A Truly Awesome Cortes Community Christmas Dinner
Cortes Currents
English - January 01, 2021 13:40 - 15.1 MBNews cortes island discovery islands quadra food security energy indigenous nations Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Roy L Hales / Cortes Currents - Cortes Island had its annual community Christmas Dinner on December 25th.
As a result of the COVID shutdown, close to a third of the island’s population turned out.
It was truly a gourmet delight.
Cortes Currents sent Noah Davidson and Izabelle Perry a list of questions, which they chose to answer by email.
Imagine this is Noah’s voice, rather than mine, reading this out.
“After the cancellation of all community events, dances, Easter, and Christmas craft fairs, we really wanted to find a way to not have to cancel Christmas Dinner!”
“Community Christmas Dinners at the Gorge Hall have been an annual tradition for as long as anyone can remember. We recently took over the planning and cooking responsibilities from Jim Kearney, who believed that everyone should have the opportunity to gather and enjoy a warm meal together on Christmas Day. We hope that people found the take-out meals were a reasonable alternative to gathering.”
“On average, the free Christmas dinner in Whaletown serves around 125 people at the Gorge Hall for a sit-down meal on Christmas Day. Usually, 3 or 4 turkeys are prepared along with the fixings, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and veggies. The attending community brings a plethora of potluck dishes that really add something special to the dinner.”
“This year was different, we served over 300, free take-out style meals from the Floathouse restaurant with no potluck items. We cooked 21 turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes and veggies, gravy, and cranberry sauce. We also offered a vegetarian option, with a lentil nut loaf, wild rice stuffing, vegan mashed potatoes, and miso gravy.”
The story continues in the podcast
Photo courtesy Noah Davidson and Izabelle Perry