empowers newcomer refugee and immigrant women to:
Earn a livable income
Unemployment creates a cycle of poverty and takes a psychological toll on newcomers who are working to support their family and new life in Canada. We create opportunities and spaces to empower newcomer women to fully participate in the economy by earning a livable income and flourishing in the community.
Create social connections
We believe that sharing food and stories together can create strong connections and friendships. Food brings people together and builds bridges and understandings between different cultures. The act of eating together around a table can break down language, cultural, and socio-economic barriers, and build relationships between newcomers and Canadians.
Build equitable communities
We deeply value reciprocity and collaboration with individuals and groups in the communities. We strive to work together with local businesses, non-profit organizations, food networks, and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) mentors to create inclusive food systems and build equitable communities. We believe in the collective impact and power of women leadership.
“Food can be a vehicle for social change. It brings people together in a way that very few activities can.”
About Our Programs
We build programs based on peer knowledge and deep relationship, centring women’s wisdom, culture, and food for meaningful connection and community-building.
Systemic barriers, social isolation, and lack of language access can make it difficult for newcomer refugee and immigrant women to find safety and belonging. By creating platforms of shared experience, and using food as a powerful common language, we make space for women to bring forward their strengths and creativity for economic empowerment, holistic wellness and social flourishing.
Food Entrepreneurship
Dream Cuisines: A Newcomer Women’s Food Business Program
In 2021, amidst a global pandemic, we kickstarted an imaginative new program designed in collaboration with an inaugural cohort of newcomer refugee women entrepreneurs. In partnership with Coho Commissary, who provided commissary kitchen use, the Vancouver Farmers Market, Vancity Credit Union, and the Women’s Economic Council, we built Dream Cuisines from the ground-up to offer educational and skills-building workshops, knowledge-sharing networks, and access to mentorship. We have launched ten incredible newcomer women’s food businesses into the farmers market, retail shops, and catering since 2021!
Connection & Community
Drop-in programs we have run in the past include:
Intercultural Tea Time: a weekly circle of sharing tea and stories, where newcomer women can develop intercultural communication skills, combat isolation, and meet new people
Healthy Cooking Together: online cooking sessions where women share different cultural recipes and stories with each other
Creative Coffee: small social gatherings where newcomer women connect over coffee, desserts, and creative activities such as natural dyeing and seasonal crafts
Our team is developing drop-in activities for 2024. Subscribe to our newsletter below for updates!
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