4. Chef Janie Bogardus

 

4. Chef Janie Bogardus

Janie was born in Medusa, New York and moved to West Hants when she was 8 years old. She was exposed to food at young age, with both her homes having hobby farms where she witnessed goats producing milk, chickens laying eggs, vegetables being picked from the garden and her mother making cheese. Though her family did not have a lot of money, they were able to sustain based on what they had. This has carried forward into Janie’s career and overall life.

“I grew up poor which pushed me to start working at a young age. When I moved to the city at 14, most of what was available to me was limited to frozen food from the food bank. This is a big reason for my volunteer work with food. I want to give back to what was made available to me when I was young.”

Janie has certainly lived true to her word and is heavily involved in Halifax’s community cooking. She volunteers in the food area of Brunswick Street Mission, where she supports the meal prep of the soup kitchen and food bank. She is also an events coordinator and host for LifeSchoolHouse, which is a barter-based initiative that provides barter-based workshops as well as community-maker swaps. She has even volunteered her home to host a number of workshops and has recently developed her own project named “Community Soup and Share”.

“I did a workshop through the barter community where everyone had brought one ingredient. We made a three-course meal and people absolutely loved it. After doing this workshop, I thought, “how can I do this in an easy format while also bringing people together in community? This is where the idea of Community Soup and Share was born.”

Janie noted her upbringing has shaped her brain to be great at making something out of nothing, attributing to her skills as a chef and her volunteer initiatives. She currently hosts one Community Soup and Share a month at residential kitchens but is moving towards hosting in community spaces, with upcoming workshops at community resource spaces.

“I am not rich by any means (the bank will tell you that), but I am comfortable enough right now and have enough time that I can give back to these places that have helped me before. Bringing community together and offering low barrier ways to do it is what motivates me. When I can, I like offering free sessions. I want people to take away more than just the food that is made. I really push participants to focus on process and encourage them to challenge themselves so they can build skills to take away. I think I just really like bringing people together and making them feel supported. I love planning fun little things to do that revolve around food and community”.

Janie also brings this mentality into her professional cooking, noting a successful kitchen should be thought of as a community and that every successful restaurant she has seen includes collaboration within all parts of the team.

Janie’s love of the kitchen began when she was dishwashing at Ardmore Tea Room, watching the chefs on the line during the breakfast rush.

“I thought “This is so cool, it’s just like sports.” I never really got into sports, but I tend to think of cooking being a lot like a sport. As I watched these chefs, all I could think of was “How can I get a job like this? How can I figure this out as a career?”.

Janie went on to work in a small bakery and then a fish & chips establishment, but she didn’t do a lot of cooking because kitchens weren’t hiring without experience, especially as a teenager. She decided to enroll in culinary school at NSCC Akerley, which opened a lot of doors for her. Through their co-op program, Janie worked at Bistro Le Coq, where she able to quickly become sous chef. From here, she kept moving up in her career, working as a sous chef or chef at multiple locations across the city.

One particular chef who made a big impact on Janie was Mark Gray, who she worked with at the Watch that Ends the Night and she considers to be a mentor of hers. She noted prior to working with Mark, she was used to the stereotypical “big ego” in restaurant kitchens. All she knew was the sense of anger in the kitchen, where you were expected to work hard and not make mistakes. She notes Mark knew how to give constructive criticism while being down to earth with less ego than Janie had experienced elsewhere.

“He really mentored me. I've always wanted an HR positive environment. The sense of, “we're not making racist comments and we're not making sexist comments.” People should be allowed to just be themselves in the kitchen space. People make mistakes. Yes, it sucks when you're slammed, and someone burns that thing that you need 10 minutes ago. But also, people make mistakes. That's life, right? But, I really believe there are chefs in this city who are trying to break those barriers and to create spaces that are more inclusive and more accepting.”

Janie has since taken her talents to the IWK kitchen, where she has worked for the last 3 years helping to provide food to children, their families, as well as the staff. She is very thankful for the work she does at the hospital and that it gives her the security and time she needs to give back to the community through her many food initiatives.