Chef Maddy Goldberg uses her fine-dining training to transform simple ingredients into comforting dishes for the Fort York Food Bank community. (Courtesy: Cook Eat)
Maddy Goldberg is combining her love of cooking with her passion for service by serving delicious and thoughtfully crafted dishes to over 100 people each week.
Goldberg, who studied social work at The University of Guelph before enrolling in George Brown’s culinary school, says cooking for others is something she spent most of her free time doing.
“That was sort of like my obsession that just grew, a love of home cooking… I spent a lot of my free time, pretty much all my free time, cooking for my friends,” she tells Now Toronto.
After leaving culinary school, she worked in fine dining for three years, until she realized she could no longer ignore her passion for wanting to help people as well.
“I thought a lot about kind of like, what I want my place to be in food, and cooking and giving back was always really important to me,” she said. “That sort of led me to realizing, I think I should volunteer at a food bank.”
After transitioning out of fine dining, Goldberg launched her own private dining company, Cook Eat, which allowed her the time and flexibility to begin volunteering at the Fort York Food Bank.
For the past three years, she has been cooking weekly meals for more than 100 clients at the food bank. She adds a special touch to each dish by drawing on her fine-dining experience, despite not always knowing what ingredients will be available and having only two and a half hours to prepare a full meal.
“There are certain items that you always know will be there, but they’re really simple, such as milk, eggs, potatoes, onions, stuff like that,” Goldberg said.
Because of this, she starts by looking for a “starting point,” an ingredient that feels exciting or seasonal.
“So if it’s summer and there are tomatoes, I’ll definitely use the tomatoes. And then from there, I’m kind of building a dish,” she said.
Some of the dishes she’s been able to whip up include a curry cauliflower homemade hummus, poached eggs and toast. As well as a marinated basil tomato pasta and ginger chicken.
Although cooking for a large clientele in a short amount of time can be challenging, she says the community has taught her a lot, and the environment remains one she deeply enjoys.
“People are just really, really thankful that I’m there. It’s a nice way for me to reconnect with food, but it still has that kind of adrenaline of working in a professional kitchen, which is super fun,” she said.
Goldberg’s passion for giving back has also been woven into her company, where she donates 10 per cent of the cost of all dinners to a charity of the host’s choice.
She’s shared her journey, recipes, and behind-the-scenes moments with her growing social media audience, including more than 100,000 followers on Instagram. Through that online community, she’s been able to see the impact she’s having beyond the food bank.
“A lot of people have said that it’s really inspired them to find beauty in their own simple ingredients and waste less at home, things like that. This is where I’m supposed to be, and it makes me so happy to hear all that,” she said.
Moving forward, Goldberg says she hopes to continue inspiring people to cook more, create their own food, and, most importantly, follow what they love most.
“Think about what’s important to you, what’s meaningful to you, and then find something local in your community that you can start to give back in,” she said.
