Raise a mug to well-fed kids
Stone Soup serves up 40 ways to make a tasty contribution to Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/03/2024 (927 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Soup season isn’t over yet.
Dozens of restaurants from Flin Flon to Winkler to Winnipeg are serving up special bowls of broth this week for the 12th annual Stone Soup fundraiser hosted by the Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba.
Through to Sunday, $1 from each signature soup purchased at a participating business will be donated to the council, which provides grants for meal and snack programs at schools across the province.
BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS
Tabula Rasa co-owner Erik Thordarson takes the lid off his cioppino soup.
There was a noticeable buzz in the air at Rudy’s Eat & Drink on Tuesday afternoon during the first public Stone Soup event since 2019. Armed with ladles and hot plates, staff from nine local eateries were stationed around the downtown restaurant doling out cups of soup to a bustling crowd.
Prior to the pandemic, the fundraiser was a one-day competition between local chefs vying for the title of top soup in the atrium of Manitoba Hydro Place. Organizers have since expanded it into a weeklong food event.
“It’s so nice to be back here with all of you,” former council executive director Viola Prowse said during her remarks.
The Child Nutrition Council recently received a boost in funding from the province, which has committed to covering the costs of a universal nutrition program for Manitoba schools beginning this fall.
With its provincial grant funding topped up to $3.87 million annually, the charitable organization has been able to add another dietitian to its staff and provide more schools with more money for food.
BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS
King + Bannatyne chef Matt Cooney (left) serves a bowl of “I Yam what I Yam” also known as sweet potato and pork belly soup to Marilynn Kullman during the soup tasting event at Rudy’s Eat and Drink.
The organization now supports nearly 400 school meal programs, which are accessed daily by more than 50,000 students from kindergarten to Grade 12.
Still, Stone Soup remains an important campaign.
“Last year, we raised around $25,000 and all those funds go directly to school grants,” Clara Birnie, the council’s community dietitian and program grants manager, says of the annual fundraiser. “But it’s really a way to bring the community together, get people talking about school food and raise awareness of the issue.”
Erin Harris, a teacher-librarian at École Salisbury Morse Place School, knows the impact of insufficient nutrition first hand. Twenty-five years ago, she started an ad hoc breakfast program in her classroom, serving cereal to a small group of hungry students. Today, the elementary school provides breakfast five days a week to more than 100 students with funding from the Child Nutrition Council.
“It’s difficult for kids to focus, to do any sort of learning when they’re hungry,” Harris says, adding that demand has ramped up at her school over the last two years, owing to the pandemic, rising food costs and an influx of newcomer families.
BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS
Mottola Grocery chef de cuisine Ian Shapria (left) serves a bowl of potato leek Guinness whiskey cheddar soup to Duncan Burnett during the soup tasting event at Rudy’s Eat and Drink.
“That has (created) a perfect storm of kids needing support and families needing support, and we’re happy that we can provide it for them.”
Visit childnutritioncouncil.com/soups for a full list of participants and to cast votes for the top soup. An online raffle is also running until Friday, with tickets ranging from $5 to $50.
eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com
Twitter: @evawasney
BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS
Brendan Hayes (left) from Brazen Hall Kitchen & Brewery serves some coastal smokin’ chowder soup to Janine Shwaluk.
BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS
Joanne Dandenault (right) holds a bowl of lasagna soup prepared by Ashley Hebel from the frenchway cafe & bakery during the soup tasting event at Rudy’s Eat and Drink.
BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS
Ashley Hebel (left), head chef at Frenchway Cafe & Bakery, fills a bowl of lasagna soup.
Photos by BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS
King + Bannatyne chef Matt Cooney (right) spoons out a bowl of I Yam what I Yam, or sweet potato and pork belly soup, for Jeff Nehe during the tasting event at Rudy’s Eat and Drink.
BROOK JONES / FREE PRESS
Mottola Grocery chef de cuisine Ian Shapria stirs a pot of potato leek soup with Guinness-infused cheddar.
Eva Wasney covers environmental issues in Manitoba for The Narwhal in partnership with the Winnipeg Free Press. Read more about Eva.
Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Tasting Notes
About 40 restaurants across the province are taking part in this year’s Stone Soup fundraiser. Below is a sample of some of the soups, chowders and stews on offer in Winnipeg this week.
● Chipotle Chorizo Corn Chowder, $6.50 for a cup or $9 for a bowl
Rudy’s Eat & Drink, 375 Graham Ave.
Rudy’s has been competing in Stone Soup since the inaugural event in 2012. This year’s creation tastes like soup-ified pizza with a Tex-Mex flair. This hearty chowder is topped with crispy fried onions and has a thick tomato-based broth studded with corn, sweet peppers, carrots, potato and spicy chorizo sausage.
● Cioppino, $30
Solera, 725 Osborne St.
(inside Tabula Rasa)
This take on Italian seafood stew is served as an entrée portion swimming with a full fillet of Arctic char, scallops, shrimp and mussels. The thin, bright fennel and tomato broth is infused with smokiness thanks to the addition of saffron and nudja, an Italian pork sausage.
● Peace, Love + Pulses, $7
Katita Cafe, 300 Memorial Blvd. (inside WAG-Qaumajuq)
Sweet and savoury, this chunky vegetarian soup is filled with warm Moroccan spices, lentils, chickpeas, carrots and tomatoes. Served with optional toasted couscous and cilantro, the dish has a satisfying touch of lingering heat.
● Potato Leek with Guinness
Whiskey Cheddar, $11.99
Mottola Grocery, 242 Hargrave St.
A blended vegetarian soup that’s smooth from start to finish. The buttery, flavourful potato base is topped with fresh green chives and a sprinkling of melty mild cheddar cheese infused with Guinness beer and Irish whiskey.
Tasting Notes is an ongoing series about Winnipeg restaurants, new and old, meant to offer diners a taste of what’s on the menu.
Eva Wasney covers environmental issues in Manitoba for The Narwhal in partnership with the Winnipeg Free Press. Read more about Eva.
Every piece of reporting Eva produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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