Kitchen Table Sesh with Chris Leonard

Kitchen Table Sesh is a series of community gatherings that offers food as ritual, remembrance, and celebration. Each gathering hosts an invited elder who carries wisdom relating to the confluence of art, grief, and death care. At each gathering, one recipe from the African diaspora is prepared communally.

We are honoured to have join us as at our inaugural event. She is a long-time Toronto grief worker, with over four decades of doing this work in community.

Chris Leonard is passionate about supporting transformative change in communities. She brings mindful awareness and compassionate presence to her work, which focuses on grief and loss, worker well-being, and restorative approaches for care and repair.

to learn more about her work.

We will prepare one recipe together, as cooking communally, especially for an elder, serves as an offering — an act of gratitude, respect, and care. And at this session, we will be cooking an Ital Rundown — a vegan Caribbean stew made of vegetables in a coconut milk sauce, as well as a dessert.

Enjoy refreshments and appetizers, enlightening discussions, good vibes, and good people.

Attendees are welcome to bring something to share if they wish, but it is not expected. This will be an informal, intimate and interactive environment, where we will connect, share resources, eat food, and learn from our guest of honour and each other.

The purpose of Kitchen Table Sesh is to provide opportunities to network, hold space, and build an intergenerational community of Black caregivers and death-care workers.

Please email us if you have questions or a food allergy we should know about.

Social Art Studio Space (formerly Sketch) is a fully accessible venue in the Ossington and Queen West neighbourhood.

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Host or Publisher Ancestral Arts Collective