Great Grey Owl Goes Virtual

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Chef Trevor Atamanchuk helps students box up delivery orders at Great Grey Owl 2021

A year like no other, the 33rd Great Grey Owl transitioned into a new format this year due to the COVID-19 gloabl pandemic.

The 2021 Great Grey Owl restaurant, like all other events in recent times was impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Culinary Arts and Hotel & Restaurant Management programs transitioned to a different format as a result, allow students to have ‘learn by doing’ opportunities central to the educational philosophy of Assiniboine.

Great Grey Owl also did not want to compete with the restaurant sector, which faced its own own challenges as a result of the pandemic. For this reason, clientele was restricted to an internal audience (college staff, students and donors). The restaurant operated as a ‘ghost kitchen’, partnering with an app service to allow orders to be placed in advance for delivery or pick-up.

The students and faculty designed a tantalizing menu to reflect this year’s theme of Global Street Food in a “tapas” or small-dish style. The small portion items enable guests to experience two or three dishes at a time. In addition, the wines and beverages, bags, cutlery, and service technologies were carefully selected and managed by our Hotel and Restaurant Management program.

Academic Chair of the Manitoba Institute of Culinary Arts & Field-to-Fork Initiatives, Ryan Whibbs RSE, BA, MA, PhD, believes this year has seen an increase in engagement with the college community due to the ability to deliver meals.

“It’s been an extremely rewarding experience, working with the students to develop the event in this new format,” said Whibbs. “The students experienced all aspects of hosting a virtual kitchen, learning the ins and outs of preparing administratively and logistically to on-demand orders factoring in delivery times.”

This event provided students with a true ‘Learn by Doing’ experience, ensuring Assiniboine students receive credible, live experience that fulfills curriculum requirements and is directly transferrable to industry jobs.

True to the college’s Field-To-Fork philosophy many of the vegetables used to make this year’s delicacies were grown by Assiniboine’s nationally revered Horticultural Production and Sustainable Food Systems programs in the historic vegetable garden at the North Hill campus.

Our Hotel and Restaurant Management and Culinary Arts program have worked with Feastify’s experts to host our menus, prepare images and learn about virtual restaurants.

In addition to serving up delicious meals, the programs made a concerted effort to ensure that most of the bags and packaging materials used are biodegradable a or recyclable locally here in Brandon. With further steps taken to include food liners in containers to prevent grease stains which might prevent recyclability.