Repurposing food from ABP’s Kitchen Theatre event

This article was first published in Volume 4 Issue 3 of ABP Magazine (September 2024). Watch for more digital content from the magazine on ABP Daily.

At every great event, there is always a little magic behind the curtain, and ABP’s three-day kitchen theatre competition at the 2024 Calgary Stampede was no exception.

In the background of the fire and flair of our competing cooks was Chef Dean Mitchell of Saffron Catering. Chef Dean not only prepared and sourced the fresh food for the competition, serving up more than 400 sample dishes over three days, but he also ensured that none of the leftovers went to waste. In fact, Chef Dean has donated thousands of meals to Calgary’s unhoused population over the last year as part of his efforts to give back. Chef Dean originally found his passion for food at a young age, spending the summers on his grandparents’ farm east of Olds, where his grandmother taught him to cook and to give a helping hand to those in need.

“If she was baking, we’d be baking,” says Chef Dean. “Grandma would give you your own dough, so we could make our own buns or pies. Being with my grandma, cooking just kind of rubbed off on me.”

He worked as a cook in high school while taking food prep courses and volunteering his time with the Red Deer Salvation Army. He graduated from the Alberta Apprenticeship cooking program as a Red Seal Journeyman Cook in 1977. After several jobs in hospitality and entertainment, Chef Dean started saffron Catering and Personal Chef Service Ltd. and has run the company for 25 years.

Taking the time to give back to the community has always been part of his mission. A few years ago, after struggling to find places to send excess food, Chef Dean collaborated with the Leftovers Foundation and its affiliate Fresh Routes. Both organizations work to reduce food waste and offer dignified food security to make healthy and affordable food accessible to all.

Thanks to these organizations and generous donations from H&W Produce, Chef Dean receives fresh fruit and vegetables that are locally sourced as much as possible. In turn, he crafts baked goods and soups for resale in their markets and mobile grocery stores, so Calgarians can access nutrient-dense, high-quality food.

During ABP’s Kitchen Theatre event at the 2024 Calgary Stampede, Chef Dean and his team prepared all the food behind the scenes, from coordinating ingredients to preparing sample meals to the audience. None of the food from the event went to waste. Chef Dean was quick to refrigerate or freeze all the leftovers, which were repurposed into soups, stews, and casseroles, and then distributed to YYC Helping Homeless, an organization that provides meals to about 200 people every Saturday night in Calgary’s East Village.

“I look at it as my way of giving back to the communities and saving food from going into the landfill,” says Chef Dean. “The food goes straight to the person [in need]. In some cases, they pop the lid and start eating it right away.”

Between the demo meal leftovers and some of the raw product, Chef Dean estimates about 800 people wer served repurposed meals from the Stampede event’s leftovers.

Chef Dean has also spent the last few years working with Siksika Nation providing professional training at the Elders’ Lodge. During the pandemic, Chef Dean and his team worked on the Nation six days a week making meals for people in isolation and setting up food programs. They made more than 500 boxed lunches a week for kids on the nation and helped open the Nation’s first food centre (sort of like a food bank.) He continues to bring the Nation donated groceries once a week to ensure the community has access to nutritious food.

“Your hard work and time may change someone’s frown into a smile just by taking the time to talk to them or give them a simple meal,” says Chef Dean. “it makes you realize that you need to walk in someone else’s shoes before you are quick to criticize them. We are all too quick to look after ourselves before we are willing to give a little of ourselves so someone else gets a little happiness.”