Saturday, October 28, was a beautiful, somewhat cold day to host a neighbourhood event! Many volunteers showed up to set up the area, and we forgo the tents since the wind was high and no rain was predicted.
We quickly started to prep the pancake batter, adding some pumpkin spice. The pumpkins were delivered, and we transformed the lawn into a pumpkin field. Everyone helping. The soup was ready; let’s eat! What can we do with pumpkins? So many things!
Here is the recipe for our famous vegan soup, which our guests loved: we started the soup with finely chopped onions and celery that we slowly cooked with a tad of vegetable oil. Next came fresh turmeric, ginger, garlic, curry powder and masala. When the mixture was warm, and the smell of the spices warmed our home, we added our pumpkin purée. We poured vegetable broth and let the soup simmer before serving; we added coconut milk to make it creamy and perfect.
Pumpkins are a great source of nutrition; they can make moist cakes, savoury soups, and tasty roasted snacks. We shared different ideas and recipes with our guests.
The key to a successful event is to have a plan and a list of volunteers that you can count on. The biggest struggle we can have is weather-related and the bureaucracy attached to getting permits from the city. For this event, we had over 20 volunteers and around 50 guests. People ate, and families visited the pumpkin field and picked and decorated their pumpkins. A huge thank you to NSG for supporting us. This event had the function of feeding people, educating people, and gathering people.
