Converse and Cook is about creating social spaces where individuals are empowered to explore their connection to food and their community by creating meals and dining together.
About Us

About Us

Converse and Cook is a non-profit organization located in Edmonton, Alberta , CRA number is 725856488RC0001, founded by Mishma Mukith and Juanita Gnanapragasam, both alumni from the University of Alberta,  as a way to get people in our community more engaged with the food that they eat and with each other. We are a non-partisan organization and our programming is opened to all no matter identity or skill level.

Above- Mishma and Juanita

Food is much more than a nutritious substance, it connects us with each other, ourselves, and the world around us. Just think about how many of your favourite holidays, experiences, and even knowledge about the world is tied to food?

Recognizing that food is a gateway to building bridges in our community, we started ‘Converse and Cook’ to help alleviate barriers people have to finding culturally relevant and nutritious foods. Some of our programming includes running grocery busses, cooking classes, and creating resources on food safety and preparation. Throughout all the programming we run, we encourage people to talk and get to know each other. In fact, ask any of our participants because they’ll tell you that’s the best part of our work!

Together with volunteers and various support from other non-profits and organizations we are reducing barriers to culturally nutritious meals and helping people become more connected to food.

people eating

(Above- photo taken Pre-COVID) Our current volunteer team is made up of these amazing human beings: Anissa Armet, Bryce Odell, Eilysh Zurock, Elham Zohari, Fairhurst Lyons, Kim Ho, Mahsa Mohseni, Melinda Coetzee, Pamela Young, Paritosh Goyal, and Simran Pherwani.

If you’re interested in volunteering with us click here.

Mishma and Juanita would also like to thank Breanna Weseen who helped shape our initial cooking class programming.

In addition a big thank you to our previous volunteers: Alex Parker, Charlotte Wray, Emily Marriott, Hyejun Kim, Satyaswarupa Kuchimanchi, Kevin and our University of Alberta Community Service Learning Students.

Who’s on Our Team?

Our volunteers have diverse skill sets and identities. We’ve listed some of them below so you get a sense of the breadth and diversity of programming opportunities we can offer:

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  • Community Members: including writers, youth, folks with extensive experience in the nonprofit sector, Community League Board Members and League Members, volunteers who identify with underrepresented groups, international students, and teachers.
  • Clinicians and healthcare students: Registered Dietitian, Occupational Therapist, Public Health Practitioners, and Medical Students
  • Skills sets within our team (note not everyone has all these skills, pending the needs of our partners): Supporting Listening and Conversation, Facilitation, QPR and suicidal risk training, restorative conversations training, diversity and inclusion knowledge, food literacy and knife skills training, food photography and food styling training. Everyone has a general love and passion for co-creating meals together

Get in Touch 

To learn more about the programs we offer click here. If you work with an organization or a group of youth/adults who could benefit from any of our programs please get in touch by emailing us at converseandcook@gmail.com. We’d be happy to run some programming for you. In addition, we sometimes have funding to cover costs for cooking socials.

Sponsorship and Partnership

Interested in sponsoring future programming? Click here to read more about our past sponsors.

If you’re interested in partnering with us or having us deliver programs to your community members or organizations please click here for more details.